Mounties Place Second at Taconic Invitational

PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- The Mount Greylock wrestling team Saturday went 4-0 in title bouts on the way to a second-place finish at the Kevin Harrington Memorial Tournament at Taconic High School.

 

Max Soto earned an overtime win at 157 pounds to start the winning for the Mounties.

 

Jacob Borawski, Jayquan Vazquez and Logan O'Connell then posted back-to-back-to-back wins at 175, 190 and 215.

 

That helped Mount Greylock pull ahead from third-place Monument Mountain in the team standings.

 

But the Mounties could not catch Division 2 Wayland, a seventh-place finisher at last year's D3 State Championships, which put a tournament-best eight wrestlers in the first-place matches and won four of them.

 

"We like to wrestle against Wayland," Mount Greylock coach John Carvalho said. "They're a tough team to compete against. They're a good state opponent."

 

Carvalho was pleased overall with his team's performance.

 

"I'm happy with the kids," he said. "They came out. The wrestled hard. Some matches could have gone either way, but that's what happens. But the kids, they work hard in practice every week, then they produce during the weekend.

 

"We have another tough contest on Wednesday night when we go to Monument."

 

The Spartans Saturday picked up a pair of titles from Mason St. Peter at 106 and Christopher St. Peter at 113. Monument Mountain also saw Ryan Murray reach the finals at 285, where he battled to a decision with Wayland's Nathan Hartunian. Isaac Hartshorn was stopped by Mount Greylock's Borawski in the 175 title bout.

 

Host Taconic placed ninth in the 15 team field while Mount Everett finished just behind the Thunder in 10th.

 

The Eagles had two finalists, Max Manning at 150 and Ian Lanoue at 165.

 

The Thunder placed Malikai Lytle in the finals against Mount Greylock's Vazquez. It also picked up a third-place finish from Dominic Gagnon at 106.

 

As the season nears the midway point, Mount Greylock has been leading the pack in the county.

 

Matches like Saturday's against Wayland and last week's trip to regional power Mount Anthony could help prepare the Mounties to reach their potential down the road.

 

"Next week we're going to Hoosick Falls [N.Y.] on Saturday, and we're going to Otter Valley [on Jan. 24], so we picked up a few tougher tournaments," Carvalho said. "You get a little more experience. You see different kids. It's tiring seeing the same teams over and over again. This way they can see competition outside Western Mass."

 

Photos from this tournament to come.

 

Team Scores

1. Wayland, 262.5 points; 2. Mount Greylock, 194.5; 3. Monument Mountain, 144.5; 4. Hampshire, 119; 5. Ludlow, 89; 6. Putnam, 84; 7. Gilbert/Torrington, 83; 8. Duggan, 80; 9. Taconic, 70.5; 10. Mount Everett, 67; 11. Smith Vocational, 65.5. 12. Springfield International Charter, 44; 13. Pathfinder, 28.5; 14. Mohawk Trail, 26; 15. Gateway, 0.

 

Finals

106: Mason St. Peter, MM, pinned Jayden Parker, Ludlow.

113: Christopher St. Peter, MM, dec. Matthew Keenan, Wayland.

120: Charles Soffen, Ludlow, dec. Damian Sdola, Wayland.

126: Robert Zononi, Hampshire, pinned Brayden Lyons, Wayland.

132: Mark Altreuter, Wayland, pinned Shamar Buor, SICS.

138: Daniel Florez, Wayland, pinned Taylan McColgan, Hampshire.

144: Matthew LeMay, Duggan, dec. Rona Flatley, Wayland.

150: Roman Chapman, Putnam, dec. Max Manning, ME.

157: Max Soto, MG, dec. Noah Simard, Ludlow.

165: Joseph Cavallo, Wayland, dec. Ian Lanoue, ME.

175: Jacob Borawski, MG, pinned Isaac Hartshorn, MM.

190: Jayquan Vazquez, MG, pinned Malikai Lytle, Tac.

215: Logan O'Connell, MG, pinned Harrison Farrar, Hampshire.

285: Nathan Hartunian, Wayland, dec. Ryan Murray, MM.