The Plymouth State University Wrestling team was victorious this past weekend at the Ted Reese Invitational at the University of Southern Maine.
Plymouth would have five of their wrestlers reach the final round, with another seven wrestlers placing in the tournament. PSU would leave the weekend with 91 points overall edging out AIC, whom they lost to earlier in the season, by a point and a half as the Yellow jackets finished with 90.5 points.
The two schools are building themselves a fierce rivalry on the mat, as the coach at AIC got there the same time coach Prairie came to PSU.
“It definitely felt good, we have a nice rivalry going with them,” said head coach Tommy Prairie. Trinity College would round out the top 3 with 84.5 points. The tournament also featured the involvement of three club teams including MIT, RPI and UNH with MIT scoring an impressive 62 points overall.
Leading the way for the Panthers was sophomore Josh Huber who won his 125 pound weight class after winning three matches in a row improving his overall record on the season to 10-3. Huber won his weight class in a showdown with teammate Fred Wilkinson; Wilkinson had won his previous two matches in a row bringing his record to 7-2. “We have been coping with illness and injuries but managed to end the first semester on a very good note. We edged out Division II AIC by one half of a point to take the team championship at the University of Southern Maine tournament,” said assistant coach Jim Aguiar.
Plymouth continued to have outstanding performances by three of their first-year wrestlers as Fermi Wheeler, Seth Carter and Jesse Bilodeau all won matches and finishes 2nd in their respective weight classes, 149, 165, 174 respectively. Eric Larcomb placed 3rd in his weight class at 197 pounds and Rob Phillips finished 4th in his 184 pound weight class. That win brings Carter to 7-4 overall on the season and Wheeler and Bilodeau are both sitting strong at 7-5 thus far this season.
“They bought into the system and have been working hard, getting back to the basics as well as making the right decisions on and off the mat,” said coach Prairie. The Panthers are having an excellent season with a talented group of wrestlers including five guys who are ranked in New England. Jake Gagnon is ranked 4th in the 285 pound weight class. Three of their wrestlers are ranked 5th in their respective weight classes including Josh Huber at 125 pounds, Mike Willey at 157 pounds, Seth carter at 165 pounds and Fermi Wheeler who is ranked 6th in his weight class of 149 pounds. The Panthers have a month of before the Williams Invitational on January 5th and they are using this time to regroup, “It’s a good month for them to rebuild and get ready,” said Prairie.