Payton Sladeski is still new to the sport of wrestling.
The Frontier Regional senior didn’t begin his time grappling until he was a sophomore, and with his junior season canceled due to COVID-19, this past winter marked just his second in the sport.
You would have never known that, though. Sladeski went on to have a stellar final season with the Redhawks, winning the Western Massachusetts Division 3 title at 120 pounds and eventually taking fourth at the state meet. For those accomplishments, he was named the 2021-22 Gazette Wrestler of the Year.
“It feels good to win this,” Sladeski said. “I put in a lot of work this season. For my senior year I just had to go all out no matter what and I did that. My goals were to win Western Mass. and win states. That was my goal this year. I won Western Mass., I didn’t win states, but that’s OK.”
Sladeski wrestled at 106 pounds his sophomore year. After the two-year gap, 106 wasn’t an option again this season.
He tried to cut down to 113 but ultimately found himself most comfortable at 120. It was a weight class where he found considerable succcess.
“It’s a tough sport,” Sladeski said. “In the beginning of the season I was trying to cut to 113. It was miserable. I went up to 120, the Franklin Tech coach (Mike Aiken) said it would be good competition for me.”
While he wasn’t the biggest wrestler in the weight class, he used his speed and athleticism to his advantage. Going against opponents who were taller than him, he used his quickness to beat them to the spot and get them on the mat.
He also felt his conditioning played a key role as he was able to keep his stamina late in matches.
“There’s a lot more people with strength and people who are taller,” Sladeski said. “Everyone at 106 was my height. My quickness and my speed helped me. My hips helped me a lot with that. My coach made me work on taking one shot only. He drilled it in my head to be able to just take one shot and I got better at that. In practice all we did was conditioning and strength training. We were building grip strength and becoming better athletes.”
So much of individual sports comes down to mental toughness. That’s no different in wrestling. With such a physical demand, wrestlers must be mentally tough to be successful, something Sladeski feels he specializes in.
His confidence helped him stay the course this season.
“I try to represent my school and show it can be respected,” Sladeski said. “I also want to show the sport should be more popular. It’s a lot on your body but if you can do it, the reward is great. You can’t get in your own head. You have to wrestle your heart out and do everything possible to win. You can’t be scared going into a match. You have to be so confident and that will take you places. You have to have a great mindset in wrestling. You have to be tough. You can’t be weak, you have to be strong.”
While Sladeski had success during the Redhawks’ dual meets during the regular season, he thrived when the lights were the brightest.
Frontier traveled to tournaments throughout the state, challenging itself against great teams from throughout the Commonwealth to prepare for the Western Mass. and state tournaments.
“We had a really good season,” Sladeski said. “We had a lot of good meets. We went to tournaments in Boston and did really well there. That was good competition to get ready for states. Our coach was preparing us for that all season long and we were ready when those big meets happened. I was proud of my wins. We went to a tournament in Boston and I went all the way there and I made it super far. It was a competition I shouldn’t have been in. It was good practice and there were a lot of tough matches. None of them were easy and I really had to fight to do well.”
Sladeski plans on wrestling in college and he will also try to play soccer, as he was a key cog in Frontier making it to the Div. 4 state title game last fall. He is currently undecided on where he’ll go to school next year.
He plans on competing in club wrestling this summer while also playing club soccer to stay in shape and form in each sport.
In wrestling, Sladeski plans on using his first year in college to figure out what he needs to do to be successful. With how much he’s grown in just two years with the sport, the sky is the limit for him on the mat.
“My first year in college will be spent seeing what people do and how to counter them,” Sladeski said. “I hope I can get into the season and go to some tournaments. Tournaments are everything. The meets are to wrestle and stay active but the tournaments are where you can really stand out. I have a lot to learn still. There’s still so much more I want to do with it. I’m going to try to train ju-jitsu and learn how to be a better wrestler.”
Wyatt Finch, freshman, Frontier
Keegan Hollister, junior, Northampton
Jake Mattson, junior, Frontier
Forrest McSweeney, junior, Smith Vocational
Chelsea Pizzaro, sophomore, Holyoke
Quane Randall, junior, Northampton
Payton Sladeski, senior, Frontier
Matthew Small, freshman, Smith Vocational
Abram Speek, senior, Granby
Quinn Speek, sophomore, Granby
Alex Willard, junior, Hampshire Regional
Nathan Benson, freshman, Granby
Adin Clifford, freshman, Hampshire
Joseph Deprey, senior, Granby
Wyatt Finch, sophomore, Frontier
Nicholas Gauger, freshman, Smith Vocational
Eli Gilbert, sophomore, Gateway
Luke Johndrow, sophomore, Hampshire
Miles Keefe, junior, Frontier
Alex Martinez, sophomore, Smith Vocational
Angel Pabon, junior, Holyoke
Ian Paciorek, freshman, Frontier
Junior Ramsey, freshman, Granby
Nicholas Rodriguez, sophomore, Holyoke
Schuyler Trapani, junior, Northampton