Nokomis and Cony should vie for top honors in Class A North and a major regional realignment is the top story in Class B.
Nokomis won its first-ever regional title last season and has the strength to repeat. The Warriors lost state runner-up Josh Brown to graduation but return senior state champions Quinton Richards and James Boyd.
Senior David Wilson won the New England qualifier tournament after finishing second in the state meet. The New England qualifier matches up the top-four finishers in each weight class in Classes A and B to determine which athletes will advance to the New England championships. Tyler Preble, Caleb Carrell, Calvin Peck, and Nick Lincoln also finished as state qualifiers last season.
Cony surprised many with its runner-up finish at the Class A North tournament last season.
The Rams return all but two from that squad and should contend for top honors this season. Leading the charge will be two highly successful seniors, Nic Mills and Noah Dumas. Mills is on track to become just the second three-time state champion in school history. Dumas has 144 career wins and won the New England qualifier at 113 pounds last season.
Dumas will drop to 106 pounds for his senior campaign. Dumas says the move down in weight has been easy.
“Last year I decided to not cut any weight and just focus on my technique and getting stronger,” he said. “Over the summer I started eating a lot more healthy than in past years. I started to take nutrition a lot more serious and cut out soda and junk food. Just by doing that I naturally lost the weight I had to in order to get down to 106.”
Senior Jakob Arbour is a former state placer and Aaron Lettre, Mohammad Aljendi and Mitchell MacFarland were each state qualifiers last season.
Skowhegan lost one of the premier wrestlers in the state when Jake Craig opted to attend The Hill School, a private school in Pottstown, Pennsylvania this fall. Craig was a state champion and placed third at the New England championships last season as a freshman.
Skowhegan will be young this season after graduating six seniors. Senior Dakota Melvin is the only returning wrestler with state meet experience, but the Indians have a solid group of athletes with varsity experience. Coach Tenney Noyes is ready for the challenge.
“We can’t wait for this season to progress and watch these wrestlers improve,” he said.
Mt Blue’s Jagger Bullen is back for his senior campaign. Bullen was fourth in the state last season and also placed third at the qualifer at 113. He returns at the same weight. Hayden Nile and Tucker Nicholas were also state qualifers.
Mount View, Winslow, MCI will compete in the B South regional tournament this season as a result of a major realignment of the North and South regions.
Wells High School coach Scott Lewia, coach liaison for the Maine Principals’ Association wrestling committee, supported the change.
“Last year all but two weight classes in the North had more than eight wrestlers,” said Lewia. “In the South, some weight classes had only four or five wrestlers. In order to even out the competition, Mount View, Winslow, Medomak Valley, MCI, and Oceanside were moved from B North to B South. Last season there were 21 teams that scored in B North and nine in B South. Moving these five teams will make it 16 North schools and 14 South schools. Hopefully, this will make the regionals more balanced.”
MCI coach Mike Libby said he is OK with the change.
“I think in a sport like wrestling, where we see so many teams on Saturday tournaments, this becomes less of an issue than in other sports,” he said. “We actually see many more of the South schools on a weekly basis. Now, with all but one KVAC B school moving to the South we will certainly have a lot more to go on at the regional seeding meeting. Also, last year I had quality kids not qualify for states in the overpopulated North.”
MCI will see many of the non-KVAC B South teams, including Dirigo, Fryeburg, Lisbon, Mountain Valley, and Wells, at the Atlantic Invitational Tournament held at Wells High School on Dec. 22.
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