NEWPORT — Massabesic’s Tyler Everett, Biddeford’s Dominick Day and Wells’ Michael Curtis all won their weight classes at the inaugural New England qualifiers tournament on Thursday at Nokomis High School, earning spots Regional in March’s New England high school wrestling championships as a result.
Massabesic’s Mike Risti and Wells’ Colin Sevigney also won consolation finals to earn berths into New England’s.
The all-state meet, at which the top four finishers from the state meets in Classes A, B and C competed in 12-man brackets for the state’s three spots at the New England’s tournaments, was created so that Maine would be assured of sending its three best in each class to the New England tournament. In the past, the champions from each Class earned the spots automatically.
Under the old system, all five locals would have already qualified by virtue of winning state championships but proved their credentials against the best from across the state Thursday.
Everett, the Class A champ at 126 pounds, showed he was the best in the state at the weight as he pinned Class B champions Jacob Thornton 4:23 into their final.
Day won perhaps the toughest division on the day at 138, beating Kameron Doucette of Skowhegan 10-5 ”“ the same exact score by which Day had topped Doucette in the Class A semifinals five days before. Sevigney won the 138 consolation final, beating Foxcroft Academy’s Brooks Law 4-1, to book the last qualification spot in the weight group.
Curtis improved his record to 46-1 on the year as he pinned Nokomis’ Christopher Wilson at 2:00 of the 195-pound final. Risti, who Curtis had pinned in the semifinal in one of the most hotly-contested matches of the day, recovered to pin Camden Hills’ Jared Gilbert at 1:42 of the consolation final to earn his place.
In total, wrestlers from Class A won eight of the 14 weight classes on the day and earned 25 of the 42 qualification spots on offer. Class B will send 14 wrestlers to New England’s, while Class C will send three.
The New England tournament will be held on March 7 and 8 at the Providence Career & Tech Center in Providence, R.I.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
