Academy Takes Home Big Wrestling Award

Three Hampton Academy wrestlers qualified for the Youth New England Wrestling Championship through impressive performances in Sunday's "Meet of Champions" state championship tournament.

First-place regional winner Ryan Boyle placed second Sunday in his weight class (140- pound class), while third-place regional winner John Ferrelli (103-pound class) placed fourth, and fourth-place regional winner Jared McCann (70-pound novice class) placed fifth, according to coach Alex Reno.

Reno said he was honored to have those individuals represent Hampton at the New England tournament in Nashua on March 10 and 11, although he also said he took great pride in the performance of all of his wrestlers because collectively their spirit helped Hampton Academy with the Sportsmanship Award.

"It is considered to be the most highly regarded award since Sportsmanship is such an important foundation of the sport," Reno wrote in an e-mail. "It says a lot about our kids! I'm VERY proud of them."

The Hampton Academy wrestling team will hold an end of the year party afterschool Thursday at 2:30 p.m. to celebrate the performances and give the New England competitors a send-off, said Reno.