GSA’s Ober overachieving PVHS junior Gagnon reaches milestone victory

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Under the typical method of accumulating high school wrestling victories, Tysen Ober of George Stevens Academy in Blue Hill would have eclipsed the 100-win milestone long ago, probably last season given the recent dearth of middle-weight competitors.

But Ober is not one to take something he feels he hasn’t earned, so only on Saturday when the Eagles’ senior earned a victory by technical fall over Josh Blaine of Hermon during a meet a Hermon did he reach 100 victories on his terms.

Those terms? Forfeit wins don’t count.

“I just feel if you just walk out there and they put your hand up, you haven’t done anything,” said Ober. “You have to go out there and wrestle somebody to earn a win.”

Ober now has done just that 100 times, becoming the first wrestler in GSA history to reach triple digits in victories. He is 25-2 this season, 100-22 over four years.

“When I coached against him at [Mount Desert Island] I was amazed at how technically flawless he is,” said GSA coach Peter Weaver. “Since I’ve coached him I see how hard he works, and we’re a small school with limited resources and no assistant coach, so he’s our unofficial assistant coach and he’s a great asset that way, too.

“And the fact he insisted that no forfeit wins count tells me he’s not willing to cut corners to achieve a goal, and that impressed me, too.”

Ober began wrestling seven years ago as a middle-schooler in Dover-Foxcroft. He wrestled in the Bucksport system as an eighth-grader before spending his high school years at George Stevens.

He has placed among the top four finishers at the Penobscot Valley Conference championships twice, and also placed at the Eastern Maine Class C championships each of his previous three years to qualify for the state meet.

Ober normally competes at 152 pounds this season, but has wrestled up at 160 on many occasions in order to get matches.

His only losses this winter are against two-time state champion Jerod Rideout of Foxcroft Academy and Josh Harvey of Dexter, both of whom, like Ober, also have attained their 100th wins this winter.

And while Rideout likely will compete at 145 pounds in postseason competition, Harvey wrestles at 152 and is likely to be among Ober’s chief competition at the PVCs on Jan. 27 and the Eastern C championships the following weekend.

Ober, also the student council president at GSA, plans to attend college next year and has applied to Maine Maritime Academy of Castine and Ohio State.

Emerging from the shadows

Penobscot Valley of Howland junior Aaron Gagnon had the misfortune to compete in the same weight class as undefeated Jeremiah Barkac of Dexter during his first two years of high school wrestling.

As a freshman, Gagnon lost to Barkac in the 103-pound final of the Penobscot Valley Conference championships. Last winter, he fell to the Dexter standout in the 112-pound finals at both the Eastern Maine Class C and state championship meets.

But other than Barkac, Gagnon has had relatively few peers among Class C wrestlers in the lower weight classes, as evidenced by his becoming the first wrestler in Penobscot Valley wrestling history to eclipse 100 victories as a junior.

Gagnon, competing at 119 pounds this winter, improved his record this season to 23-1 by pinning Shane Boutin of Fort Kent in 1 minute, 32 seconds during a meet at Dover-Foxcroft on Saturday.

For his career, Gagnon is 100-12.

“He’s very quick and very strong, and he’s a hard worker,” said PVHS coach Gerald Hutchinson. “He’s been injury free, and this year the weather’s been good and we haven’t had a lot of matches postponed, and those have been two keys, too.”

Belfast outduels “Jammers

The quest to be best in Eastern Maine Class B wrestling just gets more intense as the season plays out.

Belfast, which finished second at last year’s regional, staked a claim to that status last Saturday by handing reigning Eastern B champ Camden Hills of Rockport its first dual-meet defeat in nearly two years.

The Lions edged the Windjammers 42-36, marking Camden Hills’ first loss since falling on Jan. 15, 2005, to Noble High of North Berwick, the reigning eight-time defending Class A state champion.

Belfast was led to the win by Josh Robbins (119 pounds), Steve Joy (125), Jim Spencer (130), Justin Haver (145) and Zach Carr, all of whom posted match victories.

The undefeated Lions (16-0) also benefited from three forfeit victories in the 160-, 215- and 285-pound weight classes.

The teams will meet again on Saturday, Jan. 27, at the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference championship meet.

River City Rumble set for Jan. 24

The high school regular season for wrestling in Greater Bangor will conclude in a new fashion next Wednesday, Jan. 24, as Brewer High School will host the first River City Rumble.

The 5 p.m. meet will feature wrestlers and teams from Brewer, Hermon, John Bapst of Bangor, Old Town and Bangor, all competing in their final countable event before conference championships meets are held on Jan. 27.

One highlight of the Rumble, according to event organizer Joe Bowen, Brewer High’s wrestling coach, will be that it will serve as a Senior Night of sorts for all the seniors on the participating teams, with special recognition for those competitors before the final regular-season matches of their high school careers.

Bowen said that although Brewer is set to join the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference in wrestling next winter, the plan is to hold this meet against rival Penobscot Valley Conference schools on an annual basis in an effort to enhance wrestling rivalries among the area programs, with the host site to rotate among the participating schools.