BROTHER AND SISTER Colby, right, and Reece Benoit, both representing Otter Valley, earned podium finishes at the Youth New England Wrestling Tournament, held in Fitchburg, Mass., on March 18 and 19.
Photo courtesy of Greg Babcock

FITCHBURG, Mass. — Two Otter Valley Union High/Middle School wrestlers, siblings Colby and Reece Benoit, placed at the Youth New England Wrestling Tournament, held in Fitchburg on March 18 and 19.

Colby Benoit took second at 124 pounds in the boys’ 15-and-under category in what OV team organizer Greg Babcock called “a stacked bracket.” Babcock added that was the best finish for any Vermont competitor at the tournament. 

Reece Benoit took fifth in an also competitive girls’ 12-and-under 101-pound field, Babcock said. 

Also competing at the tournament from the OV middle school and Little Otters wrestling programs were Brady Babcock, Landon Wilcox, Caleb Woodward and Ethan Kenyon.

Greg Babcock also noted that the OV middle school team won the state tournament in Barre on Feb. 17, with first-place finishes from Brady Babcock at 81 pounds and Colby Benoit at 124; a second-place effort from Emmett Mallory at 154; third-place efforts from Lucas Whitney at 106, Woodward at 112 and Kenyon at 169, and fourth-place finishes from Camden Giles at 81, Landon Wilcox at 106 and Maddox Davis at 130.