Caribou wrestlers handed first defeat

   ELLSWORTH, Maine — The Caribou Vikings suffered their first dual wrestling meet loss of the season during a four-team meet held Saturday.
The host Eagles, a highly-regarded Class B power, handed Caribou a 63-12 defeat. In their other matches, the Vikings competed against Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln and Hermon and defeated them by scores of 40-18 and 45-12, respectively. The Vikings ran their record in dual meets to 12-1.    Rebecca King, competing in the 120 lb. weight division, went 3-0 on the day to earn coach Chico Hernandez’s “wrestler of the week” honors.
“She had a great showing against her Hermon opponent and won by fall and competed all day fighting the flu,” said the coach. “She pulled it all together physically and mentally and showed great leadership as a captain of this team and wrestled flawlessly.”
She shared the weekly honor with Kyle Morris, Caribou’s 126 lb. wrestler, who recorded two victories and lost by a narrow 10-9 decision in his other match.
“He had his chances in the [the match he lost] and almost pinned his opponent as time ran out and he fought gallantly off his back for over a minute not getting pinned. The Ellsworth coaches were impressed with his toughness.”
Wrestling at 195, senior captain Matt Manter went 3-0 for the day boosting his overall record to 21-1 on the season. He beat Hermon’s Andrew Rediker for the second time this season.
Colton Conley wrestling at both 220 and 285 and performed well in a loss by fall to Hermon’s undefeated Luke Potter and defending state champion Mike Garland of Ellsworth.
“Colton is by far the most improved wrestler on the team this year and competes in two of the toughest divisions,” Hernandez said. “He is tough mentally and doesn’t care who he wrestles”
Conley shared “wrestler of the week” honors with King and Morris.
From a team standpoint, Hernandez said the Vikes still have a ways to go as they prepare for the tournament portion of their schedule.
“With the season heading down the home stretch, I did not like how we wrestled overall yesterday against Ellsworth,” said Hernandez, noting that the team had not competed in a dual meet in two weeks due to having last weekend’s match cancelled by the ice storm.
“We may have been a little rusty. We practiced very hard and were prepared for [Ellsworth] but having 12 meets cancelled due to weather this year does not help our cause.
“I am very proud of this team and what they have done this year and the best is yet to come,” he added.
The squad travels to Howland Saturday for a meet against PVHS, Hermon, Washington Academy and Calais. The conference championships are Feb. 1 and the EM and state meets the ensuing two Saturdays.