HB sends two to New Englands

Friday, March 1, 2013

Joe Marchilena photo

Souhegan's Cameron Crook wrestles Hollis Brookline's Nate Ashe during a consolation match at 220 pounds at Saturday's Meet of Champions. Ashe won the match with a pin.

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DERRY – Joe Chimelski was a spectator for the New England wrestling championship last year.

The Nashua High School North junior did not want that to happen again.

Chimelski not only will be going to this year’s New England meet, but he will go as the New Hampshire champion at 195 pounds after beating Concord’s Walters Ndi on Saturday at the Meet of Champions at Pinkerton Academy.

It was one of two individual titles for the Titans, and one of three for Greater Nashua wrestlers. North’s Marcel LaPlante won the 113 title and Bishop Guertin’s Brandon Levesque needed overtime to win the 132 title.

Four other finalists, and three others who finished third, will advance to New Englands.

Timberlane once again finished first, scoring 241 1⁄2 points, while Pinkerton took second with 119 and North was third with 108 1⁄2. Hollis Brookline finished fourth with 95 points and Exeter and Manchester Central tied for fifth with 83.

Chimelski assured himself a spot in the regionals by making it the 195 final. He participated at MOCs the last two years, but both times injuries kept him from finishing the day. It looked like that might be the case again Saturday.

During the match against Ndi, Chimelski went down with pain in each knee, first his left, then his right. But both times he dug deep and continued the match.

“I have a torn meniscus in both of my knees,” Chimelski said. “(The right one), I had surgery to get it removed. The other is going to need surgery after the season. It slips out of the joint and I have to push it back in. It’s painful, but once it’s in, it feels fine.”

Ndi beat Chimelski at last week’s Division I meet, beating him in the final 6-3. This time, he ground out a 2-1 win over Ndi.

LaPlante had little trouble picking up the 113 title, beating Timberlane’s Tim McLinden 10-1. Cam Bennett also made it to the finals for North, but lost, 2-0, to Tyler Fitzpatrick of Timberlane.

Levesque and Manchester Central’s Kyle Peterson were tied 1-1 for most of their match before Levesque scored a takedown early in overtime of the 132 final to win 3-1.

Joe Albina of Milford came up short in his quest for second-straight MOC title, losing to Timberlane’s Harry Denoncourt, 11-5, in the 182 final. Albina will compete at New Englands for the third year in a row.

Merrimack’s Zach Pickard had a 2-0 lead in the 220 final when he was pinned by Dakoda Simula at 3:33.

Simula was named the meet’s Outstanding Wrestler after pinning all three of his opponents.

North and HB had the most wrestlers place, and both will be sending multiple wrestlers to New Englands. HB’s Caleb Lomme (145) and Hunter Longland (220) both finished third, while Nate Ashe (195) and Hisham Hafez (285) were fourth and Zach Jennings (152) came in sixth.

South’s Tyler Ellwood (152) also will head to New Englands after a third place, and teammate Chris Dube (220) finished fifth. North’s Evan Manns (182) took fourth and Peter Daniels (120) was sixth.

Alvirne got a fifth place from Taylor Thyne (106) while Pat Morse (160) and Evan Manning (170) both took sixth.

Derek Lawton (145) came in fifth for Bishop Guertin and Milford also got a fifth place from Connor Borne (160), who picked up his 100th career win during the competition.

The New Englands will run March 1-2 at the Providence (R.I.) Career and Technical Center.