LYNNFIELD — The Lynnfield High gymnasium was rocking with wrestling Wednesday afternoon.
All sizes, shapes, and ages of current and former Lynnfield and North Reading wrestlers were on hand, all to applaud a pair of new Lynnfield High School Wrestling Hall of Fame inductees, a dozen or so members of the 100 Victory Club and to cheer on the Lynnfield-North Reading (20-3-1) grapplers, who clinched the Cape Ann League title with a 61-6 rout over Masconmet, its first title since 2017.
“Four years ago we were winless and now we have 20 wins and just won the Cape All-League championship,” LNR head coach Craig Stone said. “This program is a fraternity and it’s nice to give them the recognition they deserve. You can sense the camaraderie of everything that the program is all about. You could see that today with all these former wrestlers who not only came to the induction, but stayed to watch the matches.”
2020 North Reading graduate Sean McCullough and 2024 North Reading graduate Gavin Iby were inducted into the Hall of Fame, joining 45 other Hall of Famers previously inducted for being a state tournament place finisher.
McCullough (182 pounds), a 2020 North Reading High graduate, finished his career with a 153-44 record, second all-time, and posted the highest finish (third) in program history at the All-States meet, as well as setting marks for dual-meet wins (91), points (521) and pins (57).
McCullough said being inducted into the Hall of Fame is a “great privilege.”
“It’s hard to believe that a young kid would look up at that banner and my name and think, ‘Oh, wow, that kid must have been so good.’ It makes me feel that I am a part of history, a relic of the past now, and part of something so much bigger than myself. I think you forget how important it was to you. Coming back, it feels like a homecoming.”
Iby (144 pounds), a 2024 North Reading High graduate, finished his three-year varsity career with an overall record of 62-12, a dual meet record of 28-4 and 154 points despite having missed his entire season as a freshman due to the pandemic and much of his senior year due to a lung infection. A two-time sectional place finisher, he finished third in the Division 3 state tournament.
Iby lives and works in Florida, yet flew in for the special occasion.
“I had to. I had to see the guys and it feels like I never left,” Iby said. “I love the atmosphere and everything about wrestling. It’s about the life lessons you learned, how to push through adversity and be resilient is what wrestling for this team is all about. This is just an awesome day.”
1990 LHS graduate Randy Greenstein and Lynnfield Chief of Police Nick Secatore (LHS 1997) were among the 100 Victory Club members who were recognized.
Secatore said he, and others, worked the phones to spread the word about the ceremony.
“We called around so that all of the guys would know and so many ended up coming today,” Secatore said. “It’s always great when you can make a few phones and then come down and see everybody.”
“Today is so exciting and it’s great to see so many people I haven’t seen in a long time,” said Greenstein, one of three brothers to serve as captains of a Lynnfield wrestling team. “We’re all so honored to be here and be recognized. It all started in this gym, in this cafeteria with Craig Stone.”
Secatore agreed.
“Craig has kept everything alive for all of us,” Secatore said. “The program has been outstanding since 1974 and we’ve all come a long way because of him. I’ve wrestled with a lot of these guys and coached many so it’s great to see them, including Mel Yell, one of the Masco coaches tonight. It was great to see him tonight.”
The Black and Gold flat-out dominated Masconomet, whose only win was a forfeit. LNR winners included Zach Inafuku at 106 (1:14 pin), Nathan Barstow at 113 (2:34), Jakob Hulett at 120 (10-8), Jason Kouyoumdjian at 126 (17-1), Isaac Medford at 138 (25 seconds), Griffin McCarthy at 144 (3:33), Abdel Abdalla at 150 (forfeit), David Glynn at 157 (forfeit), Cam Arya at 165 (1:21), Jack Cuddy at 175 (3:05) and James Fodera at 190 (24-8).
LNR is back on the mats Saturday at the CAL/NEC Open championship at Triton (9 a.m.).
“Beverly is really loaded and has a really good shot,” Stone said. “We have a shot at placing top three or four but you have the teams coming in from the Northeastern Conference like Gloucester, which has a good program, and Marblehead-Swampscott and Saugus-Peabody.”
