Martin Middle School Runner-Up in State Wrestling Championship

The Martin Middle School wrestling team was hoping for its third consecutive state championship when they competed last weekend at Cumberland High. Thirty six schools were in the mix. The Martin Wildcats outdistanced all opponents the last two years and were favored to at least finish in the top five again this year. "I knew it would be hard to repeat as champs three years in a row as we promoted several wrestlers to the high school level. I knew Kickemuit (Bristol-Warren) was great this year, but our kids have worked hard," said Martin coach Bobby Rodericks.

The Martin coach was right as Kickemuit finished 1st with Martin in 2nd place. "We did well," said Rodericks, "I'm proud that we had two individual state champs and other high bracket finishes," added Rodericks.

Martin's Colby Babbit won first place wrestling at 133 lbs. Other top finishers for Martin were 8th graders DÁnte Silva, a two-time runner up; Damien Miller 4th place at 205 lbs and Efrin Garcia, 4th place at 112 lbs. 7th grader Mike Foster took the other 1st place at 75 lbs. with Heavyweight Donovan Ivy taking a 4th place and 6th grader Robert Amaral grabbing a 7th place finish.

Riverside Middle School also did very well in the 36 school field finishing a strong 19th place. The Vikings featured 3rd place finisher Jovanni Hussey and Chase Kennedy with a 5th place finish. Hussey is a three time 3rd place finisher at RMS. C.J. Hess also did well making it to the level of final 8 from a field of 21 in his weight class. First year RMS coach and former Townie wrestler, Pete Farnsworth was pleased with the Vikings performance. "We have a good team, the kids listen and like to learn. We'll keep getting better," said Farnsworth.

The middle school success is met with smiles from high school coach Tom Galligan whose 16-5 Townies take to the mats this coming weekend for the high school varsity championship tournament.