In many respects, Saturday’s regional tournaments are the most important day of the year on the high school wrestling calendar since they determine who will advance to next weekend’s state meet. The top four finishers — plus an alternate — in each class and region, move on to state meets next Saturday.
Of the North and South regionals in Class A and B, the North A regional at Oxford Hills High School is of particular interest to central Maine fans due to its quality and competitiveness.
“A North is about as deep as I’ve seen it in all my years as a head coach,” Cony coach Shawn Totman said.
The meet features the teams who competed in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference meet last weekend, minus the KVAC Class B teams. That could alter the results since Class B wrestlers won three titles in the championship round that included both classes.
Host Oxford Hills won the KVAC A title followed by Nokomis, Skowhegan and Cony. The Vikings not only hold a home advantage but have the most top four seeds (9) followed by Nokomis (8), Cony (7) and Skowhegan (6).
Three wrestlers in the meet — Skowhegan’s Samson Sirois (132 pounds), Cony’s Nic Mills (195) and Quentin Richards (152) of Nokomis — won state titles last year while Skowhegan’s Ricky Oberg (120) and Erskine’s Jake Peavey (285) were runners-up.
“We’re all kind of back and forth,” said Skowhegan coach Brooks Thompson of the top four while still including Erskine, Morse, Camden Hills and Mt. Ararat as teams that could score well. “We’ve got to perform to the caliber we’ve shown all year.”
Mills and Sirois are currently unbeaten, along with Skowhegan freshman Jake Craig (106). Cony junior Noah Dumas (113) has suffered just one loss to a Rhode Island wrestler.
“I still believe this region is wide open,” Totman said.
The Class B North meet will be held at Mount View High School and includes the host team along with Winslow and Maine Central Institute. Winslow doesn’t have a lot of depth but the Black Raiders have a three-time state champ in Ryan Fredette, who finished second at the New England meet last year. Teammate Devon Vigue (126) won state titles as a freshman and a junior.
MCI’s ZyAnthony Moss was a state runner-up last year at 126 while Mount View’s Mark Ward placed in the state meet a year ago as a freshman.
The Class B South meet will be held at Mountain Valley High School and includes area teams from Lisbon/Oak Hill, Madison, Monmouth, Carrabec and Richmond. Madison’s Seth Padelford will try to repeat as state champ at 220 pounds.
The Class A state meet will be held at Sanford High School while the Class B meet will be at Wells High School. The New England qualifier will take place at Nokomis on Feb. 24.
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