March 22, 2007 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

GFS wrestler sets record
by John O’Reilly

GFS co-captains Max Hawes (left) and Emil Paulmier.

Max Hawes, a senior wrestler from Germantown Friends School, recently wrapped up one of the finest high school wrestling careers in the school’s history on a historic high. A native of Mt. Airy, Hawes ended the year by placing fifth at the National Prep School Wrestling Championships in Lehigh University in the 160 lb. weight class. This was the highest placement ever for a GFS wrestler.

On the team since eighth grade, Max always had the itch for wrestling. He even acted as the team mascot because he says he wanted to be near the team. Teachers turned him onto the sport because of his restlessness in class. “I was aggressive,” he recalls. Andrew Bernstein, his coach since he began the sport, heard he was a hell-raiser in class.

“He couldn’t sit still, wrestling kids before he even knew the sport,” Bernstein said. He was never in serious trouble; he just wanted to be in the thick of the action. Right from the start his coach saw great potential in him, saying he knew he would be good.

When asked about his early career, Max modestly said, “I lost a lot in freshman and sophomore year.” Yet in both seasons he had a winning record. His coach said he went 19-8 sophomore year. In his career he had 58 pins, with one match during his sophomore season ending in the mind-boggling time of 12 seconds.

A top-notch coaching staff was another thing Hawes attributed to his success. Three of his current coaches wrestled at Division 1 colleges, two from Bucknell. The team’s trainer wrestled at Drexel, and Max said he is currently in Ultimate Fighting. Though he said he was never able to beat them, their superior wisdom and experience were instrumental in his development.

One of his career highlights was taking third place in the 145 lb. weight class in the state tournament his junior year. Even more impressive, says his coach, were his results the year before. He had gotten the same third place finish in the 130 lb. weight class, but what made it impressive was the Rocky-like way it was earned.

Coming into the tournament unseeded and untested, Max won 5 of his 6 matches by 1 or 2 points each. He beat some of the best wrestlers in Pennsylvania after having less than three years experience in a sport where the best wrestlers start as young as possible.

GFS is no athletic powerhouse. As a small Friends League school, plaudits beyond League honors are seldom aimed for or achieved. The wrestling team itself was struggling, barely able to fill half the weight classes at matches. They needed almost every wrestler to win his individual match.

Luckily, this allowed the wrestlers to focus on their individual performances, where they weren’t lacking for standouts. In addition to Hawes was the other co-captain of the team, Emil Paulmier. Coach Bernstein said Paulmier came in second this year in the state tournament.

Hawes hopes that his and Paulmier’s individual success can raise the ambition of newcomers into the school’s program. He says that at GFA “expectations at school aren’t very high.”

He wants to raise them. Now that he has achieved success on a state and even national level, he wants future students to aim for that plateau.

Hawes says that he will wrestle in college, and is currently looking into offers from many D-1 and D-3 schools. His main interests lie in Brown, Stanford, Wesley, and Williams College. Berstein and the coaching staff feel his collegiate career looks bright.

“I think hes gonna be great, with some mat time he has a lot of room to grow, a great body to build muscle.” He feels that he has the athleticism to meet the tough demands of college wrestling.

One should not see Max as just an athlete. Teachers say his character is one of his best attributes. He is active in B.A.S.E., an organization that has African-American upperclassmen tutor and mentor younger students at GFS. He was also voted president of the student government. Beyond wrestling, Max is interested in majoring in business and enjoys biology.

His coach remembers saying to him about his post-high school career, “if you want to wrestle, the world is your oyster.” Many are hoping this is true both inside and outside of the gym.