Wrestling teams set sights on CVU | Local

During that run of championships, there has been a handful of close calls. The 2022 state championships come to mind as one where MAU had to sweat it out, only beating Spaulding by 5.5 points.

The state championships that year were held at Champlain Valley Union High School.

For the first time time in four seasons, the Vermont state championships will return to Hinesburg this winter.

Rutland County’s four wrestling teams, and Springfield, all are hopeful for successful seasons and want to be peaking when that day at CVU rolls around.

The Otter Valley wrestling team has established itself as one of the most consistent programs in the state.

The Otters finished last year’s state championship meet in fifth in team scoring and was the smallest school in the top five.

Otter Valley returns a talented roster that should keep it in contention this winter with 100-win wrestler Isaac Whitney being arguably the biggest graduation loss going into the season.

The seniors are Maisa Allen, Colin Carroccia, Drake Felkl, Thomas Given and Ethan Ross. The juniors are Blake Allen, David Bertrand, Ayden Larocque, Max Potter and Keegan Reid. The sophomores are Colby Benoit, Aiden Graham, Chase Herrick, Ethan Kenyon, Tyson Lanza and Mason Markowski. The freshmen are Brady Babcock, Brooklyn Colburn, Declan Gallipo, Jordan Loso, Andrew Sweeney, Landon Wilcox and Caleb Woodward.

Felkl has loads of experience in big matches for Otter Valley and hit 100 career wins last year as a junior in the Jason Lowell Tournament. Felkl was a state finalist, falling to Vergennes Isaac Preston in the 215-pound final.

Maisa Allen has established herself among the best female wrestlers in the state. She finished third at 113 pounds at the state championship meet last year and has great showings at the national level as well.

She is on pace to hit 100 wins for her high school career this winter, currently sitting in the 80s for her win total.

Her younger brother Blake Allen is at 91 wins for his high school career. He was an impressive third at 157 pounds last year in a weight class that included wrestlers from the top-two placing teams.

Benoit took fourth last year at states at 144 pounds. Reid was also a state-placing wrestler last year, taking sixth at heavyweight.

Otter Valley, which is led once again by head coach Cole Mason, has its annual Otter Valley Invitational on Jan. 24 as part of a packed winter schedule.

Fair Haven coach Matt Tuscano has talked in the past about great it is to have a state champion in the room in training.

The Slaters will have one in the room for the next few seasons as sophomore Cole Belden reached the mountain top last year as a freshman in a thrilling finals match with North Country’s Eion Comes at 120 pounds.

Belden is one of the top Fair Haven wrestlers returning this year and could have 100 wins in his sights this year, having won 55 times as a freshman.

Someone who was much closer to that elite club was junior Anthony Szabo, who headed into the season at 99 wins. Both Szabo and Belden could have 200 career wins in sight by career’s end if they continue to win at this level.

Szabo reached the 100-win milestone as part of a weight-class winning effort on Saturday at the St. Johnsbury Early Bird.

Fair Haven graduated multiple 100-win wrestlers, but still has a very good mix of talent coming back led by those two standouts.

The Slaters finished eighth in team scoring at the state championship meet.

Junior Logan Knipes finished sixth last year at states at 113 pounds and he’s another standout wrestler heading into the season.

The roster is rounded out by Keegan Hochberg, Caleb Long, Evan Spanos, Laurel Derouchie, Charles Derouchie, Jade Traverse, Jacob Jamieson, Connor LaFrancois and Josh Cota.

The highlight of Fair Haven’s schedule is its annual Shaddock Duals, which takes place on Dec. 27. The day-long dual meet was renamed for longtime coach Scott Shaddock last winter.

The Springfield wrestling team had another strong last winter, finishing ninth at the state championship meet, just behind Fair Haven.

The future looks bright for the Cosmos with no seniors on their roster. The juniors are Garrett Brickey, Jonathan Lake, Brockton Lovell (Bellows Falls), Liam Rando, Clayton Rousse, Dmitri Jasinski and Mitchell Shaw.

The sophomores are Tanner Matuszewski, Ryan Smith, Nicholas Pierce and Phillip Rousse. The freshmen are Carter Brown, Connor Clark and Curtis Davis.

Lake heads into the season coming off a sophomore campaign where he finished fourth at 215 pounds. Lake is wrestling at 165 or 175 pounds this year.

Rando is coming off a standout sophomore season that saw him finish fifth at the 190 pound weight class. Rando moves up to 215 pounds this year.

Dob Beebe’s Springfield squad has pair of home dual meets this year as part of a very packed schedule.

Beebe noted the offseason work put in by the team to add strength heading into the season.

Senior Ethan Patch headlines an eight-person Mill River wrestling squad, coached again this season by Zach Allen.

Patch comes off a season where he made the state championship match at 175 pounds, falling to Middlebury’s Tucker Wright in a hard fought match that went into the third period.

The Minutemen graduated their other state tournament placing wrestler, Toby Pytlik.

Mill River finished 11th in team scoring last year at the state championship tournament.

Tucker Moody is MRU’s other senior. Justin Chambers is their lone sophomore, while the freshmen class comprises much of the team. Adrian Zielinski, Malachi Miner, Colton Jones, Jameson Ummel and Giuliana Galiano are the ninth-graders.

Mill River hosts its Don Allen Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 10.

Rutland wrestling has a new head coach this season with Kevin Fleury taking over the program, along with Rico Perez.

Rutland, which is still building back up as a program, finished 20th last year at the state championship tournament.

Rutland got its season going this past Saturday in the St. Johnsbury Early Bird.

Rutland had a handful of wrestlers place at the event and it finished fifth as a team.

Micah Perez is one of RHS’s most experienced wrestlers on the team and he was third at 144 pounds in the season opener at St. Johnsbury.

Sam Dyer was second at 106 pounds. Aiden Newton was third at 215 pounds and Tupper Quenneville was third at 138 pounds. Chase Wardwell was fourth at 126 pounds and Matt Christian fourth at 150. Phil Ramage was fifth at 165 and Austin Siliski was sixth in heavyweight in St. Johnsbury.

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