A year ago, the Salem High wrestling team dotted every “i” and crossed every “t.”
The Blue Devils were the best team in New Hampshire and proved it all the way through the Meet of Champions.
Coach Nick Eddy’s crew is now entrusted with the job of sustaining and defending.
“We are focused on preparing for our opening match at Londonderry on December 6,” said Eddy, who welcomed 51 candidates into his room in preparation for the long grind.
Salem returns seven starters, including four New England qualifiers.
Junior Evan Lynch is halfway through one of the great mat careers in school history, already having pocketed two D-I and two Meet of Champions titles. One of two returning Blue Devil Eagle-Tribune All-Stars, he was 51-8 last winter. The other is junior Caleb O’Rourke, a returning Division I champ who was 47-13 a year ago.
Junior Spencer Buscema and senior Brody McDonald are the other returning New England qualifiers.
Buscema (49-11) punched his ticket in style, winning the Meet of Champions after placing second in the D-I state meet. McDonald (45-12) was a runner-up in both.
New era at Timberlane
The team the Blue Devils supplanted at the top, Timberlane Regional, is under new leadership as former assistant Tim Brown takes over for Dan Donovan.
The Owls did not have a champion at Division I and looked to be shut out at the Meet of Champions as well, before 285-pounder Malikai Colon delivered in the final match of the event.
Colon has moved on, but a solid cast returns for Brown as Timberlane bids to climb back to the top of the mountain.
“Our numbers have doubled to 50 athletes. We are very high on our freshman and sophomore classes and return a couple upperclassmen state placers that will lead us,” said Brown. “We will rely on many different lineups and are confident in all of the athletes who take the mat. The team has been working hard and is hungry to compete.”
Brown notes the Owls could start up to 10 freshmen or sophomores.
Among them is sophomore New England placer Ryan Sigillo (17-13 last year) who was runner-up in D-I and the MOC as a freshman.
Senior Jacob Andrade went 24-7 last winter, taking second in D-I and third at MOC, whole junior Talon Oljey (29-13) was third in both.
Crowded room at Pinkerton
Four returning Division I state placers head up a huge group that turned out for practice at Pinkerton.
“With 56 kids in the room, we feel like there’s a resurgence in the program that we have been building toward since the Covid season of 2020-21,” said Astros coach Dave Rhoads. “We have very strong leadership and a senior class that has been through the battles. Seventeen freshmen is our biggest class in many years. and it’s good to see juniors Anthony Caruso and Landon Mackiernan join the team this year straight from the football field.”
Captain Nels DeAlmeida leads, at 165, a trio of state D-I placers back for their senior year. The others are 120-pounder Aiden Doyle and 190-pounder Tom Lacroix.
Sophomore Cam Arbogast was the highest Astros placer at D-I states, grabbing third to cap off his freshman campaign.
Windham
stands strong
Six of Windham High’s nine returning starters placed at the Division I state meet.
“We have a lot of upperclassmen on the team this year that have been on the team for a few years and have worked hard at improving,” said coach Corbin Decker. “We are excited for the season to get started and see how we match up. The state has been improving and becoming more competitive recently, I expect that to continue this year.”
Senior Con Isaac and junior Liam Shambo come back off third-place finishes in D-I and again should anchor the bunch.
Dylan Suliveras (6th), Nick Russell (5th), Liam McGrail (4th), Henry Palmer (4th) are hungry to help Windham improve off its seventh-place finish at states in 2023.
Pelham on the rise
Already a two-time Division III state champ at Pelham High, senior Michael Harrington and his upper-class teammates hit the pavement in a wrestling recruiting effort for the Pythons.
The work helped bump up the team numbers to 18 for coach Bob Riddinger, whose club was fourth in Division III last winter.
“They did a great job getting people in the room. That, along with an incoming freshman class have pushed our numbers up and we are looking to fill out all of the weight classes,” said Riddinger. “Since we have not had a senior on the team in two years our expectations are high.”
Harrington, who was 37-9 last year and placed second at the Meet of Champions, heads up the crew along with fellow captains Nathan Maslanek and Russell Leonard.
“At the state tournament last year, we placed six of the nine kids we entered,” said Riddinger. “Our goal is to better those results and contend for a state title.”