Lynnfield takes NEC/CAL meet

The Lynnfield-North Reading combined wrestling team took first in the overall Northeastern Conference/Cape Ann League meet Saturday at Triton High.The Pioneers had plenty of room in the penthouse, outpointing second-place Triton, 207-152.5. It is the first time the Pioneers, who went co-op five years ago, have won the event.”We’re pretty excited,” coach Craig Stone said. “we haven’t finished higher than third. It was nice to win the meet and have seven kids in the finals. It was almost like a dual meet.”Neither Stone nor the Pioneers are resting on their laurels.”We still have a lot of work ahead,” he said. “We have the sectionals and states coming up. Hopefully, we’re not going to peak too early.”The key, Stone says, is depth. Even though the program graduated seven seniors las year, “we’ve exceeded expectations. With our numbers, we’ve been able to putBeverly was third with 147 points, followed by Pentucket (137), Danvers (114), Masconomet (104.5), Marblehead-Swampscott (60), Peabody (54), Georgetown (52), Salem (42) and Saugus (23).Lynnfield had five champions: Eric Kerr (113), John Klug (182), Chris Connor (195), Tom Arsenault (220) and Andrew Kiberian (285).ric Kerr; 182: John Klug; 195:The Pioneers also picked up two seconds: Joey Wise (126) and Alex Pascucci (145); a third: (Anghony Manganiello, 152); and two fourths: Joe Morse (106) and C.J. Finn (170).Other first-place winners were: Luke McDonald, Beverly, 152; Sal Sherzi, Peabody, 170.Top four finishers were: BEVERLY: Joe Kozlowski, 2nd, 132; Tom Wilbur, 2nd, 182; Peter Reisch, 4th, 195; Brian Tripola, 2nd, 220; Pat Quieroz, 4th, 285; DANVERS: Jackson Leete and Sam Anderson, second; Chris Davis, Chris Behen and Robert Ingersol, third; Dan Papagelis, fourth.MARBLEHEAD: Joe Mitlin, 2nd, 160; Meleek Newsome,MARBLEHEAD: Joe Mitlin, second; 150 Maleek Newsome, third, 160; Sean Taylor, 2nd, 285; PEABODY: Brandan Rapoza, 3rd, 220; Sherzi, first, 170; SALEM; Tahmid Raji, 4th, 120; Andre Romeo, 3rd, 285; SAUGUS: Seth Roy, 3rd, 145.Steve Krause can be reached at [email protected].