The Wrestling Rebels’ squads from the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Derry got plenty of attention – and collected plenty of awards – at three annual state wrestling tournaments held in three locations recently. And the locals followed up with still more strong efforts at their own annual tourney.
The local teams – which consist of grapplers in kindergarten through eighth grade – snared a total of 20 medals at the state events, with the Rebels’ youngest crew (kindergarten through fourth grade) finishing second as a unit at its competition.
Individual championships were taken at that level by Spencer Buscema, Landon Mackiernan, Dino Savvas, and Wyatt Reeves by finishing first. Second places were snagged by Jack Schumacher, Hayden Robinson, and Dillon Lavely. Third-place finishers included Zach Witherbee, Jesse Leblanc, and Seth Brown. And fourth places were collected by Jayden Howard and Robbie Reynolds on that level.
At the fifth and sixth grade state competition, second-place finishes were notched by Dominic Sander and Jack Mackiernan, with Enzo Milina and David Hammond bagging thirds, and Molly Fahey bringing home fourth place.
And at the state championship competition for seventh and eighth grade grapplers, Robbie Fahey tallied a state championship by finishing first and making heads turn by bagging a pin 5.4 seconds into one of his bouts. Tyler Mackiernan and Kyle Setzer each wound up with third-place finishes on that level.
“Soon we will be saying so long to our eighth graders. They will be moving on to high school, leaving behind some very big shoes to fill,” observed Rebels’ coach Jay Robinson. “All of these young men and women are amazing athletes, and we congratulate each and every one of them on a job well done.”
And many of the Rebel wrestlers kept the good stuff coming Sunday, March 22, when they excelled at their own 18th annual Rebel New England Classic in Pinkerton Academy’s Hackler Gymnasium.
That tournament drew nearly 450 skilled wrestlers – whose ages ranged from kindergarteners through eighth graders – from Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and the Granite State. The youthful grapplers occupied 62 brackets in five divisions.
Among the Rebel stalwarts that day were gold-medalists Jayden Howard, Spencer Buscema, Wyatt Reeves, and Tyler Mackiernan.
Second-place performances were turned in by Quinton Delory, Dillon Lavely, Dave Hammond, Molly Fahey, Kyle Setzer, Robbie Fahey, and Dominic Sander.
