Brace leads Commodore grapplers at their own tournament

VERGENNES — Vergennes Union High School wrestler Eli Brace won his weight class and three of his teammates earned spots on the podium with top-three finishes as their team claimed fourth place out of the 20 high schools that participated in Saturday’s Commodore Invitational at VUHS.

Ballston Spa, N.Y., scored 245 points to win the tournament, followed by Vermont powerhouse Mount Anthony in second with 192 points. Ballston Spa wrestlers won five weight classes and added seven more top-four finishes. MAU won two titles and added nine top-four individual results.

Colchester (133), VUHS (91) and Essex (89) rounded out the top five. Mount Abraham, which sent only three wrestlers and was led by Matt Conant’s fourth-place effort at 145 pounds, scored 20 points to take 15th in field that included two teams from New York and two from New Hampshire.

Brace defeated Mount Anthony’s Tyler Monick in the final, 3-1, and finished with a 3-0 record.

Also reaching the podium for the Commodores on Saturday were:

• Jamison Couture, who was second at 195 after losing in the final to Chris Robbins of Contoocook Valley Regional High School in New Hampshire. Couture compiled a 2-1 record and pinned one opponent.

• Isaac Preston, who lost to the eventual champion at 182 but pinned his other three opponents to finish third in the weight class.

• Caden Howell, third at 220 with a 3-1 record. Howell pinned two opponents.

For Mount Abe, Conant went 2-2 in taking fourth at 145. Both of Conant’s losses were by a single point.

Results for the other Commodore and Eagle wrestlers were:

• At 113, Commodore Samantha Hallock went 0-2.

• At 152, Commodore Tiegen Buskey went 0-2.

• At 160, Commodore Payton Lavoie went 2-2 while pinning two opponents, and Eagle Lucas Grover went 0-2.

• At 220, Eagle Wyatt Allenson went 1-2 with his victory coming by a pin. One of his losses came to Howell.

Coming up, the Eagles have dual meets at Spaulding and Randolph before a Feb. 4 tournament at Mount Mansfield. The Commodores are scheduled to join the Eagles at Spaulding and Mount Mansfield, but between those events they will travel to Otter Valley this weekend for the Otters’ annual tournament. Middlebury is scheduled to compete in a Connecticut tournament this weekend before joining the other county teams at Mount Mansfield.