Youthful Windjammers carrying on tradition Eastern Maine wrestling champs decided today

With three freshmen and five sophomores comprising more than half of its lineup, Camden Hills of Rockport’s claim to the top spot in Class B wrestling seemed to be in jeopardy as the 2004-05 season began.

The major meets still remain – including this weekend’s regional championships – but so far the maturation process has been on a fast track.

The youthful Windjammers, who start just two seniors, went 30-1 in dual-meet competition and cruised to their fourth straight Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference championship last Saturday by besting a field that included Class B midcoast rival Belfast and top-notch Class A programs such as Mt. Blue of Farmington, Oxford Hills of South Paris and Skowhegan.

Youth? Meet tradition.

“They’ve exceeded my expectations only in the sense that they’ve come along sooner than I thought they might,” said Camden Hills coach Patrick Kelly, whose program has won the last five Class B state titles. “I attribute it to these guys just working hard. It’s really a matter of the kids believing they can do it.”

Regional championship meets will be held around the state beginning at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, with Eastern A at Mt. Blue in Farmington, Western A at Biddeford , Eastern B at Mount Desert Island High in Bar Harbor, Western B and C at Mountain Valley High in Rumford, and Eastern C at Foxcroft Academy in Dover-Foxcroft.

The state championship meet for all classes follows on Saturday, Feb. 12, at the Augusta Civic Center.

Two Camden Hills freshmen, Murphy McGowan (103 pounds) and Jacob Berry (125), sophomore True Bragg (119) and junior Harry Pearson (160) won individual KVAC championships, with Berry named the most outstanding wrestler of the meet.

Other key contributors have been seniors Keith Drago (145) and Matt Creamer (171), juniors Joe McGowan (112), Derek Young (130) and Randy Lemar (135), sophomores Cody Laite (140), Max McClennen (152), Oliver Bradeen (189) and Ethan Dinsmore (275), and freshman Gib Bryant (215).

“With how young this team was, the coaching staff really looked at how we wanted to coach these kids this year,” said Kelly. “Usually there’s a lot of teaching of technique, but with this group we really didn’t want to sacrifice battling in the wrestling room, so we really varied the practices with technique, battling and running and aerobics.”

That regimen has Camden Hills positioned to win its 11th straight Eastern Maine Class B championship, though Belfast figures to present a formidable challenge as led by Kyle Bonin (112), Norman Gilmore (130), Ben Dunham (145), Tony Gilmore (125), all of whom had top-two finishes at the KVACs.

“I expect Belfast to be right there at the end,” said Kelly.

In Class C, Foxcroft Academy looms as the favorite to defend its regional title after dominating the Penobscot Valley Conference meet at Caribou last weekend. The Ponies won seven weight classes – Cyle Heaney (119), Mike McNaughton (125), Jerod Rideout (135) Ryan Whittemore (145), Caleb Pelletier (152), Randy Briggs (171) and Josh Pelletier (215) – while besting second-place Dexter by 82.5 points.

Dexter and third-place Bucksport figure to be Foxcroft’s primary challengers this weekend. Dexter features three PVC champions in brothers Chris (130) and Jeremiah (103) Barkac and 140-pound titlist Billy Greene.

Bucksport boasts a pair of conference champions in Adam Tweedie (189) and Derek Conner (160).