Monument Mountain Wrestlers Win Western Mass

NORTHFIELD, Mass. -- Nate Cormier won the 145-pound Western Massachusetts Division 3 title Saturday to lead Monument Mountain to a team championship.

 

Cormier defeated Hampden Charter’s Khalis Kasimov, 4-1, in the sectional final after earning a pin over Mahar’s Miller Richardson in Saturday morning’s semi-finals.

 

Monument Mountain finished with 203 points, easily outdistancing second place Hampden Charter, which earned 154.

 

Taconic finished fifth in the team standings with 124 points. Mount Greylock, which picked up an individual title from senior Devin Pelletier, placed ninth with 113 points. Mount Everett finished 16th in the 20-team field.

 

Pelletier, the winningest wrestler in Massachusetts high school history, added three more wins to his resume over two days at Pioneer Valley Tech.

 

On Saturday, the Mountie pinned Smithfield Tech’s Justin Flores in 2 minutes, 14 seconds, in the semi-finals before beating Athol’s Chris Waslaske, 9-2, in the 170-pound final.

 

Taconic did not pick up an individual title, but the 2016 sectional champion saw three wrestlers finish second at this year’s sectional.

 

At 106 pounds, Mike LaFreniere reached the final with a Saturday morning pin only to lose to South Hadley’s Isaiah Cardenales, 12-0. At 132, Zabion Powell won, 4-0, over Sabis’ Jalen Rogers, in the semis but dropped a narrow, 5-3 decision to Hampden Charter’s Omar Velez in the title bout. 152-pounder Isiah Williams earned a major decision over Hampshire Tech’s Michael Baldwin to reach the final, where he was edged by Southwick’s Miguel Gonzalez, 7-6.

 

Monument Mountain had two runners-up: John Field at 182 and Shamal Schoonmaker at 195. Mount Greylock’s Alex Griffis of Drury High School was second at 220.