Rhys Dewar and Bennett Meehan earn state champ titles

The Merrimack Youth Wrestling program attended the annual NHWAY State Championships held at Nashua South High School in Nashua, NH on February 24, 2019. Top four placers qualified to compete in the Youth New England Wrestling Championships and top three placers received medals. The tournament was double-elimination 8- or 16-man brackets if there was a sufficient number of wrestlers. Merrimack brought 15 wrestlers to the tournament with individual results below:

Kindergartner Bennett Meehan swept through his bracket with two wins by pin and one by major decision taking home first place medal. Matthew Snavely, K grabbed a win by pin against his second opponent to take second place on the podium.

First grader, Kameron Lewis defeated his first opponent by pin and his final two opponents by points. He battled his way back in the consi bracket to earn third place medal.

Cash Torres, grade 2 battled in a tough bracket pinning one of his opponents by pin on the day.

Third grader Ryan Marone was on a mission winning his first two matches by pin and his final by points. He narrowly fell by a mere 2 points in his third match to take second place medal.

Aiden Kennedy, Micah Dodds, Luke Emond and Rhys Dewar represented the fourth grade contingent. Kennedy fought hard in his respective bracket. Dodds clinched one win by points on the day. Emond defeated his first opponent in a nail bitter match in OT. Dewar maintained his state champ title winning streak earning his fifth straight title in a row. He defeated two of his opponents by pin and one by points to maintain his streak and brought home another state championship title.

Gryffen Gelinas, Jackson Meehan, John Regal and Nicolin Stevens represented Merrimack’s fifth grade group. Gelinas and Stevens each had one win on the day by points and pin, respectively. Regal had two wins by points taking fourth place. Meehan had one win by pin and one by points to take second place medal.

Mitchell Krupp, grade 7, secured one win by points taking fourth place on the day.

The Merrimack Youth Wrestling Program is part of the Merrimack Youth Wrestling Program. It strives to provide a safe recreational activity for Merrimack children in grades K-8. The program promotes the sport of wrestling, the world’s oldest sport, by providing a safe practice environment, by delivering high quality instruction, and by facilitating tournament competition opportunities. The program is in its 14th season and currently has 40 wrestlers on the roster.

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