Three from County Win Titles at Berkshire Holiday Tournament
GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. -- Monument Mountain senior Caden O’Rourke Friday sent the hometown crowd smiling.
But he already had plenty to smile about.
O’Rourke outlasted Putnam’s Ramell Acquah for a 7-1 win in the final match of the Berkshire Holiday Tournament to earn the 195-pound title and help the Spartans place fifth in the 20-team field.
“It means a lot,” O’Rourke said. “I’ve never even placed in a tournament, let alone won one, until this year. And it’s back-to-back. I won one on Monday and then this one.
“To win back-to-back, and I have all my family here. My brother is in the Air Force, and I don’t get to see him that much. I’m seeing him for the first time in like a year and a half. So just to share this one with my whole family and my whole team is something I was really looking forward to.”
O’Rourke was one of three Berkshire County wrestlers to take home top honors on Friday at Monument Mountain.
Mount Everett’s Zack Lupiani pinned Monument’s Caleb Pollard 43 seconds into their final at 126 pounds.
Mount Greylock’s Jack Rosier won an 8-5 decision over Putnam’s Kristopher DeJesus in the title bout at 160 pounds.
Northwestern (Conn.) won the team title with 164.5 points, edging out Ichabod Crane (N.Y.). With 160.5 points. The host Spartans were the top county finishers with 114.5 points..
Mount Everett placed seventh with 68 points, and Mount Greylock was ninth with 64 points. With its top wrestlers on the other side of the Commonwealth competing at the George Bossi Holiday Tournament, Taconic still managed a 15th-place showing with its “B” squad.
“Below the top two [teams], the three, four, five were all within two or three points of each other, so it’s good to be in that mix, especially with one of our better kids, Sam [Cormier] being out,” Monument Mountain coach Simon Jones said. “That hurts us a little bit in team scoring, so you put him in there, and it’s a really solid tournament team we’ve got here. I’m really proud of the group.”
Monument Mountain placed five wrestlers in the championship round on Friday: Colin Kinne lost, 6-3, at 99 pounds; Logan Mead was pinned at 220; and Ely Cormier lost, 15-2, at 132 pounds.
O’Rourke, the second seed at 195, picked up a pair of pins in his first two matches before going the distance in his last two.
“Oh, it’s very draining,” O’Rourke said of the long final. “Especially against a kid of his strength. I mean, I was trying to turn him left and right, but he’s a powerhouse. The kid’s a great wrestler.
“I’ve never wrestled him before. Especially against someone of that strength, to go six minutes definitely drains you.”
Mount Everett saw two wrestlers reach the finals. In addition to Lupiani, Jeremiah Tomacak made the championship bout at 152, where he was pinned by West Springfield’s Tah Alsultani.
The Eagles’ Eduardo Rodriguez won his last match of the day, pinning Kinderhook, N.Y.’s, Zach Ebel to place third at 220 pounds.
Two Mount Greylock wrestlers ended their days with a win.
In addition to Rosier, Ty Lepicier won with a first-period pin of Winstead, Conn.’s, Colby Sanden at 120 pounds to place third in the weight class.
Mount Greylock coach John Carvalho was happy with the performances he got from his rebuilding squad.
“With the experience we have, it was very productive,” Carvalho said. “The kids are showing a lot more skill and getting more production out of their moves. We finished ninth as a team out of 20, which is pretty good, considering last year we had six kids. We’re up to 17. I think we’re going to be more competitive.”