Norton Wrestling Prepares For Individual Sectional Tournament

The wrestling team will be looking to make history when the Lancers compete in the MIAA Division 3 Central Sectional Tournament on Saturday.

The individual sectional meet is being held at Wayland High School this year and will begin Saturday, 9:30 a.m.

Norton is coming off a fourth-place finish during the 14-team MIAA Division 3 Central Sectional Team Tournament last Saturday at Hudson High. Holliston won the team sectional with Wayland finishing second. Tri-County placed third and Norton was fourth.

Norton completed the dual-meet campaign with a 16-8 overall record. The Lancers also placed second in the Tri-Valley League with a 3-1 mark. Holliston broke Norton’s three-year hold on the league dual-meet championship, finishing with a 4-0 record.

After winning the team sectional last week, the top-seeded Panthers (19-2) advanced to the Division 3 State Finals with a 42-33 win over West champion and fourth-seeded Taconic in the state semifinals on Wednesday night in Holliston.

The Panthers will look to capture its first state team title when they head to WPI to face North champion and second-seeded Triton in the state finals next Wednesday night at 7.

On Saturday in Wayland, the Lancer wrestlers will face competitors from the same 13 teams they did last Saturday in Hudson. The difference will be that Saturday will be an individual competition as compared to the team competition a week ago.

Norton will enter the Division 3 Central Sectional Individual Tournament with three top seeds. Junior captain Brett Gallagher is the first seed at 119 pounds, while fellow classmate and captain Scott Coleman is the top seed at 135. Junior John Royle, who has had a break-out 2010-11 campaign, is the first seed at 145 pounds.

Sophomore Steve Hudson is the second seed at 215, while junior Cam Hale is the number four seed at 125. The Lancers have three number five seeds, including senior captain Derek Hoyt (140 pounds), junior James Cuneo (152) and sophomore Jack Cuneo (160).

Junior Stefen Winfield is the sixth seed at 130 pounds and classmate Matt Pelletier is the seventh seed at 189. Junior Kevin Ceckowski (171 pounds) and senior Austin Shute (285) will enter the individual sectional unseeded in their respective divisions.

Norton heads into the individual tournament having never won more than two sectional crowns at any one meet. That came a year ago when Coleman won the title at 130 pounds and Lancer legend Zach MacTavish captured the crown at 135 pounds.

Norton has won only three sectional titles in its five-year history as a varsity program. The first came in 2008, when Andrew Rockwell won a sectional title.

The goals for the Lancers at the individual tournament this coming Saturday are to win more sectional titles than they ever have before as well as to qualify more wrestlers for the Division 3 State Meet than they ever have in the past. The top four finishers in each weight class on Saturday will advance to the Division 3 State Individual Tournament Friday, Feb. 18 and Saturday, Feb. 19 at Holliston High School.

 A year ago, Norton sent the most wrestlers it ever has to the state division meet, six. Gallagher, who has a 26-2 record this winter, will look to do damage in the 119-pound tournament on Saturday after capturing the 2010 state division crown at 119 last winter.

After winning 31 of his first 32 matches this winter, Coleman will look to do well in the 135-pound event after capturing the sectional tournament and placing second at the division state meet a year ago at 130 pounds.

Coleman needs one victory on Saturday to reach 100 wins in his career and would become the first junior in the history of the program to accomplish that feat. Gallagher is also quickly approaching the 100-win plateau for the Lancers.

Hoyt, who is 28-7 this year, is striving to perform well in the 152-pound tournament this year after finishing third in the sectional last winter at 140 pounds.

Several other Lancers will look to improve on their season records on Saturday, including Royle (29-4), Hale (27-7), Hudson (26-9), Jack Cuneo (23-10) and Winfield (19-10).