RUHS Ghost Wrestlers
Place Well in Tourney
By Rachel Jarvis

Traveling out of the state to Mt. Greylock Massachusetts was a haul for the Randolph Wrestlers. Despite the two and a half hour ride, the Ghosts came out with five place finishers and with good team standing. Out of the five Vermont teams that attended the tournament, Randolph placed the highest as a team.

First Place Finish

Senior Wesley Simpson earned a first place finish on Saturday. In his first match he wrestled Kale Auger of Fair Haven and defeated him with a pin time of one minute, five seconds. In quarters, W. Simpson wrestled Andy Turnbough of Mt. Everett and defeated him with a decision of 5 to 4. Moving on to semis, he wrestled the number one seed from Belchertown and pinned him in the second period with a time of 3 minutes, 36 seconds. In finals, W. Simpson wrestled Jason Chudzinski of Colonie, and defeated him with a decision of 7 to 4, giving him a first place finish. It was also Wesley’s birthday.

Second Place Finishers

Randolph came out with three team members placing second on Saturday. Wrestling at the 125-pound weight class was Matt Simpson. He wrestled Jared Smith of Gateway in his first match and defeated him with a pin time of 1 minute, 1 second. In quarters he wrestled Jon Schnell of Carver and defeated him with a decision of 4 to 2. Moving on to semis, M. Simpson wrestled Mike Smith of Rutland and defeated him with a decision of 12 to 0. In finals M. Simpson wrestled David Ashley of Middlebury, but was defeated in the second period.

David Maxfield also took a second place finish on Saturday. In his first match he wrestled Zeb Benoit of Harwood and defeated him with a tech fall. Moving on to quarters, Maxfield wrestled Todd Kitchen of Fair Haven, and defeated him with a pin time of 1 minute, 13 seconds. Next he wrestled Wes Dietrich of Southwick, and defeated him with a decision of 4 to 0. In finals, Maxfield wrestled the number one seed from Colonie, but was defeated by a minor decision.

Wrestling at 171 pounds was Seth Dezan. Dezan wrestled James Badman of Middlebury in his first match of the day and defeated him with a pin time of 2 minutes, 44 seconds. In quarters, he wrestled Kyle Sanders of Southwick and defeated him with a pin time of 2 minutes, 27 seconds. In semis, Dezan wrestled A.J. Monin of Colonie and defeated him with a decision of 9 to 3. Moving on to finals, Dezan wrestled the number one seed from Carver, but was defeated by a minor decision.

Fourth Place Finish

Ben Adams received a fourth place finish on Saturday. Adams had a bye in the first round. Moving on to quarters, he wrestled Matt Gingras of Mt. Everett and defeated him with a pin time of 3 minutes, 54 seconds. In semis, he wrestled Mike Zovidtoski of Colonie but was defeated by a minor decision.

In consi semis, Adams’ wrestled Andrew Bowker of Pembroke and defeated him with a pin time of 4 minutes, 11 seconds. In consi finals, he wrestled Jose Cruz of Southwick, but was defeated by a minor decision.

Other Matches

Wrestling at 160 pounds was Stephen Bent. In his first match he wrestled Mt. Greylock, but was defeated in the first period. In his next match he wrestled Sean Garrow of Colonie, but was defeated with a major decision.

Tom Kirkpatrick had a bye in the first round but went on to wrestle John Robitalle of Mt. Greylock. Kirkpatrick was defeated in the first period. In his next match he wrestled Shane McBrown of Gateway, but was defeated in the third period.

Wrestling at 285 pounds was James Wright. Wright had a bye in the first round. In quarters he wrestled Mike Clemente of Gateway, but was defeated with a decision of 4 to 3. He had a bye in the next round as well. Moving on, he wrestled Mike Dull of Belchertown, and defeated him with a pin time of 48 seconds. In his next match he wrestled Ryan Jackson of Mt. Greylock, but was defeated in the final period.

Randolph wrestled Vergennes Tuesday, away, has a weekend off, then is off to the Northern Vermont Athletic Conference Tournament in Vergennes Saturday, Feb. 10

Youth Wrestling

Sign-ups for youth wrestling will be Saturday, Feb. 3, at the Randolph Union High School cafeteria from 11 a.m. to noon. The program is open to all area youth.

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