By ANDY KIRKALDY
BRANDON — On the strength of second-place finishes in five weight classes, the Otter Valley Union High School wrestling team on Saturday took first place in its own tournament.
Lincoln Wilcox (132 pounds), Caleb Whitney (138), Tucker Babcock (152), Chase Cram (160) and Simon Martin (195) all reached finals for the Otters.
Meanwhile, three Vergennes wrestlers and one from Mount Abraham won titles.
Commodore Eli Brace continued his dominant season with another top finish at 132 pounds, and joining him as winners were teammates Tyrelle Lavoie (160) and Isaac Preston (182). Breaking through with a tournament victory for the Eagles was senior Matt Conant at 145 pounds.
Otter Valley scored 168 points to take the team crown, followed by New York teams Beekmantown (135) and Northern Adirondack (122). Monument Mountain (Mass.) was fourth, and Vergennes took fifth with 106 points. The Eagles were eighth at 58 in the 16-team field.
By weight class, local wrestlers who finished in the top six were:
• 113 pounds: 3. Connor Meacham, Mt. Abe.
• 132: 1. Brace, VUHS; 2. Wilcox, OV. Brace pinned Wilcox in the final and won all five of his matches via pin.
• 138: 2. Whitney, OV. Whitney lost in the final to Beekmantown’s Sawyer Bell, who was voted the tournament’s outstanding wrestler.
• 145: 1. Conant, Mt. Abe; 3. Carter Giles, OV. Conant defeated Fair Haven’s Liam Robinson in the final, 4-0.
• 152: 2. Babcock, OV. Babcock pinned four foes until being pinned in the final by Massena, N.Y., wrestler Coldon Hardy.
• 160: 1. Lavoie, VUHS. Lavoie won all five matches of his matches by pin, including over OV’s Cram in the final.
• 170: 4. Drake Felkl, OV.
• 182: 1. Preston, VUHS; 4. Isaac Whitney, OV. Preston rolled to his title with four straight pins.
• 195. 2. Martin, OV. Martin lost a tough, 7-6 decision in the final to Monument Mountain’s Luke Harston.
• 220: 3. Wyatt Allenson, Mt. Abe; 4. Bruce Dusablon, OV. Allenson pinned Dusablon in their third-place match.
