Haden Bottiglieri ’24 is a current senior and captain of the Belmont Hill Varsity Wrestling Team, as well as one of the top athletes in the school. Despite entering Belmont Hill as a junior, Haden has led the team to two Graves Kelsey ISL titles, placed finishes at New England Preps, and an 11th place team finish at Prep Nationals last year. Additionally, after only one year of being on the team, Haden was voted team captain for his leadership, team unity, and performance on the mat.
Haden was undefeated during the regular season outside of tournaments in interscholastic matches, dominating at the 175lb weight class, the same as the year before. At the prestigious Beast of the East wrestling tournament, consisting of both public and private school students, Haden placed 4th overall. In addition, he easily won all of his matches at this year’s Graves Kelsey Championships, finishing as an ISL champion.
At Prep New England’s Haden also finished as first, beating out National Prep ranking #4 Isael Perez from Northfield Mount Hermon in an 8-4 decision. Every other opponent Haden faced in the tournament was pinned. Haden was only one of two wrestlers from the team to be a New England Champion, along with freshman Isaac Novod ’27.
During the beginning of the season when asked about his goals for the 2024 National Prep Tournament, Haden acknowledged that he was aiming to be an undefeated national champion. This was also when he admitted that he took ice baths daily in the morning for peak physical conditioning. However, Haden went into the tournament seeded #3 in the official rankings, behind Dom Federici (#2) from Wyoming Seminary and William Henckel (#1) from Blair Academy, the two top wrestling high schools in the country. Ultimately, Haden finished 3rd behind Federici and Henckel; although this may have been short of his ultimate goal, he still had the top finish on the team and is one of only a few wrestlers in Belmont Hill’s program to achieve a top 3 finish at National Preps.
When Haden was asked about differences between the BH Varsity Wrestling Team and his previous teams, he stated, “I would definitely say at Belmont Hill it’s just different because you see the guys every day and you feel much more connected and like a family. It’s pretty different going to school with 2,000 kids where I only see the guys for an hour or so a day versus Belmont Hill, where I’m kind of around them all day creating a closer team environment.” Haden was a wrestler on the Brookline High Wrestling Team before Belmont Hill, which he states that when he was there, was “probably the best team in program history. . .We had just really talented guys up and down, very similar to Belmont Hill in that we all worked hard together as a united team during the season.”
In 8th grade Haden’s compiled record was 18-10, as a freshman it was 36-10, and as a junior at Brookline High 19-4. Repeating junior year at Belmont Hill, he was 31- 6.
Haden also noted that one of his biggest obstacles was a torn ACL in his sophomore year while training during wrestling practice, and described it as “really hard to cope with, as I had to take 9 months to a year off and that was definitely frustrating because everyone else was getting better while
I was kind of forced to not get better. Being forced to rest and sit at home all day was a big mental and physical obstacle that I had to overcome.”
In terms of his biggest mentors, Haden made note of his previous Brookline High wrestling coaches who he is still in touch with today, who greatly helped him in transitioning from eighth grade to high school wrestling. He also named Coach Muzaffar Abdurakhmanov, a Harvard assistant coach who runs Muz Trained Wrestling, a club he also attended out of school to wrestle. In addition, Haden emphasized how helpful and supportive all of the coaching staff here at Belmont Hill was as well, especially pointing out Coach Leonardis, who “wrestled me in the mornings, even in the off-season whenever I wanted, and who’s always in room so I can go talk to him whenever.” Haden added that “I’ve been very lucky my whole career to have very great coaches that I can look up to and talk to about things other than wrestling.”
As for tips for younger wrestlers looking to get better and improve on the Belmont Hill wrestling teams, he noted, “I would say the biggest thing is that you’ve got to be competing a lot, meaning that you can’t wrestle for three months out of the year at Belmont Hill and expect to you to achieve your goals.” He also added that “getting as much exposure as you can to
good wrestling is the biggest tip I can give, and to not worry too much just trust the process, focusing on getting your mind strong as well as your body.”
Finally, as a captain, Haden added that he does not like people who do not work hard, so for hopeful future captaincy candidates, he would suggest leading by example and showing what it looks like to the younger guys during exercises or drills during practice. Haden stated that “ultimately the younger guys are looking at you to see what you’re doing, so you need to set a good
example in terms of your work ethic and your attitude.” In such team culture, Haden stated that he loved to see the guys every day at practice, and focused this year on being open and talking to each other about mental struggles in the sport. He notes that he tried to maintain a very close team and make sure everyone was supporting each other on and off the mat.
Ultimately, Haden Bottiglieri will be remembered as one of the top wrestlers in the school’s wrestling history, as well as a respected captain, teammate, and friend.
