The Eastern Maine wrestling championships in Classes B and C have been a competition of the status quo throughout this decade.

In Class B, Camden Hills of Rockport has finished first each year, with Belfast second five of the last seven years and third behind Winslow the other two years.

In Class C, Foxcroft Academy is the four-time defending regional champion, with Dexter, Bucksport and Penobscot Valley of Howland occupying the next three spots in some order each year.

Foxcroft has finished no worse than second over the last six years, while Dexter and Bucksport have placed no worse than third.

And Penobscot Valley has placed fourth in Eastern C every year since 2002.

Those contending teams are likely to have similar finishes this Saturday, when the Class B regional is held at Camden Hills and the Eastern C meet is held at Penobscot Valley.

But that doesn’t mean the events won’t lack drama.

In Class B, Belfast may have its best chance to end Camden Hills’ 13th-year reign as regional champions in what should be a two-team race after the Lions dethroned the Windjammers at last weekend’s Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference meet.

Coach Ted Heroux’s Lions won the KVAC title by 43.5 points thanks to four individual champions and nine wrestlers overall who earned top-four finishes. Josh Robbins (119 pounds), Zach Shellabarger (145), Kote Aldus (160) and Travis Spencer (189) all placed first, while Jimmy Spencer (140) finished second, Kornealius Wood (135) and Mike Rolerson (171) earned thirds and Jordan Young (103) and Josh Wolfe each placed fourth.

Camden Hills had just one individual champion in 140-pound Jack Simpkins, but four other Windjammers finished second – and each lost to a Class A wrestler in the finals. Kristi Pearse (103), Jacob Powers (125), Murphy McGowan (130) and Jacob Berry (152) all earned runner-up awards for coach Levi Rollins’ club, while Zach Fields finished third at 119 and Brandon Rich placed fourth at 145.

The KVAC schools will be joined at the Eastern B regional by several Penobscot Valley Conference programs as well as five individual champions from the PVC meet: Carlin Dubay (103) and Brian Vrieze (112) of Caribou, John Gordon (125) of Ellsworth, P.J. Richards (215) of Hermon and Mark Heathcote (285) of Central of Corinth.

In Class C, Foxcroft Academy edged Dexter 169-165 in last year’s Eastern Maine regional and a similarly close finish is anticipated this weekend.

“I think we’re looking pretty good, just seeding wise,” said Dexter coach Adam Gudroe after the PVC championships. “If we go by last year’s performance and the four points that was the difference between us and Dover, it’s going to be the same thing this year.”

Foxcroft coach Luis Ayala had Dexter seeded to win the PVC title last weekend, but the Ponies had a meet-best nine wrestlers in the championship and consolation finals and used that depth to defeat the Tigers.

Each team had two individual champs, Tim Fogg (135) and Jerod Rideout (160) for Foxcroft and Josh Harvey (152) and Doug Richardson (189) for Dexter.

Dexter had three other wrestlers in the championship finals, but brothers Michael (112) and Brian (125) O’Connor – both Class C state champs a year ago – and Lee Morgan (215) each lost to a Class B wrestler that won’t be part of the competition on Saturday.

Foxcroft also had three runners-up in Kaleb Mann (119), Ethan Whittemore (140) and Andrew Larson (285), but only Larson lost his final to a Class B performer.

“Those [Class B] teams kind of helped us [at the PVCs] by keeping those Dexter guys from winning those finals,” said Ayala. “We won’t see those guys next week, so that changes everything. But we still feel we can do it, and we must tell the kids it’s one step at a time. Whatever happened last week was great, but now we need to step it up for regionals.”

Dexter also hopes to benefit from the return of junior Ronnie Harvey to its lineup Saturday. Harvey, a Class C state runner-up at 125 pounds last winter, was held out of the PVC championships after suffering a wrist injury during the Tigers’ final regular-season meet.

Other PVC champions hoping to find success at the Class C regional are Aaron Gagnon (119) and Brandon King (130) of Penobscot Valley, Ray Wood (140) and Jon Pelletier (171) of Bucksport and Trevor Gardner (145) of Fort Kent.

eclark@bangordailynews.net

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