High school wrestling: Cuic, Carter brothers lead on mat, by example for juggernaut New Kent

This season, that happens to include a set of two brothers who are crucial to the team’s success: Alex and Noah Cuic and Trent and Tristan Carter.

“We’re all in this together as a big family because this sport is such a long and grueling process,” New Kent coach Joe Salinetro said.

“In those tough times, you got to lean on each other, and having the brothers all together helps with that dynamic.”

All four are different years, representing the class depth at New Kent. Noah, Alex and Tristan are all fresh off winning Region 3A titles and are preparing for the state tournament.

“It’s cool,” Noah said.

“Not many people get to say they got to wrestle (competitively) with their brother.”

Alex, a sophomore, wrestles at 113 pounds for the Trojans. Noah wrestles at 138 pounds as a senior. Both of them finished third at states last year.

“Both have very different personalities, but are both very competitive,” Salinetro said.

“Those especially, it’s like, ‘Oh, the brothers are at it again.’ Sometimes they pick on each other, and it’s quite funny.”

“You see them bicker with each other as all siblings do, but then at the end of the day, they go out and compete and want to perform for their team.”

With the two at different weights, they rarely find each other matched up to spar. They often talk wrestling off the mat and do whatever they can do help the other improve.

“They’ll grab each other in the room sometimes and work with each other,” Salinetro said.

“It’s something you don’t get to see often. It’s going to be sad to see Noah go this year, but it also gives Alex an opportunity to create a name for himself.”

Having the pair partake in the same sport has made it easier on their parents, especially when it comes to transportation to and from practice.

“They try to get to as many (matches) as they can,” Noah said.

“It helps with me being able to drive.”

In addition to the Cuic brothers, the Carter brothers have the same age gap — two years.

“Being in a position where you can wrestle on the same team as your brother and both you can make each other better, it’s really cool,” Tristan said.

“It’s like iron sharpening iron.”

Tristan and Trent and close enough in weight to often find themselves wrestling each other at practice. Trent, a freshman, is the backup at 106 pounds to Carter Roy, but he has wrestled in many varsity matches this season.

“While we’re on the mat with each other, we’re always trying to get each other better,” Tristan said.

Tristan is the Trojans’ starter at 120 and is a two-time Class 3 state champion on the prowl for a third as a junior.

“I’ve had some ups and downs this season,” Tristan said.

“I’ve had some goals that I wanted to hit that I didn’t necessarily reach. I wanted to at least make day two of one of these big national tournaments, but I picked it back up at the end, and I’m in a comfortable spot where I think I’m going to sweep through the state.”

The Carter brothers grew up wrestling in their basement before starting to wrestle at the youth level around 6 years old.

Tristan believes it’s a relief for his parents having him and Trent play the same sports so they don’t have to run around to different places. The two are instead often side-by-side competing in the same gyms for the same matches.

“They’re both goofy kids who have their own dynamic just like how Noah and Alex have their own dynamic,” Salinetro said.

“It’s always funny watching them spar with each other, because you can tell that Trent will do something and it’ll antagonize Tristan and Tristan will go. It’s just that brother-on-brother competition.”

“Tristan is more serious one. Trent’s the laid-back joke around guy of the team, but he’s going to go out there and scrap when we need him to.”

Having brothers on the Trojans’ roster isn’t unusual. Last year’s roster included Andrew Fallon, who is now a junior, and his older brother, then-senior Derek Fallon.

New Kent wrestling has been a consistent force and is coming off its eighth consecutive Region 3A title.

“I’ve kind of used the mentality this year for our team that it’s New Kent against the world,” Salinetro said.

“We’ve built a dominance over the state and the area for so long where now when we walk into a gym, everybody wants to see us fall. Our guys are using that as motivation.”

In the region meet, the Trojans scored 286 points, well ahead of second-place Grafton (183).

In addition to Alex, Noah and Tristan, New Kent had five other region champions: Roy (106), Quinn Morrison (150), Aidan Salmon (157), Jared Edeza (165) and Luke Adamson (285).

Chase Wiles was the runner-up at 190 pounds. Aiden Slimick (126), Blake Gregory (144) and Cory Siebert (215) each finished third.