The Winslow High School wrestling team placed eight wrestlers and finished third in the Western Maine Class C regional championships Saturday.

Dillon Pelletier led the Black Raiders, winning the 113-pound class, while Zack O’Connor (126), VJ Tantoco (170), Kyle Calvo (182) and Aaron Lint (285) all finished second. Ryan Mosher (120) and Paul Willette (145) earned third-place finishes and Sean Cote (220) finished fourth.

“I knew all along what they could do,” Winslow coach Kevin Fredette said, “I just didn’t know they would do it.”

Fredette pointed out a few surprises. O’Connor, for example, was seeded seventh and finished second. Pelletier and Tantoco, meanwhile, were both seeded fourth and beat the No. 1 seed in the semifinals.

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Ryan Malcolm won the 220-pound class to help Madison finish fourth at the Western C regional.

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Also for Madison, Cody Soucier (145) was second, Daniel Moreshead (152), Kyle Foley (170), Joe Hayden (182) and Matt McLaughlin (195) all finished third and Derrin Moreshead (160) finished fourth.

“We wrestled well as a team,” Madison coach Scot Padelford said. “Most of the kids wrestled to their seed or above it. We got a few bad draws with byes with guys having to wrestle the No. 1 seed in their first match. I was pleased to see the kids pick it up a level after they lost. They never quit.”

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Five wrestlers from Maine Central Institute qualified for the Class B state championship meet. Jacob McGowan won the 285-pound class while Dylan Dahlberg (106) and Trevor Kitchen (152) each played second. Will Cu (126) was third and Gus McWilliams (145) finished fourth.

McGowan scored two first-period pins on his way to the title.

“I think we benefited from a small region size,” MCI coach Mike Libby said. “But we did what we had to do to get into states.”

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The Gardiner Area High School wrestling team got a couple of unexpected victories at the Western Maine Class B regional championships.

Daniel Del Gallo cruised the tournament, as expected, winning the 138-pound title with a pair of pins and a 17-5 decision over Fryeburg’s Kirk Hubbard.

Meanwhile, Wyatt Thornton (152) and Mitchell Chelsey (195) exceeded their seeds and won titles.

“Wyatt was seeded second and Mitchell was seeded third,” Gardiner coach Matt Hanley said. “They both had great days.”

Thornton pinned York’s Zach Faskianos in the finals, avenging an early-season loss. Chesley beat second-seeded Derek Leavitt of Fryeburg 6-5 in the semifinals before beating top-seeded Santos Rodrigues of Mountain Valley 17-6 in the finals.

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Also, Zac Abram (160) and Hamish Thornton (220) placed fourth for Gardiner.

“We placed five of the six wrestlers that we brought and the sixth will be a state alternate (Chandler Wieczorek at 106),” Hanley said. “I couldn’t ask for much better than that.”

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At the Western C tournament, Hall-Dale’s Wyatt Rush (138) entered as the third seed and advanced to the championship match.

Rush beat Lisbon’s Josh Collier in his opening match 14-2 then beat second-seeded Issac Arabadjis of Orono 7-6 to advance to the finals. He lost to Dirigo’s Brett Whittemore in the championship finals.

Rush practices with Gardiner and has been a key to the Tigers individual success, Hanley said.

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“Wyatt and Danny Del Gallo are practice partners,” said Hanley. “Obviously, Wyatt has benefitted from working out with Danny all year, but Danny has also benefitted a lot from working out with Wyatt. The two battle hard against each other every day in practice. Neither likes to lose to the other.”

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Three Monmouth wrestlers earned medals at the Western C tournament, led by James Gambino, who finished third at 132 pounds. Tyler Lewandowski (113) and Angus Koller (152) finished fourth.

Mt. View, meanwhile, finished fifth at the Western C regional and had eight wrestlers earn a trip to the Class C meet. James Blanchette (106) reached the championship finals, while Tyler Stevenson (220) finished third. Roger Flannery (132), Mark Dolloff (138), Scott Vaillancourt (145), Gavin Caler (182), Job Mesaric (195) and Devan Fuller (285) all finished fourth.

The Mustangs had lost a few starters to academic ineligibility but coach Hamilton Richards got some help from backup wrestlers.

“Scott Vaillancourt managed to really step up and nail down a fourth place for us,” Richards said. “So did Devan Fuller. He wrestled up a class, from 220 to 285 and got an upset win in the consolation semifinals to advance to the consolation finals.”

Richards said Mesaric was also a surprise after he nailed down his varsity spot by winning a wrestle-off last week.


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