Frank Mahoney won his opening two bouts to reach the semifinals and guarantee a spot at the New England Tournament, but lost his last three bouts to finish in sixth place at 171 pounds at the MIAA All-State Tournament held Friday and Saturday at Salem HS.
He is the first Marauder to reach New Englands, which will be held Friday and Saturday at Hill House High in New Haven, Conn., since Jim Maher took over the program five years ago. Mahoney will face Sean Leach of LaSalle (R.I.) in the preliminary round with the winner getting New Hampshire champion, Kyle Gaffney of St. Thomas Aquinas in the first round.
“I’m not necessarily expecting him to place, but I think he’ll pick up a couple wins at New Englands,” said Maher, who added that the tournament will give the junior good experience heading into his final year.
Mahoney opened with a 13-12 decision against Joe Chartier of Andover and advanced to the semifinals against by topping Reading’s Ross DiMattei 5-3 to close his action on Friday.
On Saturday, he was pinned by eventual champion Isaiah Williams of Haverhill at the 1:10 mark. In his first consolation bout, Jonathan Upton of Melrose defeated Mahoney for the third time this season, including the previous week in the Division 3 final. In the fifth/sixth place bout, Hopkinton’s Peter Racenis beat Mahoney for the second time this year, taking a 4-1 decision.
Nick Boudreau went 1-2 at 189 pounds, defeating Alex Talishinsky of Newton North in a consolation bout, 3-2. Matt Richberg qualified after being a runner-up at heavyweight but was unable to compete because of a knee injury suffered last weekend.
· · · · ·
Melissa St. Preux concluded her season as the only Dedham High qualifier for Friday’s MIAA All-State Track Championship at the Reggie Lewis Center. The junior sprinter ran a season-best 7.44 to finish 12th overall, missing a berth in the final by five-hundredths of a second. The time bettered her previous best of 7.45, set the previous week in the preliminaries of the Division 4 meet, in which she finished third.
