BY TERRY DEVEREAUX

Correspondent

Cony finished third in the preseason Westlake Tournament and the regular season Westbrook Invitational.

“Our wrestlers have performed well over the first three weeks of the season,” Cony coach Shawn Totman said. “They are working hard in practice, and have performed well in competition. Taking third in two tournaments behind teams like Massabessic, Marshwood (Westbrook tournament), Mt. Blue, and Fryeburg (Westlake tournament) is nothing to be disappointed about.”

Seniors Connor Dufour and Thon Itthipalakorn won their weight class at the Westlake Tournament, while fellow senior Cody Dular won at Westbrook. Sophomore Nic Benner won at Westlake and sophomore Mikal Federici won at both.

“If I had to pick one early season surprise it would be the success of sophomore Mikal Federici,” Totman said. “He has won both tournaments we have entered and is wrestling fantastic. I know Mikal has a passion for wrestling, but I didn’t see him developing this fast. He is moving well on the mat, and has shown a fairly high level of skill in winning all of his matches. It looks like the work Mikal put in over the summer is paying off.”

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The Madison wrestling team opened its season with an outstanding performance at Fryeburg Academy. The Bulldogs captured three individual titles and finished second in the eight-team field.

“We brought 13 wrestlers, 11 were point scorers,” Madison coach Scott Padelford said. “Out of 11, we had six in the finals and four in the consolation finals. We are a young but talented team. Everyone works hard in practice and they are very focused.”

Senior Ryan Malcolm beat Fryeburg’s Derek Leavitt 5-1 in the 220-pound finals. Josh Shull pinned Fryeburg’s Lucas Spencer at 106, while Cody Soucier won a 9-6 decision over Brewer’s Robbie Kiah at 145. Soucier and Kiah are freshmen.

“This is the first year that we have freshmen with mat experience,” Padelford said. “As a whole, the team looks very good but it is still early yet.”

Marcus Berry (285), Kyle Foley (172) and Daniel Moreshead (152) all finished second for Madison. Jennifer Allen (126) and Matthew McLaughlin (182) took thirds, while Hunter Wentworth (138) and Derrin Moreshead (160) finished fourth.

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Coach Bob O’Connor got an unwelcome surprise when his Mt Blue team approached weigh-ins at the Westlake Tournament — almost his entire team was overweight.

“There was something wrong with our scales at home and most of our guys were about 3 pounds heavy,” O’Connor said. “I had to bump everybody up a weight class or two.”

The Cougars took the last-minute changes in stride and captured the team title in the 13-team field.

Khalil Newbill (126) and Caleb Farrington (182) won their weight classes, while Drew Blanchet (145) and Chris Ingram (152) placed second.

“So far this year, it has gone as I thought it would,” said O’Connor, whose team is also 3-0 in dual matches. “We are still missing a few starters due to some minor injuries, but nothing serious. As the season moves forward I am changing the way we look at this year. It only matters how we finish the season, all the wrestling before that is to learn and fine tune.”

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The Gardiner Tiger Invitational will be held Saturday. The tournament, in its 37th year, is the longest running regular-season tournament in Maine.

Wrestlers from Cony, Erskine, Maine Central Institute, Morse, Mt. Blue, Monmouth and Westbrook join the host Tigers.

Wrestling is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m.