The ConVal wrestling team hosted the first Brian Whittemore Early Bird Invitational tournament on Saturday. The Early Bird tournament started decades ago under longtime coach Whittemore; with Whittemore now retired, first-year head coach Abe Ewing renamed the tournament in his honor.
“It’s all about building a legacy,” Ewing said Saturday morning, as 14 teams from around the state filled the ConVal gym for the tournament. That legacy was evident, as former ConVal 100-win wrestlers like Adam Smullen and Matt Kimball strode beside the mats to impart some knowledge on the young ConVal team, and Whittemore, too, lent his experience to some individual coaching between matches.
Bishop Guertin won the tournament; ConVal, in a youth movement year with only two seniors, finished eighth as a team, led by two strong second-place individual performances from junior Ethan Earle and sophomore Gareth Armstrong.
At 182 lbs., Earle beat Nashua North’s Anthony Sexton and Kearsarge’s Gabe Scola by fall and then knocked off Bishop Guertin’s Matt Ha by major decision before dropping the first-place match to Nick Beebe of Exeter by another major decision.
Armstrong, ConVal’s heavyweight at 285 lbs., pinned Nashua North’s Jaysee Hernandez and Exeter’s Mark Erinna and got a decision win over Nick Connerty of Bishop Guertin before losing the championship match to William Zachistal of Bow by decision.
Also winning matches for ConVal on Saturday:
■Cam Jordan (126 lbs.) pinned Joshua Sleeper-Seder and Garret Nichols of Keene as well as Mark Gokhban of Portsmouth on his way to fourth place
■Kenny Conway (138 lbs.) pinned Ezra Letourneau of Plymouth, Jameson Carmody of Kearsarge and Bergen Johannesen of Keene on his way to a fourth-place finish
■Damian Coleman (145 lbs.) pinned Nate Statires of Bedford
■Evan Shippee (152 lbs.) won by fall over Trent Gerlowski of Nashua North
■Theo Cross (160 lbs.) won by decision over Zach Nguyen of Bedford
■Gabe Young (160 lbs.) pinned Kyle Graser of Bishop Guertin
■Andrew Nielsen (170 lbs.) won by major decision over independent wrestler Ben Cutchin
Before the Early Bird, ConVal opened their season on Wednesday by hosting a dual meet against Pelham.
In his freshman debut, wrestling at 152 lbs., Chris Robbins pinned Jacob Donavan in a gritty performance as Robbins gave up the first takedown six seconds into his first high school match.
Armstrong pinned Pelham’s Ryan Leuteritz about one minute into the second period to win his match.
ConVal had first-year wrestlers on the mat at 106 lbs. with Tyler Sullivan, who picked up a forfeit for six team points, and 113 lbs. with Max Vassar.
The Cougars return to the mat Saturday at the Nor’Easter Invitational hosted by Hollis-Brookline.