The MIAA Division 3 Girls Wrestling Championships took place on Saturday at Foxborough High School, with two Recorder area wrestlers earning first place finishes. 

Frontier’s Jocelyn Antes entered the day as the No. 3 seed at 120 pounds and after winning her opening two matches by pin, faced off against top-seeded Naylis Alejandro of Hampden Charter in the finals. Antes held a 10-1 lead before earning the pin with 16 seconds remaining in the match to walk away with a state title.

Mahar’s Delana Fausett was the top seed at 152 and looked the part, earning a pin over East Longmeadow’s Starla MacDonald to open the day. In the championship match, she defeated South Hadley’s Grace Barch by a 3-0 decision thanks to a takedown in the third period to also take home a first place trophy. 

Franklin Tech’s Jacqueline Churchill earned a win over Katherine Lyttle but fell to South Shore’s Gianna Cycan, with Churchill placing second at 235. 

Frontier’s Ainsley Southergill went 2-2 on the day to take fourth place at 126, while Franklin Tech’s Mia Marigliano went 3-1 on the day at 132 to earn a third place finish. Mahar’s Makayla Butler went 0-2 on the day to place third at 185 and Mohawk Trail’s Etta Thompson competed at 107.

Gilmore, Laffond score second-place finishes

The second and final day of the MIAA Div. 3 Wrestling Championship at Foxborough High School took place Saturday, with a pair of locals reaching the finals. 

Mahar’s Abduli Gilmore pinned Marlborough’s Beckam Cabrera just one minute into his semifinal match to reach the finals at 106 pounds, where he faced off against top-seeded Logan Costello of Ashland. 

Gilmore was unable to spring the upset in the finals, as Costello won via technical fall, 18-0, in the second period. The 2023 state champion, Gilmore settled for a runner-up finish this time around. 

Franklin Tech’s Dillon Laffond also reached the finals on Saturday. Wrestling as the No. 5 seed at 285, Laffond pulled off an upset over top-seeded Nathan Hartunian to open the day in the semifinals via a 12-9 decision. 

In the finals against 10th-seeded Kip King of Wakefield scored a takedown in the second period and that proved to be enough as King won the title with a 4-1 victory.

Fellow Eagle Carsten Couture also found himself in the semifinals entering Saturday but was unable to get past top-seeded Nick Desisto of Tewskbury there, falling by pin in the opening round. Couture went on to place fifth. 

Landon Purington finished in sixth place at 132 while Collin Eddy earned seventh at 190 for Franklin Tech, which took 11th as a team at the tournament. 

For Athol, Adam Rodriguez (120), Timothy Gerry (215) and Nicholas Leblanc (285) each finished the tournament in seventh place. Frontier’s Konnor James earned eighth place at 157. 

Div. 2 Boys Swimming Championships

It was an impressive end to the season for Turners Falls’ Liam Bliss.

The junior closed out the 2024-25 campaign by competing in the 50-yard freestyle at the MIAA Division 2 Swimming & Division Championships on Saturday night at Boston University.

Bliss posted a time of 23.03 seconds, good enough for a 22nd-place finish in the event.

Indoor Track Meet of Champions

Mahar’s Stellina Moore competed in the MIAA Meet of Champions at Reggie Lewis Center in Boston on Saturday, with Moore qualifying in the girls high jump. 

Moore was unable to clear the opening height of five feet even. Norton’s Zoe Santos was the winner with a leap of 5 feet, 6 inches.