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| Staff photo/Kevin Sjoberg Caribou’s Michael Selander takes control of his match against Foxcroft Academy’s Luke Olson in the semifinals of the Caribou Invitational Wrestling Tournament, held Dec. 15. Selander ended up placing second in the 152-lb. weight division. Other schools participating included Central, Hermon, Mount Desert Island, Fort Kent, George Stevens Academy and Washington Academy. |
The Caribou Vikings picked up victories in their first two dual meets of the season and also delivered excellent performances in its own invitational meet in action over the past two weeks.
Coach “Chico” Hernandez’s squad was scheduled to make the trip to Dexter for a meet Saturday and will next take part in back-to-back competitions Thursday and Friday at Hermon and Maine Central Institute, respectively.
The team made the trip to Fort Kent Thursday for its second matchup against the Warriors this season.
Caribou ended up pulling out a 42-36 decision.
There were six contested matches out of the 14 weight divisions.
In the 113 lb. category, Caribou’s Tre Caudill won by fall over Megan Pelletier of the Warriors.
Brendan Wood, in 138, pinned FK’s Rowan Stamp in 4:42.
The Warriors took the 145 division as Nick Levesque won by fall over Caribou’s Jake Bither in 5:43. Jeremy Voisine of FK also prevailed in 152, pinning the Vikes’ Michael Selander in 2:11.
Jake Tardiff of Fort Kent won his match over Caribou’s Aaron Simon in the 170 category. He pinned Simon in 2:26.
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| Staff photo/Kevin Sjoberg Matt Manter puts the finishing touches on Fort Kent’s Mitchell Pelletier during the Dec. 15 wrestling tournament held at Caribou High School. Manter came in first place in the 195-lb. weight division. |
Mitchell Pelletier of Fort Kent defeated Caribou’s Matt Manter in their 195 bout. The pin came at the 2:54 mark.
Caribou’s forfeit wins were claimed by Tsion McLeod in 106, Axios Gerakaris in 126, Robert Caudill in 132, Dustin DeMerchant in 182 and Colton Conley in 220.
Fort Kent’s Jordyn Tanguay (120) and Josh Pelletier (160) also won by forfeit. The 285 division was a double forfeit.
On Dec. 12, the two teams met at the Caribou High School gymnasium.
The Vikings prevailed by a score of 45-18.
In 120, Rebecca King won by fall in 3:50 over Tanguay. Wood pinned Fort Kent’s Simon Caron in 3:50 of their 138 match and Bither took a 6-3 decision over Levesque in 145.
Voisine needed just 39 seconds to pin Selander in the 152 class.
Manter won by fall over Pelletier in a 195 match that took 1:31.
Tre Caudill, Gerakaris, Robert Caudill, Kevin Bither and Conley were Caribou’s winners via forfeit.
In the Dec. 15 tournament, which featured teams from throughout Eastern Maine, Caribou turned in a great effort by winning championships in five of the weight divisions.
McLeod went unopposed to capture the 106 division. Caudill pinned Fort Kent’s Megan Pelletier in the finals of the 113 division.
King captured the 120 class, pinning Tanguay in 3:56.
Wood, wrestling in 132, pinned MDI’s Elijah Malloy in the finals in a time of 2:48.
Caribou’s fifth and final champ was Manter, who took a 4-1 decision over Zack Brown of Central in the195 finals.
Selander placed second in the 152 division, getting pinned by Voisine in 1:46 of their finals match.
Kevin Bither was the runner-up in 170, losing by fall to Fort Kent’s Jacob Tardiff.
In 220, Conley was pinned by Hermon’s Alex Urquart of Hermon in 51 seconds in the championship round.
Third-place winners for Caribou included McLeod in 113, Gerakaris in 126, Jacob Bither in 145 and DeMerchant in 182.
Hernandez said if the tourney would have been scored, Caribou would have posted 121 points to defeat the seven other teams.
Hernandez gave his Viking “wrestler of the week” award to Manter for winning his third tournament in as many weeks.
