NORTH SHORE (Podcast) For their exploits in both the classroom and their respective athletic fields, Saugus High track star Jessica Bremberg and New England wrestling champion Jayden D’Ambrosio of St. John’s Prep have been selected as the male and female Moynihan Lumber Student-Athletes for March. (Bremberg Podcast)
Jayden D’Ambrosio – St. John’s Prep Wrestler with Bill Newell
One word to describe the senior year on the mats for D’Ambrosio: Perfect. The 157-pounder was rightly named the Salem New Wrestling MVP this winter after compiling an undefeated 61-0 record. The captain of course won the Division 1 North Championship, the Div. 1 State Championship, the All-State Championship and the New England Championship in his weight class, and helped St. John’s Prep as a team go 33-0 and win a Div. 1 North title in legendary coach Manny Costa’s final year.
D’Ambrosio only spent two years with the Eagles after attending Reading Memorial, but finished with a sparkling career high school record of 162-10 — without having an entire freshman season due to the pandemic. Former Eagles legend Ryan Garlitz still holds the all-time Mass. record with 226 wins, and who’s to say D’Ambrosio couldn’t have hit 200 had he got a freshman season? “I didn’t really know what to expect before the year,” said D’Ambrosio, a Division 1 Edinboro University (P.A.) commit. “I knew I wanted to be a New England champ, that’s what I trained for. So for that to happen was pretty special.”
And you can bet D’Ambrosio takes down his school work with the same force.
With a stellar 4.01 weighted GPA, D’Ambrosio is on both the President’s List and the Honor Roll at St. John’s Prep. He’s in three Honors and Accelerated courses this year, and outside of school is also a coach at the Doughboy Wrestling Club in Lowell. Doughboy has been a “second home” to D’Ambrosio over the years, and he credits all of the coaches there — especially Mike Marshall and Dave Shunamon — for turning him into the wrestler, and young man, he is. “School has always been No. 1,” said D’Ambrosio, whose father, James, was an All-State wrestling champion at Wakefield High three decades ago. “There is no athlete without the word ‘student’ in front of it. I’ve always worked my butt off in the classroom, and it all ties together. If you work as hard as you can in the classroom, you can achieve what you want to achieve athletically as well.”
