TOPSHAM — Buoyed by a record-setting performance by Cody Hughes, Marshwood cruised to its fourth consecutive Class A state wrestling championship Saturday.
Hughes set the record for career wins by a Maine high school wrestler when he pinned Zach Harris of Oxford Hills in the semifinals of the 170-pound weight class, passing the record of 203 set by Peter Bronder of Noble from 2006-09.
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Hughes then captured his fourth state title by pinning Greg Cassella of Portland in the third period for win No. 205.
“The team comes first,” said Hughes. “We work hard every day. We go into practice and bust our butts every single day, so I think we all deserve to win our fourth straight team title.”
Marshwood finished with 183 points, well ahead of Noble with 130.5 and Skowhegan with 115.
“It was definitely a team win,” said Jackson Howarth, who was named the meet’s outstanding wrestler after winning the 160-pound division for his fourth consecutive individual state championship. “A lot of kids stepped it up and we got wins that we didn’t expect, and we pulled it off.”
Eleven of the 14 Marshwood wrestlers who qualified for the state meet finished among the top four in their weight class.
“The guys who came through with third and fourths were huge for the team,” said Matt Rix, in his 32nd season as the Hawks’ coach.”
Marshwood is the first Class A team to win four consecutive state titles since Noble finished its unprecedented string of eight championships in 2006.
Howarth and Hughes became the 17th and 18th Maine wrestlers to win four individual state championships.
Howarth, who was seeded second in the 160-pound division, recorded a 6-1 decision against Eastern Maine champion Robert Heatherman of Mt. Ararat in the final.
“Once we got the team win, we just focused on individual wins,” Howarth said. “It just makes it that much better.”
Other wrestlers who won individual titles for the Hawks were top-ranked Bradley Beaulieu at 126, Killian Murphy at 132 and Brett Gerry at 182.
It was the third straight title for Gerry and the second in a row for Beaulieu, a sophomore. Beaulieu, Howarth and Hughes are unbeaten this season.
Murphy, who finished fourth at the West regionals, started off by scoring a lopsided win over Eastern Maine champion Cooper Holland of Skowhegan. After a 2-1 decision over Aiden Whitis of Deering in the semifinals, Murphy outpointed Max Storm of Westbrook for a 9-4 win in the final.
“He had a tough regional tournament and it just wasn’t his day,” Rix said. “It was a great week of mental preparation for him, and he got his head into it.”
The Hawks lost the opportunity to capture a sixth individual title when Zac Schluntz was unable to wrestle against Mike Risti of Massabesic in the 220-pound final. Schluntz was injured while pinning Max Storey of Cony in a semifinal and was forced to forfeit.
The seedings held up for the most part.
Fifth-seeded Jeremy Sendrowski of Scarborough knocked off the top two seeds to win the 113-pound division. After pinning top-seeded Jeffrey Bryan of Massabesic in the semifinals, Sendrowski scored a 6-3 decision over second-seeded Samson Sirois of Skowhegan in the final.
The top four in each weight class advance to the New England qualifier next Saturday at Sanford, joined by the top four in Class B and Class C. The top three wrestlers from that meet will qualify for the New England championships March 6-7 at North Andover, Massachusetts.
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