Youngsters fill void left during difficult EPHS mat season

JV wrestlers, including two young women, perform admirably

By Mike Rego
Posted 3/29/18

EAST PROVIDENCE — In what was by all accounts the most trying winter in his near three decades leading the program, the 2017-18 season recently ended on a relatively upbeat note for the East …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Register to post events


If you'd like to post an event to our calendar, you can create a free account by clicking here.

Note that free accounts do not have access to our subscriber-only content.

Day pass subscribers

Are you a day pass subscriber who needs to log in? Click here to continue.


Youngsters fill void left during difficult EPHS mat season

JV wrestlers, including two young women, perform admirably

Posted

EAST PROVIDENCE — In what was by all accounts the most trying winter in his near three decades leading the program, the 2017-18 season recently ended on a relatively upbeat note for the East Providence High School wrestling team and head coach Tom Galligan in the state championship meet held at the Providence Career and Tech Academy Fieldhouse.
An off-campus incident earlier in the season marred what was expected to be another solid effort by the Townies this winter, an event serious enough to deem nearly all members of the varsity squad involved ineligible to compete for the rest of the schedule by school and district administrators. Upon appeal, the Rhode Island Department of Education also backed the decision.
“It’s hard to describe,” Galligan said of his 27th season as the Townies’ coach. “It was an up and down year, let’s put it that way. Kids make mistakes. But we only had one senior on the team, so we’re very young. We’re going to do OK next year.”
In the stead of those no longer with the squad, a group of junior varsity wrestlers stepped into the fore, including two females: Logan Farnsworth and Skylah Chakouian. Young women have a history of competing for the EPHS wrestling team, but not to the extent of Farnsworth and Chakouian, both freshmen who continued to excel beyond their high school participation. Farnsworth recently won her weight class in the USA New England Championships held in Springfield, Mass., while Chakouian placed second.
“The most important thing to me is they’re wrestlers, not girls. I never once made reference to them being girls or had any concerns about them competing with the guys. These two are ‘wrestlers,’” said Galligan. “It’s not the first time we’ve had girls on the team, but it is the first time that they’ve competed with the guys on a daily basis. They stuck it out the whole year. They showed up every day for practice. They were in the room working hard. They both finished the season strong. They both wrestled well. And the most important thing is they’re both great kids.”
EPHS brought a group of eight wrestlers to the state meet held February 23 and 24 at the PCTA Fieldhouse.
Cameron Romero was the lone Townie to earn a victory in the event. Competing at 152 pounds, he won his opening bout via pin in 3 minutes, 32 seconds, before losing to eventual class champ Devin Rivet by pin in 1:54. He was also pinned in his first consolation round match, in 4:27, to drop out of the competition.
Like Romero, Eric Robinson lost to the eventual class champ, Tommy Wrzesien of Chariho, in his first match at 182 by pin in 3:43. He then fell in the consolation round, 7-0.
At 170, Kianu Duarte was pinned in his first match, 4:13, and in his consi bout, 3:27. At 195, Jacob Belenger was pinned in both his opener, 1:25, and consolation round bout, 1:45.
Farnsworth dropped a pair of matches at 106 pounds, falling the scores of 3-1 and 8-0. At 138, Chakouian lost pin in 3:38 then by decision, 4-0. Jalen Brito at 145 fell by pin in 3:13 and in 1:25. And Alex Pedini was pinned in 58 second in his first match at 285 and in his second late in the third round at 5:22.
“Hopefully everybody comes back next year and we’ll be fine,” Galligan added. “Wrestling has been around since the Roman Ages. It’s one of the oldest sports in the world. We’ll just continue on doing what we do and we’ll be fine.”

— Editor's note: This story originally appeared in the March 22 print edition of The East Providence Post.

2024 by East Bay Media Group

Barrington · Bristol · East Providence · Little Compton · Portsmouth · Tiverton · Warren · Westport
Meet our staff
Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.