After stellar Day 1 performances, a pair of area wrestlers moved through their respective brackets and earned third-place finishes at the MIAA Division 3 Wrestling Championships on Saturday at Game On Fitchburg.
Athol’s Joe Gray (182 pounds) and Mahar’s Abduli Gilmore (106) each took third place to pace the local wrestlers, and both earned spots in next weekend’s MIAA All-State Meet as top six finishers in their weight classes.
Gray helped the Bears to a 19th-place team finish with 40 points – the best team showing in the Recorder area. After falling to Gloucester’s Michael Toppan in the 182-pound semifinals on Saturday, he rallied to beat Wakefield’s Luke Ickles (pin) before pinning Sabis’ Myles Brown in just 42 seconds in the third-place match.
Athol’s Caleb Cox (170 pounds) and Natanael Torres (285) each took seventh place on the weekend.
Gilmore propelled Mahar to a 27th-place team finish with 27 points, as he also overcame a semifinal loss and won two straight to take third place at 106.
After falling via a tight 7-5 decision in the semis to Keefe Tech’s Kevin Ribeiro, Gilmore roared back to hold off Scituate’s Will Hartwell (6-1 decision) and Sandwich’s Gavon Potter (9-5 decision) to score the third-place showing.
Teammate Domanic Cacciolfi finished seventh for the Senators at 138 pounds.
The area’s other semifinalist, Frontier’s Payton Sladeski, wound up fourth at 120 pounds to help the Redhawks take 24th as a team with 35 points.
Sladeski lost to Melrose’s Sean Thomas in the semifinals, before pinning Ashland’s Lucas Ribera to punch a ticket to the third-place bout. There, he dropped a marathon three-round battle with Michael Derubeis of Holliston to finish in fourth overall. Sladeski’s performance also booked him a spot at the All-State tournament.
Frontier’s Jake Mattson (195) finished in sixth place to also earn an All-State invite.
Franklin Tech’s Josh Brunelle took sixth place at 145 pounds to pace his team over the weekend. Brunelle picked up a win over Hunter Johnson of Tewksbury to secure a top six showing.
Melrose won the Div. 3 team title in a tight race, amassing 104 points to hold off runner-up Tewksbury (103) and third-place Wakefield (102.5).