Caribou placed 19th out of 26 teams
ROCKLAND, Maine — The wrestling season came to an end for the Caribou Vikings Saturday at the Class B state meet held at Oceanside High School.
Two wrestlers competed – Cory Jandreau in the 132 lb. division and Izaiah Thayer in 220. Jandreau was seeded fourth and lost both his matches, the first to defending state champion Ethan Boucher of Mountain Valley by pin and the second to Gabe Solorzano of Erskine by an 11-6 decision.
“I think state championship jitters plagued Cory’s ability to relax and wrestle the way he is capable of,” said his coach, James “Chico” Hernandez. “This was his first trip to the championships and this experience will pay off big time for him as he enters his junior year.”
Jandreau finished with a team-leading 28 victories this season.
Thayer was also originally the No. 4 seed, but moved up a slot when one of the entrants scratched. He led after two periods against Wells’ Brenden Dean, the second seed, but was pinned late in the third round. Thayer then won by fall over Lincoln Academy’s Trevor Jones for his 27th victory of the winter before getting pinned in 24 seconds by Dirigo’s Lucas McDonald, last year’s Class C state champ.
“Izaiah has been a big surprise as a first-year wrestler,” said Hernandez. “He is a tough kid who acknowledges he has to work on conditioning, and that plus more technique and he should be a ‘blue chip’ wrestler next year.”
Caribou placed 19th out of 26 teams with its three points on the day.
The Vikings will return plenty of experience next year in Evan Michaud, Carter Conley, Calvin Mokler, Devin Roy, Joshua Ashton, Marcus Caudill, Alton Pelletier, Joey Cyr and Jarred Jordan, along with Jandreau and Thayer.
Hernandez said the team will miss the three seniors — Trevonte Caudill, Colton Conley and Dustin DeMerchant, who combined for 150 career varsity wins, with DeMerchant leading the way with 62.
The coach also acknowledged the efforts of manager Brooke DeMerchant and assistant coaches Robert Jandreau and Matt Manter, who he said all “were invaluable to me and this team.”
