Mount Everett Takes Three Crowns at Berkshire Holiday Tournament
GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. – With less than a minute to go and trailing by three points in his 132-pound title bout on Saturday, Mount Everett’s Max Manning had some work to do.
Manning was able to work a pin that gave the Mounties their third title at the Berkshire Holiday Tournament.
After stopping West Springfield’s Marin Todica at the 5 minute, 45 second mark of their first-place bout, Manning said that he saw an opening late after falling behind to Todica in their first ever matchup.
“It was a close one,” Manning said. “I think I can work harder, and I’m going to. But I’m lucky I got that cradle.
“I feel like [Todica’s] power fell a little short. The first round, second round, he felt strong. The third round, he kind of gave out. I didn’t feel that power he was putting on me in the first round.”
Manning credited one of his training partners in particular with preparing him to take advantage of the opportunity.
“I’ve been drilling cradles with my good friend Connor Lupiani,” Manning said. “He’s really good at cradles, so I went through that and stuck with the cradle. It felt good.
“I tried putting a bar on [Todica] earlier. It felt discouraging. So I was like,’ I’m going to try a cradle.’ I think that was a definite position I wanted to do.”
Lupiani also walked out of Monument Mountain with a title, taking first at 126 pounds one year to the day after winning the 116-pound division at the event.
Diego Cruz gave the Eagles their first gold medal on Wednesday afternoon, winning the 106-pound weight class for the third straight year.
With three individual titles, Mount Everett tied West Springfield for most gold medals at the meet.
The Terriers ran away with the team title, amassing 268 points to easily eclipse runner-up Athol (153.5 points).
The host Spartans placed third with 135 points after sending four wrestlers to the finals.
Sam St. Peter won his title bout at 285 pounds to close the meet. Keegan Dargie (113), Alexander Schindler (120) and Dominic Dignard (144) each finished second.
Dignard was pinned in the first minute of the title bout by Taconic’s Hunter Christman in the only final featuring two Berkshire County wrestlers.
Christman was joined at the top of the podium by his Taconic teammate Noah Poirier.
Poirier used three first-period pins to claim the 175-pound title, adding to the Berkshire Holiday Tournament titles he won in 2021 (152 pounds) and 2022 (160 pounds).
Taconic also got wins in the consolation finals from Clay Cowdrey (150) and Justin Borwawksi (157) en route to a fifth-place team finish.
Mount Greylock placed fourth in the 14-team field, four points ahead of the Thunder.
The Mounties got a title from sophomore Jayquan Vazquez at 190 pounds.
Vazquez went 4-0 on the day, getting pushed by Athol’s Sawyer Lefsyk in the quarter-finals before prevailing, 5-2, and then stopping his semi-final and championship opponents in less than one minute apiece.
Mount Greylock got a runner-up finish by Logan O’Connell at 215 and a third-place win from Brett Dupuis at 138. Mounties’ seventh-grader Aiden Maroney earned a 2-1 decision over Mohawk Trail’s Wade Purington in the 99-pound exhibition final.
Mount Everett, despite garnering three titles, finished in the middle of the pack in the team competition, placing seventh. The Eagles dominated the lower weight classes, with three golds in the first five divisions, but entered just eight wrestlers, fewest of any of the local teams.
“I feel good about where the team is,” Manning said. “It’s a small team, but we’ve got some really amazing wrestlers.”
Finals
106 Diego Cruz, Mount Everett, pinned Ber Calhoun, Frontier, 1:32.
113 Devon Mateo, West Springfield, pinned Keegan Dargie, Monument Mountain, 1:13.
120 Mateo Henriques, Smith Voc, def. Alexander Schindler, Monument Mountain, 11-1.
126 Connor Lupiani, Mount Everett, pinned Damien Scribner, West Springfield, 1:30.
132 Max Manning, Mount Everett, pinned Marin Todica, West Springfield, 5:15
138 Hoos Mohsin, West Springfield, def. Matthew Small, Smith Vocational, 11-4.
144 Hunter Christman, Taconic, def. Pinned Dominic Dignard, Monument Mountain, :58.
150 Abel Varzeas, West Springfield, pinned Logan Moore, Mohawk Trail, 1:13.
157 Aiden Kirwan, Athol, pinned Salim Madjidov, West Springfield, 1:35
165 Riley Reed, Athol, pinned Harith Alsultani, West Springfield, :34.
175 Noah Poirier, Taconic, pinned Russell Melius Jr., Northwestern (Conn.), 1:19.
190 Jayquan Vazquez, Mount Greylock, pinned Ben Sharon, Northwestern (Conn.), :47.
215 William Vanvleet, Mohawk Trail, pinned Logan O’Connell, Mount Greylock, 1:26.
285 Sam St. Peter, Monument Mountain, pinned Tyler Lewis, Taconic Hills (N.Y.), 2:34.
Team Scores
1. West Springfield, 268 points; 2. Athol, 153.5; 3. Monument Mountain, 135; 4. Mount Greylock, 117; 5. Taconic, 113; 6. Taconic Hills, 95; 7. Mount Everett, 77.5; 8. Northwestern, 68; 9 Smith Vocational, 64; 10. Gateway, 59; 11. Mohawk Trail, 58; 12. Frontier, 52; 13. Hampshire, 40; 14. Franklin County, 24.