AUGUSTA — Another Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference championship meet, another title for Shea Farrell.
Farrell, a senior for the Mt. Ararat/Brunswick wrestling team, won the tightest final of the evening, edging Eitan Arfiat of Oxford Hills 4-3 for the 170 pound title on Saturday at Cony High School. Farrell was named the KVAC A Most Outstanding Wrestler.
“It’s the third time I’ve won (a KVAC title), it feels good.” Farrell said. “It prepares you for the regional and state (championships) to come. That’s all you can ask for.”
It was the first time this season Farrell had wrestled Arfiat.
“I’m thinking (I’m wrestling) a six minute match to the very end,” Farrell said. “I was looking forward to a good match, it ended up being one. No real strategy, just doing my thing.”
Camden Hills (117.5 points) won the KVAC A title, followed by Oxford Hills (105) and Skowhegan (98).
Senior Tyreke Burke led the Erskine Academy wrestling team to a second-place finish (100 points) for the KVAC B title, behind champion Oceanside (109 points). Belfast (99 points) finished third. Burke beat Skowhegan’s Kobe Butters by pinfall in the first period to win the 285 title.
Cony’s Jon Lettre, left, and Erskine’s Tyreke Burke compete in a 285 pound championship semifinal match during the KVAC wrestling championships Saturday at Cony High School in Augusta. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
Two of Burke’s teammates also won KVAC titles. Wynn Pooler beat Mt. Blue’s Noah Krysztofiak for the 113 crown, and Timber Parlin pinned Reilly Turner-Watts of Camden Hills for the 182 title.
Gardiner’s Kyle Doody won a tightly contested bout with Camden Hills’ Michael Rollins for the 138 championship. Doody won the match 7-6. The match was tied 4-4 entering the third period.
“I’ve lost to that kid twice, but I dug down deep, held on in and beat him,” Doody said. “I know what he means to do, every time I’ve lost. (I knew previously) the more times we were going to wrestle, the closer I’d be to beating him.”
Gavin Ripley was the top wrestler for the Mariners, beating Landon Pease of Camden Hills for the 132 championship.
The top wrestler for Camden Hills was Julian Henderson, who won the 126 title.
Other champions from the meet included Brody Simons of Hampden Academy (106), Adam St. Cyr of Lincoln Academy (120), Aiden Clark of Skowhegan (145), Jayden Lafrenaye of Lincoln Academy (152), Isaac Keresy of Maine Central Institute (160), Christopher Levesque of Oxford Hills (195) and Nathan Shedd of Cony (220).
Keresy beat Isaiah Morin of Nokomis — a wrestler Keresy had previously struggled with — by a score of 13-5.
“I lost to (Morin) before, three times, actually,” Keresy said. “It was close, lost by two, (another match) was close, lost by two. It was great to beat him, especially when it matters at KVACs.”
Patrick Kelly of Camden Hills (Class A) and Jason Yates of Oceanside were named KVAC coaches of the year.
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