Windham/Gray New-Gloucester/Westbrook’s Wolfpack wrestling team had eight wrestlers make it to the Maine State Class A Championships. Wrestlers from all over the state came to compete at Cony High School in Augusta on Saturday, Feb. 14. Of the eight, the Wolfpack had three place winners, more than last year, and the Wolfpack finished 14th, which was higher than they placed last year with a score of 34.
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| Windham senior Junius Pope works to gain control during a match against a Thornton Academy wrestler in the Maine State Class A Wrestling Championships at Cony High School in Augusta on Saturday, Feb. 14. PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA |
“I’m really proud of my team,” said Jumaah “We worked really hard for this; we’ve been training really hard. I really appreciate (all my coaches) for all they’ve done. My teammates are placing. I was the most mentally prepared ever for any tournament I’ve ever been in. I got in my head (after a semifinal loss), but it’s also a team sport and I had to stop thinking individually. I got to do it for the team.”
After a loss in the quarterfinals, Corriveau had back-to-back wins in consolation rounds and a loss in the finals. He finished fourth in the 126-weight class.
Jumaah won his quarterfinal match, lost in the semifinals and then came back in the consolation semifinals and the finals and finished in third place in the 138-weight class.
“In my semis match, I really got in my head and wrestled conservative,” said Jumaah. “I waited too long and lost semis. I found myself wrestling back to third place; next best thing is what coach always says and I wasn’t going to let myself go out without getting third place. I know I’m going to win All States and after that I’m looking at New Englands. Next week I’m really going to give it my all (in preparation for All States).”
Roberson won in the quarterfinals, lost in the semifinals, won in the consolation semifinals and lost a tough match in the consolation final. He finished fourth place in the 165-weight class.
“My mindset was I just wanted to place ... I’m good at wrestling ... I knew I had to work my hardest every match,” said Roberson. “I got to work my butt off to be (the best version of) me I can be. We were prepared for this and a lot of us were in the right mindset going into our matches, but some stuff that went bad for us was people going into matches completely ok with losing, thinking there was no other option. Everyone fought hard and it was completely even for most of my matches ... I think the competition level was medium, it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. I love my family; I love my coaches.”
Thompson lost in the quarterfinals, then won the consolation quarterfinals. He beat a kid from Marshwood that had beaten him twice during the regular season. He lost the consolation semifinals and finals to finish sixth in the 132-weight class.
“I thought the team wrestled very well,” said Wolfpack coach John Nicholas. “Having three-place winners was more than we had last year and we placed higher this year as a team. Our team got healthy after the holiday break, and we started to compete very well. We finished the season with 19 dual wins. Overall, we fought hard at states, picked up some key wins and finished with three on the podium. We really ramped up our practices heading into the post-season and it paid off. We will continue to do so as we get ready for girls’ states and All States.” <
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