BATH — It was a great day for local middle schoolers as Dirigo placed first, with Mtn. Valley in fourth at the Pine Tree Western Regional Championships, held at Morse High School on March 26.
Dirigo easily defeated the Somerhill Wrestling Club, 217-178.5, led by five champions — Calden Skidgell (111), Kolton Bradeen (117), Kaeden Swan (123), Hudson Lufkin (130) and Tanner Bradeen (155).
Placing third among the 12 teams was Mt. Blue at 168, with Mtn. Valley fourth at 140.
For Mtn. Valley, Kaydn Hansen was the only female wrestler to make the finals of the tournament, placing second in the 93-pound division.
Dirigo coach Dana Whittemore said Dirigo ended the first round of 16 with a 23-12 lead over Somerhill Wrestling Club. A round led by Connor Skidgell with his four points earned with his pin and where Hayden Abbott would contribute three points with his major decision win.
In the consolation quarter final round, Dawson Moody, Kody Scott and Jeremiah Fields added three points each with their pins.
Dirigo would start breaking away from the competition with the combined rounds of the consolation finals and the championship finals.
In the round where third and fourth finishers are crowned, Dirigo was led by Vinnie Chapman and Jed Fields, who both pinned their opponents to take 3rd place. Not long after, Sawyer Lufkin and Chase Robbins finished second in their first year of middle school wrestling Dirigo found themselves with a 184 to 174 lead over Somerhill.
The lead would be extended and put away, starting with Caiden Skidgell’s dramatic decision over a tough Evan Madigan from Somerhill. Next up was Kolton Bradeen and his pin over Isaac Adams of Sugg. Kaeden Swan kept the train on the tracks as he pinned Colt Saxon of Monmouth.
Hudson Lufkin would cap the run with a dominant performance and pin over one of the league’s toughest wrestlers, Jakobi Hagar of Somerhill.
With the league championship already at hand, Dirigo was not done as Tanner Bradeen pinned Austin Graf from Sugg, but not before the Dirigo crowd was scared as Tanner had to fight off his back for a brief moment.
Sixteen weight classes of wrestlers from twelve schools were seeded into 16-person brackets with a goal of finishing in the top four. The final four in each weight class qualified for the Pine Tree League finals, taking on the top four from the east, held last Saturday at Morse High School.
Local wrestlers placing among the top four in the 16 weight divisions were as follows:
75 pound — Christian Flemming of MV placed 4th.
81 pound — Vincent Chapman of Dir won by fall in 2:31 over Braden Hughes of MV for third place.
87 pound — Sawyer Lufkin of Dir placed second, with Keygan Boucher of MV placed third.
93 pound — Kaydn Hansen of MV placed second.
99 pound — Catori Watson of MV placed fourth.
105 pound — Chase Robbins of Dir placed second.
111 pound — Calden Skidgell of Dir won a 5-0 decision for first place.
117 pound — Kolton Bradeen of Dir won by fall in 1:12 for first place, with Chance Watson of MV won by fall at 2:24 for third place.
123 pound — Kaeden Swan of Dir won by fall in 3:42 for first place.
130 pound — Hudson Lufkin of Dir won by fall in 2:34 for first place.
155 pound — Tanner Bradeen of Dir won by fall in 1:13 for first place.
170 pound — Grady Mack of MV won by a 12-0 major decision for third place.
240 pound — Jed Fields of Dir won by fall in 2:52 over Zack Spitzer of MV for third place.
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