Peter DelGallo of Gardiner won his second New England high school wrestling title in four years over the weekend, following up his 106-pound title as a freshman with the 120-pound crown as a senior.
DelGallo was one of eight Maine wrestlers to earn All-New England honors at the 52nd annual New England Interscholastic Wrestling Championships held Friday and Saturday at Providence, Rhode Island.
The top six finishers in each weight class are accorded All-New England status.
Cody Craig, a junior from Skowhegan, placed second at 106 pounds, and Chris Wilson (195 pounds) of Nokomis of Newport, Austin Shorey (120) of Noble of North Berwick and Bradley Beaulieu (132) of Marshwood of South Berwick each finished third in his weight class.
Kam Doucette (160) of Skowhegan and Robert Heatherman (170) of Mt. Ararat-Brunswick each battled to a fourth-place finish, and Michael Pendriss (220) of Foxcroft Academy in Dover-Foxcroft rallied from an opening-match loss to place sixth in his weight division.
DelGallo won his first three matches without losing a point, outscoring two opponents from Connecticut and a third from New Hampshire by a combined 20-0 to advance to the championship final.
There he bested Connor McGonagle of Timberlane High School in Plaistow, New Hampshire, 7-2.
Craig yielded just one point on his way to the 106-pound final — winning by a 15-0 technical fall, a pin at 53 seconds of the first round and a 5-1 decision — before falling in the final to Jake Ferri of Shawsheen Tech in Blllerica, Massachusetts, by an 8-5 decision.
Wilson scored a one-point decision and a third-round pin to advance to the championship semifinals at 195 before dropping a 6-5 decision to Benton Whitley of Minnechaug Regional High School in Wilbraham, Massachusetts.
The Nokomis standout then decisioned Dakota King of Mount Anthony Union of Bennington, Vermont, before defeating Nathan Skawinski 6-1 in the third-place match.
Craig and Doucette led the newly crowned Class A state champions from Skowhegan to the best finish by a Maine team at the New Englands, seventh overall with 48 points.
Other top-finishing Maine schools were Noble (tied for 18th with 31 points), Marshwood (T24, 29 points), Gardiner (T28, 25), Winslow (T32, 20), Nokomis (35th, 19) and Foxcroft Academy (T47, 16).
Bishop Hendricken of Warwick, Rhode Island, topped the 155 high schools represented in the tournament with 89 points. It was the school’s first New England wrestling title in 40 years.
