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Methuen leads strong local contingent to All States

Saturday, February, 19 By Jeff Hamrick

METHUEN — You would think winning a state wrestling championship would leave a freshman on the verge of ecstasy. But Christian Monserrat showed about as much excitement as if he were ordering a Quarter Pounder — if a 103 pounder allowed himself a fast-food meal that is.

The Methuen freshman kicked off what might have been the biggest wrestling day in school history, easily winning the Division 1 title with a 12-3 victory over Eric Benevides of Durfee. Other Rangers to win titles were Paul Sughrue at 119 and C.J. Doherty at 145. Lawrence’s Juan Rodriguez claimed the 171-pound championship and St. John’s Prep 140-pounder TJ Crabtree of North Andover also heads to the All-State title as the Division 1 champion.

Unbeaten through his first 41 high school matches, Monserrat entered his title affair against Durfee’s Eric Benevides looking like an accountant headed to work on April 15. The freshman jumped to a 7-0 lead midway through the second period en route to an easy 12-3 decision over Durfee, who had a career record of 80-4.

“My goal is to win New Englands and freshmen nationals,” said Monserrat, who opened the tournament with a pin in 58 seconds before taking his final three matches by a combined 46-14. “I’ve pretty much been training every day ... since I started wrestling in kindergarten.

“But I’ve improved a lot this year. I had been having some close matches in the middle of the year, and I think I was just getting too lazy, so I started picking it up in practice and training harder.”

Sughrue improved his season record to 39-2 with a 3-1 decision over Jonathan Costa of New Bedford before Doherty (42-2) capped Methuen’s title run with a 7-2 decision over Framingham’s Robert Coukos. It was the second straight championship for Doherty, who won at 135 last year.

“Last year’s I’d have to say was tougher because I was a sophomore and wrestled a senior,” said Doherty, who defeated Coukos in overtime earlier this year. “It’s pretty exciting though considering last year I was the only champion for our team.”

Also advancing to the All-State tournament for Methuen were Sarith Has, who took third at 132, Scott DelRossi, an alternate who found out he would be wrestling at noon on Friday and then took fourth at 171, and Ryan Savastano, who was sixth at 152.

“This was by far the best tournament we’ve ever wrestled,” Methuen coach Bill James said. “It’s tough to do coming out of Division 1 North ... But those three champs, we’ve never done that before in this program, and they’re all underclassmen. It’s just incredible.”

Maybe the area’s most overjoyed wrestler of the day was Rodriguez. After helping Lawrence win the Division 1 team title on Wednesday, the fourth-seeded 171-pounder avenged two earlier losses to Shawsheen’s top-seeded Ryan Cassidy with a convincing 7-3 decision. Earlier, Rodriguez recorded a 50-second pin and won three other matches by a combined 27-5.

“It means everything to me,” said Rodriguez, who ran his season record to 36-4 after finishing second at 160 last year. “It’s the biggest thing I’ve ever won in my life. It’s the best moment of my life. It’s way better than last year. It’s a whole different level than (Wednesday) because it’s personal. It feels great because I did it by myself.”

After finishing third each of the past two seasons, Crabtree picked up two pins and a 22-8 decision before taking out Longmeadow’s Gary Shea 9-4 in the title match.

“It meant a lot just to be able to do it,” said Crabtree, who is perfect through 47 matches this year. “I thought I should win, but the season doesn’t mean anything unless you get it done today.”