Sports
Wrestlers Grab Two Medals at Pentucket Tournament
The Marblehead/Swampscott wrestling team got solid performances in the Pentucket Tournament, earning multiple medals.
With only four athletes making the trip, the Marblehead/Swampscott wrestling squad came away from the Pentucket Tournament on Tuesday, with two medals and a new lineup to approach the rest of the regular season with.
Marblehead sophomore Sean Taylor had a successful tournament, claiming the bronze medal in the 285 lb. weight-class, but he truly had to earn it. Taylor spent more time on the mat than anyone else at the tournament, as his four matches all went the full six-minutes, and one even went into quadruple overtime.
"Sean Taylor wrestled his tail off," said head coach Mike Stamison.
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"The funny part about that is, the longest match I previously had ever been a part of was while coaching his older brother, who in the finals at the CAL/NEC tournament last year went to triple over time," added Stamison.
Taylor started the day off with a loss to an opponent from North Andover, but rebounded nicely to win his remaining matches en-route to the bronze medal.
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His first win was the quadruple-overtime victory against Arlington, which was followed by what Stamison refers to as "a fantastic win over his brother's old adversary," Eric Gesualdi of Georgetown/Ipswich. In the medal match he defeated the heavyweight from Everett
Swampscott sophomore Jake Powell had the best day for the Black and Blue, as he dropped from the 112 lb. division to 103 lbs. and claimed the first place medal.
"The kid has nothing to lose in general, where he found weight to lose is beyond me," admits Stamison, "but he did it on his own, thinking that wrestling at the lower weight would give him the best chance to win the tourney. Boy was he right."
Powell dominated his three matches, winning two by major decision and the other by pin. In the finals match he defeated Salem's Tahmid Raji 14-0, just a single point shy of a technical fall, wrestling's answer to a shutout.
Stamison described Powell's performance as "very impressive and dominating wrestling from perhaps the best lightweight in the NEC." He added that the Big Blue sophomore will remain in the 103 weight-class for the remainder of the season.
"Powell and Taylor, both being sophomores, have a lot more seasoning to do," said Stamison, "but both are a big part of our team's future."
Marblehead/Swampscott's next match is against a talented Georgetown/Ipswich team on Wednesday at Georgetown Middle/High School at 5:30 p.m.
