Noble’s Josh Cote picks up a pin during a match last season. JASON GENDRON PHOTOGRAPHY
I’m proud to vote each week in the Varsity Maine polls for basketball and hockey as we try to pick the top five or top 10 teams in the state.
Getting a chance to vote in the Varsity Maine polls reminded me of something that I had wanted to do early on in my tenure at the Journal Tribune and I had never followed through on — put out high school wrestling rankings.
The fact that wrestling is both an individual and team sport makes it different than putting together rankings for something like football or soccer. I decided that I couldn’t just put out a top 10 teams list because some of the best wrestlers in Maine wouldn’t be represented.
That’s why I decided to put together a top five wrestling teams list — and to rank the top 10 pound-for-pound wrestlers in the state.
When it came to the team rankings, it wasn’t as cut and dry as it may seem. If you follow college wrestling at all you will know that some rankings are for the top “dual-meet teams” and others are for the top “tournament teams.”
Some teams are very good in one-on-one matchups with another team, while other squads thrive in an individual tournament format like the regional or state meet. My rankings will be based on the top “tournament teams,” as that is how we crown a team champion in this state.
Coming up with a pound-for-pound top 10 list is also really difficult. You are going to see a 106-pound wrestler and a 285-pound wrestler on the same list — obviously we will never see those two athletes settle it on the mat.
From now until the end of high school wrestling season, you will be able to check out my rankings each Thursday in the Journal Tribune.
Here are the first-ever Nosebleed Section Wrestling Rankings:
Top 5 Wrestling Teams
1. Marshwood
2. Cony
3. Mt. Ararat
4. Wells
5. Camden Hills
Honorable Mention: Noble
Top 10 Pound-for-Pound Wrestlers
1. Josh Cote (Noble, 132 pounds)
2. Noah Lang (Camden Hills, 145 pounds)
3. Alden Shields (Kennebunk, 120 pounds)
4. Dave Gross (Bucksport, 285 pounds)
5. Zack Elowitch (Portland, 160 pounds)
6. Noah Dumas (Cony, 106 pounds)
7. Nic Mills (Cony, 195 pounds)
8. David Wilson (Nokomis, 170 pounds)
9. David Spinney (Marshwood, 152 pounds)
10. Sam Martel (Noble, 138 pounds)
Honorable Mention: Isaac Plante (Sanford, 182 pounds), James Boyd (Nokomis, 285 pounds)
— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or at 780-9017. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.
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