Monty Tech places fourth at All-State wrestling, behind Paulino brothers as finalists
Sparked by finalists Isiac and Jonah Paulino, the Monty Tech boys' wrestling team finished fourth with 86½ points at the All-State Championships, a two-day tournament that concluded Sunday at Game On Fitchburg.
Nashoba Regional, which also had two finalists, placed 13th with 54 points. St. John's Prep, which had two winners, a runner-up, a third-place wrestler and seven among the top eight in weight classes, was team champion with 139½ points.
Monty Tech's Isiac Paulino, the top seed, advanced to the 113-pound final by defeating Xaverian's Nathan Sayers by fall at 1:07 in the semis, then bested Essex Tech's Miles Darling, 14-3, to hike his record to 38-0 and take the All-State title. Northbridge's Anthony Vickers was sixth at 113.
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Jonah Paulino, the third seed at 126, lost by fall in the final, at 3:54 to St. John Prep's Tyler Knox, after defeating John J. Duggan's Ariel Escalante by fall at 3:32 in the semis. Knox improved to 45-0 on the season.
The Natal brothers also came through for the Bulldogs. Xavian placed fourth at 160 pounds, and Xaedyn was eighth at 132. Algonquin's Rafael Knapp came away with third place at 160. He defeated Xavian Natal, 12-0, in the quarterfinals before losing to Central Catholic's Nathan Blanchette in the semis, 5-2.
Nashoba's Lucien Perla moved on to the 152 finals by stopping Carver's Joseph Tully by an 8-4 decision in the semifinals. He lost, 9-4, in the title match to St. John's Prep's Rawson Iwanicki.
The Wolves, however, did bring home an All-State champion. Nashoba's Joshua Cordio topped Central Catholic's Brandon D'Agostino in the semifinals at 182, then beat Ashland's Matthew Gillis by fall at 1:29 to capture the title. Cordio was named the meet's outstanding wrestler for the upper weights.
Algonquin's Timothy Goddard, who had lost, 5-4, to Gillis, captured the consolation final over D'Agostino to place third. With two third-place finishers, the Titans (41½) were 16th.
Marlborough's Nealon Stemple placed eighth at 195 pounds.
Monty Tech's Faith Maldonado placed fourth in the girls' 100-pound weight class, and Leominster's Abby Muller advanced to the 166-pound semifinals before losing to Chicopee's Janiah Baez.
Pioneers place two divers
St. John's sophomore Joel Picard finished third in boys' diving with 473 points, and senior teammate Aiden Boudreaux placed 11th in the event at the Division 1 swimming and diving championships at Boston University.
The Pioneers totaled 22 points to place 20th. St. John's Prep was the team champion.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Monty Tech places fourth at All-State wrestling, behind Paulino brothers as finalists
