Local Youth Wrestlers Shine at Mass K-4 State Championships

Three Marblehead/Swampscott Wrestlers Medal At Youth State Championships

It was only eight months ago when Marco Mottola, Connor O'Brien, Braiden Kilroy & Adam Callum had never stepped on a wrestling mat before in their young lives.

 Last Sunday at Salem High School however, all four boys decided they had learned enough and felt confident to enter their first wrestling tournament ever.......... the Mass. K-4 Youth Wrestling State Championships. 

 For Mottola & Kilroy, who are both from Marblehead, they faced wrestlers from as far away as Pittsfield, MA in the K-2nd grade Division in the morning.  Mottola went 3-1 with two wins by Fall and a Tech Fall and finished in 2nd Place in his 63 lb. Novice Weight Bracket.  Kilroy went 2-2 with a win by Fall & a Tech Fall.  His two losses were forfeits as Kilroy was not able to continue wrestling after starting out 2-0 due to not feeling well. That said, Kilroy still finished in 3rd Place in his 60 lb. Weight Bracket and looked great while on the mat.

 In the afternoon 3rd & 4th Grade Division wrestling, Callum & O'Brien who both reside in Swampscott were placed in seeded 8-man weight brackets against the best 3rd & 4th Grade youth wrestlers in the State. Adam Callum wrestled very tough, very smart & very strong- but came up on the "less than preferred" end of both his matches, finishing 0-2.  Coach Rick Wyman said "Adam's record today was not reflective of his caliber of wrestling.  He wrestled very well today- I have no complaints regarding how he wrestled.  Adam drew the #1 Seed in his weight class in his first match and that kid had a lot of experience.  The experience was the difference in Adam's first match.  Now Adam has some experience and his future in wrestling is very bright."
 
 O'Brien went 3-1 with two wins by Fall and one win by Minor Decision (8-4) and a 3rd Place finish in his 61 lb. Weight Bracket.  The 3rd Place finish in the 3rd & 4th Grade Division qualifies O'Brien for the New England Youth Championships......... not bad for Connor's first tournament ever.

 All four wrestlers work out of the Swampscott Recreation Department's Youth Wrestling Program, affectionately nicknamed "Black & Blue Youth Wrestling" due to the predominance of Marblehead & Swampscott kids in the program- just like the High School Wrestling team.

 For more information regarding local Youth Wrestling, contact:

Danielle Strauss at the Swampscott Recreation Dept. - 781.596.8854
Rob Hopkins - graydawg864@aol.com