TOPSHAM — Buoyed by a record-setting performance by Cody Hughes, Marshwood cruised to its fourth consecutive Class A state wrestling championship Saturday.
Hughes set the record for career wins by a Maine high school wrestler when he pinned Zach Harris of Oxford Hills in the semifinals of the 170-pound weight class, passing the record of 202 set by Peter Bronder of Noble from 2006-09.
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Hughes then captured his fourth state title by pinning Greg Cassella of Portland in the third period.
“The team comes first,” said Hughes. “We work hard every day. We go into practice and bust our butts every single day, so I think we all deserve to win our fourth straight team title.”
Three central Maine wrestlers took home individual titles. Skowhegan’s Cody Craig won the 106 championship, 13-0, over Marshwood’s Kyle Glidden. Zeko Caudill of Cony took the 138 crown, 8-0, over Noble’s Joshua Grenier. And Jacob Nichols of Nokomis edged Cony’s Elias Younes, 3-2, in the 285 final.
In addition to Younes, Samson Sirois (113), Tyler Craig (126) and Kameron Doucette (152) of Skowhegan and Christopher Wilson of Nokomis (195) were state runners-up. Craig narrowly missed winning his fourth state title, falling to Marshwood’s Bradley Beaulieu, 2-0, in the championship match. Marshwood finished with 183 points, well ahead of Noble with 130.5 and Skowhegan with 115.
The remaining team scores: Massabesic 102, Cony 46, Oxford Hills 40, Nokomis 40, Portland 35, Biddeford 34, Mt. Ararat 34, Sanford 24, Scarborough 22, Westbrook 20, Deering 17, Brunswick 16.5, Windham 15, Gorham 12, Cheverus 8, Bonny Eagle 7, Thornton Academy 3, Mt. Blue 3.
“It was definitely a team win,” said Jackson Howarth of Marshwood, who was named the meet’s outstanding wrestler after winning the 160-pound division. “A lot of kids stepped it up and we got wins that we didn’t expect, and we pulled it off.”
Eleven of the 14 Marshwood wrestlers who qualified for the state meet finished among the top four in their weight class.
“The guys who came through with third and fourths were huge for the team,” said Matt Rix, in his 32nd season as the Hawks’ coach.”
Marshwood is the first Class A team to win four consecutive state team titles since Noble finished its unprecedented string of eight championships in 2006.
Howarth and Hughes each won their fourth individual state championships, bringing the total to 18 wrestlers who have done it.
Howarth, who was seeded second in the 160-pound division, recorded a 6-1 decision against top-seeded Robert Heatherman of Mt. Ararat in the final.
“Once we got the team win, we just focused on individual wins,” Howarth said. “It just makes it that much better.”
Other wrestlers winning individual titles for the Hawks were top-ranked Bradley Beaulieu at 126, Killian Murphy at 132 and Brett Gerry at 182.
Murphy, who finished fourth at the West regionals in his weight class, started off by scoring a lopsided win over top-seeded Cooper Holland of Skowhegan. After a 2-1 decision over fourth-seeded Aiden Whitis of Deering in the semis, Murphy outpointed third-seeded Max Storm of Westbrook for a 9-4 win in the final.
“He had a tough regional tournament and it just wasn’t his day,” Rix said. “It was a great week of mental preparation for him, and he got his head into it.”
The Hawks lost the opportunity to capture a sixth individual title when Zac Schluntz was unable to wrestle against Mike Risti of Massabesic in the 220-pound final. Schluntz was injured while pinning Max Storey of Cony in a semifinal and was forced to forfeit.
The seedings held up for the most part.
Fifth-seeded Jeremy Sendrowski of Scarborough knocked off the top two seeds to win the 113-pound division. After pinning top-seeded Jeffrey Bryan of Massabesic in the semifinals, Sendrowski scored a 6-3 decision over second-seeded Samson Sirois of Skowhegan in the final.
The top four finishers in each weight class advanced to the New England qualifier next Saturday at Sanford. That includes Skowhegan’s Jon Bell (120), Julian Sirois (138) and Logan Stevens (160). The top three wrestlers from that meet will qualify for the New England championships March 6-7 at North Andover, Mass.
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