BAR HARBOR – Drama proved elusive at Saturday’s Penobscot Valley Conference wrestling championships.
Foxcroft Academy claimed six individual titles and had 13 wrestlers earn top-four finishes to roll to its second straight conference championship during the daylong competition at Mount Desert Island High School.
The Ponies finished with 237 points, far outdistancing Penobscot Valley of Howland. PVHS won a four-way battle for second place, amassing 105 points while Ellsworth (104), Brewer (96) and Dexter (91) completed the top five in the 15-team field.
“I think this just picks everyone’s spirits up and shows that as far as the team goes we know we can do it,” said Foxcroft senior Max Kennedy, who remained unbeaten against in-state competition this season while winning the 145-pound PVC title. “If we keep working hard, in two more weeks we’ll get our chance to upset [three-time defending Class C champion] Lisbon. That’s our goal.”
The Ponies sent eight wrestlers to the championship finals, getting victories there from Kennedy, Colby Johnson (103 pounds), Cyle Heaney (112), Mike McNaughton (119), Randy Briggs (171) and Josh Pelletier (215). Chris Cookson (140) and Caleb Pelletier (152) each earned a second-place finish.
Four more Ponies, Ryan Whittemore (135), Andrew Pomeroy (160), James McPhee (189) and Chris Lewis (275) won consolation finals, while Alan Whittemore placed fourth at 130 pounds.
“We definitely have high expectations,” said Foxcroft coach Luis Ayala, whose Ponies will be favored in next weekend’s Eastern C regional at Howland. “We held our seeds, got to the championship and consolation finals, and did well there.”
Penobscot Valley didn’t win an individual title, but had seven wrestlers earn top-four finishes, including second-place efforts from Jon Southard (125), Chris Vainio (189), Ed McKenney (215) and Doug Dyer (275) and a third from Matt Murphy (145).
“For as young as we are I’m real pleased,” said Howlers’ coach Gerald Hutchinson of a roster with just two seniors. “We haven’t done this well for a long, long time.”
Ellsworth similarly had a breakthrough effort, led by individual champions Matt Burns (140) and Jake Sinclair (152). Jason Fox (103), Tom Burns (135) and Scott Strout (145) added second-place finishes for the Eagles, while Brad Wing finished third at 119.
“It’s probably our strongest finish at the PVCs in 20 years,” said Ellsworth coach J.F. Burns.
Brewer was led by individual champions Chris Noyes (160) and Justin Bowen (275) and runners-up Alex Smith (112) and Ricky Study (130), with Ryan Elliott third at 171.
Reigning Eastern C champion Dexter was without two of its top wrestlers, as Jeremiah Barkac (103) and Keith Thompson (130) sat out the meet with injuries. But two-time state champion Chris Barkac won at 125 and Billy Greene earned the 135-pound title as the Tigers notched a top-five finish.
“I thought the kids wrestled OK, we’ve got some improvements to make,” said Dexter coach Dave Gudroe. “But we didn’t bring everybody, and hopefully everybody will be back next week.”
Other individual champions were Robert Benner of Fort Kent at 130 pounds and Brent Brawn of Nokomis of Newport at 189 pounds.
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