CHS wrestling duo rewrite history at All-State tourney

Quinn Merrigan squares off against Christian Monserrat in the All-State finals (Kate Merrigan photo)

For the first time in the history of CHS wrestling, the Bulldogs have an All-State finalist — make that two All-State finalists, after seniors Quinn Merrigan and Chris Sullivan both achieved the feat at the prestigious MIAA tourney held last weekend at the Tsongas Center in Lowell.

Both went 3-1 overall and took home second place in their respective 18-man brackets, which featured the top six wrestlers in all three divisions in Massachusetts.

“They both had an outstanding tournament,” remarked head coach Brian Caffelle, who is already looking forward to the upcoming New England championships.

Merrigan, the two-time defending D3 state champion in the 138-pound class, earned convincing wins over Nick Villalba of North Andover, Walter Ordonez of Marlboro, and Pat Ferzoco of Catholic Memorial before falling just short in the finals against Methuen’s Christian Monserrat — one of the most decorated wrestlers in state history — by a final score of 9-6.

“The finals loss was actually Quinn’s best match of the tournament,” Caffelle said. “He wrestled great and gave [Monserrat] a real good match. There was one tough call where we thought he should have gotten [credited with] a reversal, but going into the third period he was only down two points. He was scrambling with him and giving him fits in different positions.”

By beating Merrigan, Monserrat became just the second wrestler in the history of the All-State tournament to win it four straight years, and his career record now stands at 208-2, with his only two losses coming in the New England finals against out-of-state competition.

Caffelle said Merrigan should be proud of what he accomplished against Monserrat, who will wrestle next year for the University of West Virginia. “That was a great finals and he gave him a great run for his money and had a great tournament overall.”

As for Sullivan, he too proved to be one of the very best in his weight class, cruising past three straight opponents before running out of gas in the finals against defending All-State champion Rick Viruet of Springfield Central.

“He was dominant, I got to be honest,” Caffelle said of Sullivan, Canton’s all-time wins leader and the reigning D3 state champ at 152 pounds. “He just came out guns blazing and it wasn’t even close for half of his matches. Chris proved he was the two seed and he went out there and took care of business.”

Sullivan eliminated fellow Hockomock Leaguer Matt Berksza of Oliver Ames by pinfall in under two minutes and scored convincing wins over Brookline’s Stephano Magny (8-2) and Chelmsford’s James Clasen (15-4). He met his match in the finals, however, falling 11-0 against the uber-talented Viruet, one of three Springfield Central winners at the tournament.

Chris Sullivan at All-States (Kate Merrigan photo)

“Chris hung in there tough,” said Caffelle of the finals match. “He got caught in a couple different positions where he couldn’t really do too much with it, but he was in good spirits after the match. He wrestled his heart out. He just came up against a tough opponent.”

Also representing Canton at the All-State tournament was junior Rob DiCalogero, a sectional and state finalist who enjoyed a breakout season at 145 pounds. Unfortunately, DiCalogero caught a tough break in his opening round match and never quite recovered, finishing 0-2 with losses to Lukas Stavropoulos of Arlington and Ronan Ball of Nashoba Regional.

Despite the way it ended, Caffelle said DiCalogero had a “great season” overall and could be poised for a monster senior campaign if he continues to work hard and train in the offseason.

In the meantime, Merrigan and Sullivan will look to put an exclamation point on what has been a truly remarkable four-year run when they head to Providence this weekend for the New England championships.

Caffelle, for one, will be rooting hard for his two senior standouts. “They are, hands down, the two best wrestlers that this program has ever seen,” he said. “They’ve just been so dominant for so long and have accomplished so much in their careers. They are two kids who love the sport and who will do anything to get better. It will be a long time before there’s another Chris or Quinn in this program, that’s for sure.”

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Posted by Jay Turner on Mar 6 2014. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.