By ANDY KIRKALDY
VERGENNES — When the mats were rolled up on Saturday night in the Vergennes Union High School gym, wrestlers from Mount Abraham, Middlebury, Otter Valley and the host school had racked up three individual state titles and 20 top-six podium finishes at the Vermont championship tournament.
Eagle senior Devan Hemingway claimed his second straight 120-pound title, Tiger senior Nick Sheldrick powered his way to the 285-pound crown, and hometown favorite Eli Brace, a Commodore senior, not only earned the 132-pound championship, but also reached the coveted 100-win milestone with his semifinal victory.
The coaches at the conclusion of the competition also voted Brace the tournament’s outstanding wrestlers. He and the other top-three finishers are eligible to compete this coming weekend at the New England tournament.
Mount Anthony used its depth on Saturday to cruise to its 34th straight title, outpointing second-place Colchester, 219-157.5, even though only one Patriot, Anthony Johnson at 170 pounds, won his weight class.
Right behind those larger high schools in the 22-team field were Otter Valley in third with 145 points and VUHS in fourth at 121.
Spaulding, another bigger school, took fifth with 115. Mount Abe (13th with 56) and MUHS (14th at 54) finished in the middle of the pack.
OV Coach Cole Mason, whose team won several tournaments during the course of the winter as well as performed well on Saturday, was voted the Vermont Coach of the Year by his peers.
Hemingway went 3-0 on the way to his second title at 120, winning by an 8-3 decision in the quarterfinal, a quick pin in the semifinal, and then in the final edging Mount Anthony’s Logan Davis in a tactical battle, 2-0.
Brace also went 3-0 at 132. After winning his first-round match he faced Mount Anthony’s Taylor Monick in the semifinal in search of his 100th win, with the crowd roaring. Brace took the lead in the first period and then controlled Monick from the top position for all of the second and third periods except for the final 10 seconds, winning 4-1 in dominant fashion.
OTTER VALLEY’S MOST successful wrestling team in years finished third at the state championships in Vergennes.
In the final he faced No. 3 seed Lincoln Wilcox of OV, who had pinned No. 2 seed Avery Carl of MUHS, a 2022 champion. Brace pinned Wilcox a minute into the middle period for the crown.
Sheldrick came into this winter as Vermont top-ranked returning heavyweight, but was seeded second based on a regular-season loss to Springfield’s Cole Wright in which he received a crucial point deduction that MUHS Coach Ethan Raymond called questionable.
It didn’t matter on Saturday. Sheldrick pinned his first two opponents, and then in the final added Wright to his list of victims with another pin 1:36 into the second period.
The Otters didn’t win any weight classes, but racked up nine podium finishes to earn their third-place finish. Tucker Babcock at 152 joined Wilcox in earning a second, and brothers Caleb Whitney at 138 and Isaac Whitney at 182 both finished third. Caleb Whitney and Babcock were honored on Saturday for earning 100 career wins.
Coach Eugene Stearns’s Commodores placed seven wrestlers on podiums. Issac Preston at 182 and Jamison Couture at 195 each finished second, and Caden Howell at 220 was third.
For Coach Alex Peterson’s Eagles, Conner Meacham took third at 113 pounds. For the Tigers, Carl wrestled back to take third at 132.
The full team scores were: 1. Mt. Anthony, 219; 2. Colchester, 157.5; 3. OV, 145; 4. VUHS, 121; 5. Spaulding, 115; 6. Essex, 104.5; 7. Mount Mansfield, 86; 8. Champlain Valley, 76; 9. Fair Haven, 71; 10. St. Johnsbury, 70; 11. Randolph, 66; 12. Springfield, 59; 13. Mount Abe, 56; 14. MUHS, 54; 15. Winooski, 20; 16. Mount St. Joseph, 12; 17. Lake Region and Lyndon, 10; 19. Burr & Burton and Harwood, 9; 21. Mill River, 2; 22. Green Mountain, 0.
