Chris Waslaske continued his perfect postseason on Friday at Day 1 of the MIAA All-State Wrestling Tournament at St. John’s Prep in Danvers.
The Athol High School 182-pound wrestler who has already earned a Central Mass. Division 3 title and State Division 3 crown, will get a chance to add an All-State championship to his growing list of accolades today during the second and final day of action.
Waslaske went 2-0 on Friday to wrestle his way in the semifinals at 182 pounds. He is assured of finishing at least sixth in the weight class, but has his sights set on another championship.
Waslaske opened by earning a forfeit victory over Boston Latin’s Paul Curran to move to the quarterfinals where he took on Lewy Baez of Central Catholic. After a scoreless first period, Waslaske opened up a 3-1 lead after the second and eventually earned a third-period pin over Baez 57 seconds into the final frame and Waslaske holding a 5-2 advantage.
He will face Agawam’s Dom Ledoux in the semifinal round. Ledoux won the WMass Division 1 title two weeks ago and finished second in the 182-pound class at the Division 1 State Tournament last weekend.
Mahar’s Jon Mahony had his season come to an end after going 2-2 on the day at 113 pounds. Mahony took part in the “play-in” match to and earned a second-period pin over Marlborough’s Caio Siqueira to advance to the round of 16. Mahony faced Agawam’s Dylan Beddow and Beddow pinned him just past the mid-point of the second period, sending Mahony to the consolation round.
Mahony bounced back to win his first consolation match with an 11-5 victory over Georgetown-Ipswich’s Tre Aulson, but Mahony’s tournament ended with a first-period pin to Shawsheen’s Austin Dube.
Mahony’s teammate Peter Tattan had a similar experience at 170 pounds as he also went 2-2 and was eliminated. Like Mahony, Tattan opened play in one of the two “play-in” matches and he picked up an 8-0 major decision victory over Newton North’s Alstair Poole. Tattan then gave Danver’s Russell Canova a tough match in the round of 16 but wound up falling, 4-1, to relegate him to the consolation bracket.
Like his teammate, Tattan came back to earn a victory by a first-period pin over Tyngsborough’s Mark Thomas, but had his tourney hopes end in the ensuing round by Woburn’s David Langlois, who earned an 11-2 major decision.
Frontier’s Nate Austin went 0-2 in the 195-pound division. He opened in the round of the 16 by getting pinned by Oliver Ames’ Dean Pacini to fall into the consolation bracket. He then had his tournament end by Sharon’s Alex Bolt, who earned a pin of Austin in 1:25.