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NORTH BERWICK — The Noble Invitational keeps getting bigger and tougher, and Noble High senior Brady Ouellette keeps winning it.

Ouellette, wrestling at 157 pounds, won his fourth Noble title in his home gym, drawing the co-ed competition to a close Tuesday with a convincing 21-4 championship bout victory against Dillon Gray of Mt. Blue. Ouellette was named the tournament’s outstanding male wrestler.

“It’s pretty awesome, right? This is our home tournament. It’s pretty sweet,” Ouellette said.

Over 600 wrestlers representing 40-plus schools competed in the two-day co-ed tournament with another 138 girls — up from 82 a year ago — contesting their own tournament on Tuesday.

“This year there’s more out-of-state girls,” said Mt. Blue senior Brooklynn Webber, who captured her third Noble title by winning the 114-pound division. “It definitely helps prepare you.”

Central Catholic of Lawrence, Massachusetts, had five individual champions en route to winning the co-ed tournament with 295.5 points, easily outdistancing Bishop Hendricken of Warwick, Rhode Island (218), and third-place Noble (193).

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Massabesic repeated as girls champion with 101 points. Salem, New Hampshire, one of several new entries among the 29 girls teams, finished second with 93 points.

The co-ed division featured seven wrestlers ranked in the top three in their weight class among New England public school wrestlers, according to the website The Schwartz Report, which wrestlers and coaches acknowledge as a credible regional ranking.

Evan Boulard, a junior at Massabesic, demonstrated why he’s ranked No. 1 at 138 pounds with a clean 8-0 win in the final against AJ Craig of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Boulard bided his time until a late takedown with a back point put him ahead 4-0 just before the second-period whistle.

“I know every kid is going to come out and want to beat me and try their hardest,” said Boulard, a two-time Class A champ and Varsity Maine All-State selection. “I just work harder to beat them.”

Grady Pease of Medomak Valley saw the tournament’s other No. 1 in his championship bout at 190 pounds, facing off against Caden Chase of Central Catholic. Chase got the jump early in the match and won, 9-3, but Pease, a defending Class B champion, was the one pushing the pace at the end of the match after rebuffing several offensive forays by Chase.

It was the first trip to the Noble Invitational for Pease and his twin brother, Shamus, who placed second at 215 pounds against No. 2-ranked Jackson Meehan, also of Central Catholic.

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“We wanted to get the best experience possible before New Englands, just to get some out-of-state looks,” Grady Pease said. “I got what I was looking for and then some. I didn’t expect the No. 1 guy to be here, but I’m glad he was.”

Two of Central Catholic’s five champions are freshmen who live in Wells. Sam Winship won the 106-pound title with a hard-fought 5-2 decision against Massabesic sophomore Remington Grunhuvd. Winship’s long-time friend, Lucas Copper, won at 120 pounds, taking a forfeit win from Kylan Berry of Bonny Eagle because of illness.

Camden Hills senior Justin Batty turned in an impressive effort in the 175-pound class, beating Gianni Santo of Rhode Island’s Bishop Hendricken, 6-1. Batty showed both his strength and his flexibility in deflecting Santo’s attacks. Earlier in the tournament, Batty beat two other wrestlers from outside Maine.

“It makes me know I can win states and do good at New Englands,” Batty said. “It means a lot to me. I’ve wanted to win this tournament since I was a freshman. I finally did it, so it feels good.”

Other Maine boys to win titles were Preston Garland of Mt. Blue (113) and Dominick Simpson of Belfast (126).

In the girls tournament, Massabesic had three individual champions. Sisters Nevaeh and Sophie Grunhuvd repeated as Noble champions, winning at 138 and 145 pounds. Junior Aesa Brock won at 165 pounds, giving her a second Noble title to go with one she earned as a freshman.

“Our girls team has been growing a lot, so I’m thankful for that,” Brock said. “We all work well together and we practice really hard, so it all comes out in the end.”

Mt. Blue placed fourth and Belfast was fifth in the girls tournament. Sora Bukoski of the Penobscot County co-op repeated as champion at 107. Also winning a second-straight Noble crown were Delaney Frost of Noble (126) and Zady Paige of Belfast (152).

Steve Craig reports primarily about Maine’s active high school sports scene and, more recently, the Portland Hearts of Pine men's professional soccer team. His first newspaper job was covering Maine...

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