If Chris Waslaske can win the Division 3 State Wrestling Tournament on Saturday, he will become the all-time leader in wins for the Athol wrestling program.
Waslaske would surpass Merrick Decker with 149 wins if he can bring the crown back to Athol on Saturday.
Waslaske is seeded No. 1 in the 182-pound weight class and will wrestle Joe Donoghue of Cohasset High School in the first round of the tournament, which gets underway this afternoon at Wakefield High School with early-round action. The tournament continues throughtout the day on Saturday.
“Chris has seen a lot of guys in that bracket,” Athol coach Brandon Jeffrey said. “And he has beaten most of them.”
The bracket includes No. 2 seed Dylan Burke of Taconic, a wrestler who has a victory over Waslaske this season. Burke won a 2-1 overtime decision at the Burt Burger tournament in Chicopee.
Waslaske beat Burke by decision twice before that and placed third in the tournament last year.
“I do want to redeem myself,” Waslaske said. “I want to show everyone that I can win this tournament. There is no doubt in my mind that I should be able to.”
Western Mass. champions from Franklin County Technical School, Kyle Brunelle (138 pounds) and Brody Wood (170 pounds) will wrestle for divisional state championships.
Heavyweight Jackie Phong from Frontier Regional enters the 285-pound bracket after beating Taconic’s Isiaha Hartman-Caesar in the sectional final.
Mahar’s Jonathan Mahony will wrestle for a 113-pound divisional state championship after placing second at the CMass tournament.
Peter Tattan (170), Henry Ndayisaba (152) and Todd Chiasson (160) each.
A rematch between Athol’s Joey Gray and Chiasson is possible in the semifinals. Gray finished fourth after injury defaulting in the consolation championships, but returns for the state meet. The same goes for Athol’s Caleb Cox and Ndayisaba in the 152-pound bracket, where Cox finished fourth at the CMass meet.
Gray injured his back at the sectional tournament but is ready to go on Friday.
“I definitely want to prove that I am better than how I wrestled in that match,” Gray said. “I didn’t wrestle up to my potential.”
Franklin Tech’s Walker Picard is in the 220-pound bracket after his second-place finish.
Mohawk Trail Regional High School’s Mason Biagini is in the 170 pound bracket after a second place finish at the sectional tournament.
The tournament will also feature Franklin Tech’s Josh Brunelle (120 pounds) and Colin Pettis (132 pounds), who each finished third at WMass, along with Frontier’s Ovidiu Nichita (113 pounds), who took third at WMass, and Ito McMillan (152), who placed fourth.
For full brackets visit miaa.net.
