Camden Hills wins 12th straight crown 11 Windjammers compete in final round; Mount Ararat takes ‘A’ championship

Camden Hills High School placed 11 wrestlers in the championship round and came away with five individual winners Saturday as the Windjammers annexed their 12th consecutive Eastern Maine championship in the Class B title meet held at Caribou High School.

Camden Hills scored 212 points to hold off archrival and runner-up Belfast, which scored 193.5 points among 12 different wrestlers.

Host Caribou finished third at 142.5 points, followed by Maine Central Institute of Pittsfield (81.5), Gardiner (60), Medomak Valley of Waldoboro (55), and Hermon (47).

Nokomis of Newport (35), Mount View of Thorndike (34), Ellsworth (29), Winslow (22), and Mount Desert Island (15) rounded out the scoring. Old Town also competed.

In the Class A meet at South Paris, Mount Ararat of Topsham edged host Oxford Hills 158.5-156 to claim the EM title. Morse of Bath finished third with 138 points, followed by Erskine Academy of South China (108.5) and Mt. Blue of Farmington (75.5).

Skowhegan (68), Cony of Augusta (51), Brewer (41), Lawrence of Fairfield (35), and Brunswick (15) rounded out the scorers in a field that also included Lewiston.

Each of the 56 wrestlers in each class who reached at least the consolation finals advance to the state championship meet, which is scheduled Friday and Saturday at the Bangor Auditorium.

In Class B, the Windjammers continued their dominance but were severely tested.

“It’s basically beautiful to see Camden against the East,” said Camden Hills coach Pat Kelly, who was impressed by the talented field of wrestlers.

“The competition in Eastern B was as fierce as I’ve seen in I can’t remember when,” he said. “There were teams that had only five or six kids, but what they brought was talent.”

Sophomore Murphy McGowan, the EM winner last year at 103 pounds, claimed the 112-pound title. Senior Joe McGowan took top honors at 125, and sophomore Jacob Berry captured the 140-pound division for Camden Hills.

Senior Harry Pearson won his second straight crown at 160 pounds, while junior Ollie Bradeen took home the 189-pound title for the second year in a row.

“We put 11 into the finals, but only five won,” Kelly said. “I was realistically looking for eight.”

Windjammers Krista Pearce (103), Jeremy Burnside (119), True Bragg (130), Derek Young (135), and Hank Simpkins (152) all reached the finals.

Kelly said Camden Hills had a bit of a different day because all of their wrestlers won early and advanced to the finals.

“We waited around all day long until the finals,” Kelly said. “It’s unusual to put that many into the finals with that [caliber of] competition.”

A deep Belfast squad earned runner-up honors behind EM champions James Spencer (119 pounds), Tony Gilmore (130), Mike Rolerson (145) and Travis Spencer (160). Third-place Caribou, which had four wrestlers in the championship finals, was paced by 103-pound champ Carlin Dubay.

Also claiming regional titles were Gardiner’s Keith Sleeper (135) and Dan West (152), Philip Genthner of Medomak Valley (215) and Jeremy Matthews of Nokomis (275).

In the Class A meet, Mount Ararat dominated the middle weight classes while taking home regional honors.

Theo Marshall (135), Josh Stuart (140), Ben Cox (145), and Dustin Crocker (152) emerged with individual championships for the Eagles, who also had four runners-up.

Mount Ararat had finished five points behind Mt. Blue in the 2004 regional finals.

Justin Bowen of Brewer also claimed an Eastern Maine championship, pinning Russell Shumaker of Morse in 1:54 in the 275-pound division.

Denis Haiss of Erskine (130) and Cony’s Tyler Robinson (215) were among the other individual winners.