Three Recorder area wrestlers remain in the mix for a state title heading into Saturday. 

The opening day of the MIAA Division 3 Wrestling Championships took place on Friday at Foxborough High School, with 13 area wrestlers qualifying to compete. The first day saw the tournament reach the semifinals in each weight class as well as the consolation of four round in the consolation bracket, where wrestlers are vying for third place finishes. 

A pair of Franklin Tech wrestlers will be wrestling in the semifinals on Saturday. Carsten Couture came in as the No. 4 seed at 120 pounds, got things started with a 12-6 decision win over Gloucester’s Jayden Chadwick before earning a pin over fifth-seeded Raj Jetty of Foxborough to reach the semifinals. He’ll take on top-seeded Nick Desisto of Tewksbury in the semis. 

Fellow Eagle Dillon Laffond came in as the No. 5 seed at 285 and also won both his matches to reach the semifinals. He knocked off Cohassett’s Adria Saiz, 3-0, to open the tournament before earning a second period pin over Gloucester’s Chris Laine in the quarterfinals. Laffond will wrestle against top-seeded Nathan Hartunian of Wayland in the semifinals. 

Mahar’s Abduli Gilmore is looking to capture his second Div. 3 state title after taking home the trophy in 2023, as he won a pair of matches at 106 on Friday to reach the semifinals. 

The No. 6 seed, Gilmore earned a first period pin against Southwick’s Nam Tran before earning a first period pin against third-seeded Fahad Kahn of Watertown in the quarterfinals. Gilmore hopes to keep the run going on Saturday when he takes on seventh-seeded Beckam Cabrera of Marlborough in the semis. 

While Couture, Laffond and Gilmore are still in contention for first place, a number of locals are still competing for third. 

Franklin Tech’s Collin Eddy opened the day with a pin at 190, fell in his second match but went on to beat Scituate’s Xander Pizer via pin to reach the consolation of four. Fellow Eagle Landon Purington opened his day with a pin, fell in his second match but pinned Foxborough’s Phil Tran to reach the consolation of four. 

All three Athol wrestlers who made it to states are wrestling in the consolation of four on Saturday. Adam Rodriguez dropped his first match but won his second match via pin at 120 then earned a 19-17 decision over Wayland’s Mark Altreuter to keep his tournament alive. 

Bear Timothy Gerry won his opening match, dropped his second match by decision before earning a pin over Frontier’s Kaden James to reach the consolation of four at 215. Athol’s Nicholas Leblanc lost his first match, won his second and reached the consolation of four via forfeit. 

Frontier’s Konnor James is still alive in the consolation bracket at 157. He earned  a win to start his day, dropped his second match before knocking off Ludlow’s Brady Trahan by a 7-5 decision. His older brother, Kaden James, dropped his opening match at 215, rallied to beat Quabbin’s Brady Dennis before falling to Gerry to close his tournament. 

Fresh off a sectional title at 157, Mohawk Trail’s Logan Moore won his opening match of the day via pin over Trahan but dropped his next two matches to fall out of the consolation bracket. 

For Franklin Tech, Maxon Brunette won his opening match at 126 but fell in his next two, Travis Eastman was unable to get a win at 165 while Jackson Morey lost his opening match, knocked off Nauset’s Antuane Walker in his second match at 215 but fell in his final match of the day. 

The tournament will pick back up at 10 a.m. on Saturday in Foxborough.