BYFIELD — And the hits keep coming for the Lynnfield-North Reading wrestling team.
Saturday at Triton Regional High School, the Black and Gold tallied 165 points and finished tied for second at the Cape Ann League/Northeastern Conference Championship meet. Ten LNR wrestlers placed in the top-six.
“Having so many wrestlers do so well at the tournament puts an asterisk on a week of challenges and accomplishments,” said coach Craig Stone.
Senior James Fodera had a meet to remember, winning the 190-pound weight division in dominant fashion and being named the CAL Wrestler of the Year award. All three of his wins came via pins, thereby winning the Madigan Award for the wrestler finishing with the most pin wins. Fodera finished the regular season undefeated through in-season tournaments and also became the first wrestler in the history of LNR’s program to win five in-season titles. Chris O’Connor (2010) and Max Whyman (2016) previously held the mark of four in-season tournament victories in a single season.
Fodera’s road to the championship began with a 1:19 pin win over Michael Burke (Danvers) in the quarterfinals and a 1:01 pin win over Colin Hart (Marblehead-Swampscott) in the semifinals. He needed only 1:08 to clinch the title, defeating Nolan Merrill (Triton) in the final.
Sophomore Nathan Barstow (113 pounds) placed second, marking a second straight year in which he placed. The No. 2 seed, Barstow opened with a 20-2 win over A. Morales (Essex Tech-Masconomet) in the quarterfinals and defeated Tucker Landry (Saugus-Peabody) 6-0 in the semifinals. He came up empty in the final against top-seeded Cooper Lang (Beverly), losing a 5-0 decision.
Senior Cam Arya (165 pounds) also finished second in his first time as a finalist. After a bye in the quarterfinals, the No. 3 seed defeated Cesar Cruz (Saugus-Peabody) in a 12-4 major decision in the semifinals, only to fall to top-seeded Joseph Baker (Beverly) 21-6 in the championship bout.
Sophomore Jason Kouyoumdjian (126 pounds) placed for a second straight year. He finished third. After a first round bye, he opened with a 17-2 win over Brayden DePaula (Essex Tech-Masconomet) in the quarterfinals, then lost 15-0 to Kevin Spoon (Salem). He rebounded with a 9-8 win over Dariush Afsharian (Beverly) 9-8 to stay alive, then defeated Alex Sabino (Triton) in the third-place bout by medical forfeit.
Junior David Glynn (157 pounds) also placed third and was a place-finisher for a third straight year. He opened with a 18-2 win over Angel Vega (Salem) in the quarterfinals, then lost in the semifinals to top-seeded Mason Henshaw (Marblehead-Swampscott) in a 3:42 pin.
He stayed alive with a 2:39 pin win over Jackson Miller (Pentucket) and took the third-place bout with a 3:35 pin over Anthony Murawski (Gloucester).
Sophomores Zach Inafuku (106 pounds) and Jakob Hulett (120 pounds), as well as junior Zack Morse (215 pounds) recorded their first career place finishes with fourth-place efforts, while Dylan Mathews (285 pounds) also placed for the first time with a fifth-place finish.
Senior Isaac Medford (138 pounds) placed sixth in his second consecutive year.
By virtue of being top-three CAL finishers, Barstow, Hulett, Kouyoumdjian, Glynn, Arya, Fodera and Mathews were named to the CAL All-Star team.
The finish was the Black and Gold’s best since 2014 and a marked improvement over recent years when the team finished sixth last year and ninth (out of 10 teams) the previous two years.
For the record, another team on the comeback trail, Saugus-Peabody, grabbed top honors, winning the tournament with 204.5 pts.
After finishing the regular season Wednesday at Wilmington (results too late to print), the Black and Gold head to Ashland High School for the Division 2 State Dual-Meet Championship.
“The challenges will continue this Saturday when we face the top teams in the state,” Stone said.
