BY MATT STOUT
For all the Concord wrestling team has accomplished – most notably, its three state titles – it shouldered two enormous chips entering this season.
Following Saturday, Jan. 27, it still bore one of those burdens. But that doesn’t mean its ditching any plans of shedding the second.
Despite boasting five finalists and a tournament-high four individual champions, Concord finished second – again – to Mount Anthony of Vermont at the Capital City Wrestling Classic, compiling 237.50 points to the Patriots’ 258.5.
It marked Mount Anthony’s 16th straight tournament crown, while the Crimson Tide placed second to the 18-time defending Vermont state champions for the fifth straight year and 11th overall. In the 17-year history of the Classic, Concord has never won its own tournament.
Afterward, Concord senior Pat Boyle described the situation as “extremely frustrating,” perhaps a first for a Tide squad that’s rolled through every one of its Division I opponents this season and collected a number of tournament titles along the way.
But as irritating as it is, Concord has little time to dwell on it. With the Division I championships three weekends away, the Tide still have their eyes on dethroning six-time defending state champ Timberlane.
Concord, which has finished second in D-I three straight years, faces the champs Feb. 7 in a dual meet.
“It’s really disappointing and frustrating because it’s our senior year, and we’ve never won the Capital City Classic, and that will always be in the back of our minds,” said Boyle, who took home top honors in the 171-pound weight class on Saturday. “I mean, that’s not our No. 1 goal, but it will keep us humble and make us want to be a lot better and show that we’re not quite there yet to win states.”
Still, Dan Breen, at 103 pounds; Tyler Saltsman, at 130; Boyle, at 171; and Marshall Gleason, at 215, all claimed individual titles, while senior Harry Paul nearly won Concord’s sixth before falling 2-0 in the 160-pound finals.
Brandon Paige, at 119; Nick Poulin, at 125; and Alex Buessing each finished third in their weight classes, and Levi Byers finished fourth to round out Concord’s nine place-finishers.
It wasn’t enough to top Mount Anthony’s three champions, eight finalists and 12 top-four wrestlers, but the 21-point difference was the closest the hosts have come to defeating Vermont’s finest.
“Like our coach (Ham Munnell) said, it’s a good thing we’re not peaking yet, and we’re saving that hopefully for the state tournament so we can beat Timberlane,” said Gleason, who beat his second cousin, Goffstown’s Tom Foote, to win his weight class. “It’d be nice to beat Mount Anthony, but I would rather beat Timberlane.”
A bumpy flight
The Bow wrestling team entered the Capital City Classic undermanned, but didn’t leave empty-handed despite placing 14th in the loaded 16-team field.
Falcons senior D.J. Meagher earned Outstanding Wrestler honors after collecting two pins, including one in the 145-pound final, and two technical falls en route to winning his weight class title.
Though 119-pounder Ben Morrow and 140-pounder Josh Nawn also wrestled well for Bow, the Falcons managed 45 points with eight wrestlers in the tournament.
They’re also still nursing injuries, though 152-pounder Spencer Wolverton may return this Saturday from a strained elbow, said Bow coach Jim Kaufman. Besides Winnisquam, Bow was the smallest school at the Classic.
“That said, I can count on one hand the amount of matches we lost to Division-II (opponents). We saw out-of-state kids almost the whole tournament,” Kaufman said. “We were using this tournament to get as many good matches as we could. We would have liked more, and we would have liked to have done better, but we’re pointing toward (the D-II state championships on) Feb. 17. Talk to me after that meet.”