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| Observer photo/Mike Lange Axios Gerakaris of Caribou, left, sizes up Jacob Hesseltine of Dexter in a 145 preliminary match at the PVC championship Saturday in Ellsworth. Gerakaris won the match, 17-6, but Hesseltine won the rematch in the consolation finals. |
By Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
ELLSWORTH — The Caribou wrestling team’s strong season continued Saturday with a fourth-place performance at the Penobscot Valley Conference championship meet.
Caribou scored 80 points and finished ahead of 11 other teams. The host Ellsworth Eagles placed first, followed by Foxcroft Academy and Dexter.
Eight wrestlers medaled for the Vikes. Rebecca King in the 113 lb. division, Kyle Morris in 120 and Jacob Bither in 170 all placed third, while Noah Cousins in 106, Eric Simon in 138, Axios Gerakaris in 145, Dustin DeMerchant in 182 and Matthew Manter in 195 all placed fourth.
King, a senior captain, picked up her first career PVC medal by defeating a pair of opponents, including one in the consolation finals.
Morris went 3-1 in the tourney. He was defeated by Washington Academy’s Joe Embro in the quarterfinals, 13-3, but came back to beat him in the consolation finals, 14-12.
Bither claimed his best career finish in the PVCs by winning by fall over Mattanawcook Academy’s Nick Birtz and earning a hard-fought 9-8 decision over Michael Pendriss of Foxcroft.
Cousins topped his Piscataquis Community High School opponent en route to a medal in 106.
Simon lost his semifinal match to two-time defending Class C state champion Brooks Law of Foxcroft, but did gain the second win of the season in three tries over Noah Larrabee of Mattanawcook to get into the consolation finals.
Gerakaris scored an impressive 17-6 triumph over Jacob Hesseltine of Dexter and also topped Foxcroft’s J.T. Black on a second-period pin to place.
Demerchant garnered wins by both decision and by fall to make it into the consolation finals. One of his victories avenged an early-season loss to the same opponent a couple weeks earlier at a tourney held at Mt. View High School.
Manter took the No. 1 seed into the 195 bracket, but an injury which kept him out of practice for a couple days leading up to the tourney derailed his chance for a title, according to his coach, James “Chico” Hernandez. Manter did win a pair of matches, but lost a 2-1 decision to Corbyn Bruce of Foxcroft in the semis and later dropped the consolation final to Ellsworth’s Sid St. Peter. Manter’s record now stands at 30-3 overall heading into the regional championships this weekend.
Hernandez said a joint practice with Mattanawcook Academy Friday helped prepare his team for the PVC event and he was pleased with the results.
“It was a very strong tournament this year and if we can perform in the Eastern Maine Championships like we did Saturday, we will punch our tickets to the state tourney,” Hernandez predicted.
“I am proud of these wrestlers. We’ve done better than I expected heading into the season and we are working as hard as we can to get better every time we are on the mat,” he added.
Last Tuesday, Caribou ended up finishing 19-1 in dual meets this season after recording victories over Penobscot Valley High School of Howland, PCHS of Guilford and Mattanawcook Academy in a meet that took place in Lincoln. The Vikings ended up atop the Eastern Maine Class B wrestling standings for the regular season.
The EM championships are set for Saturday at Belfast and the state meet is scheduled a week later at Morse High School in Bath.
