Bonny Eagle Middle School athletes took top honors in four weight classes and nine other Scots finished among the top four at Saturday’s Eagle Wrestling Invitational in Windham.

“This is the most important tournament during the year because this is where we get a chance to demonstrate how much we’ve improved during the whole year,” said BEMS coach John Gubelman, “and our goal is to improve each day.”

Scots wrestlers Ryan Cook (80-pound), Stephen Martin (145-pound), Max Alfiero (155-pound) and Joey Layte (165-pound) each finished in first place in their weight class at the competition, which featured 10 schools and 180 grapplers.

Five wrestlers from Windham Middle School made it to the semifinal round, finishing among the top four in their classes: Aaron Damon (second, 80-pound), Tyrell Brown (second, 100), Cole Larrivee (second, 120), Robert Brown (third, 80) and Jared Mailer (fourth, 80).

“I’ve been here for three years and every year is an improvement,” said Windham coach Tom Johnson. “We only have four eighth-graders, so next year we’ll really see something.

“We get dedicated wrestlers and we get ones that don’t know much about it, and they see it and fall in love with it. We just had a kid wrestle…Tim Davis. He just had the best match of his short career. A light clicked, everything worked and all the stuff came naturally.”

Johnson said he’ll be sorry to see Larrivee and Tyrell Brown finish their middle school careers, but that he expects them both to do well at the high school level.

“Others will be moving up,” the coach added. “We just started a peewee program, so hopefully in a couple of years that will pay off.”

Bonny Eagle’s other top finishers on the day included Troy Severance (second, 100-pound), Kyle Thomas (third, 105), Chris Adams (fourth, 105), Tyler Murray (fourth, 120), Josh Strumph (second, 130), Bobby Michaud (third, 145), Derek Beaulieu (second, 155), Josh Lund (third, 165) and Tyler Meikle (third, 215).

“We’ve got some pretty good big and middle-sized kids,” Gubelman said. “I’ve got a core of four to six eighth-graders that have been with me for three years, and they’re really tough kids.”

Martin, the Scots’ 145-pound champ, describes himself as a fast and hard-nosed wrestler. He also noted that his dedication to the sport has been beneficial off the mat as well.

“It helps me in school because it gives me something to work for so I don’t goof off,” the eighth-grader said. “If I goof off I don’t get to go to practice or to wrestle at meets.”

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