Something quite unusual happened at the Timberlane Invitational yesterday.
The Owls, for the first time in 20 years, failed to win their own tournament.
Vermont power Mount Anthony, showing balance, built a big lead and then held on to take top honors with 261 points, comfortably ahead of the runner-up Owls (248 1/2). Londonderry was a distant third in the 17-team tournament with 99 1/2 points.
There was some consolation for Timberlane, however, as — of its eight finalists — it captured seven individual titles, led by 171-pounder Nick Lawrence, who was named the tourney's Outstanding Wrestler. He had three pins and, said Timberlane coach Barry Chooljian, was "just very, very impressive."
Twin brother Nate Lawrence also had a pin in the finals, at 160, to join Nick with a gold medal while Jake Kappler (103), Zach Bridson (112), improving Josh Burnham (130), Andrew Tanner (145) and heavweight Ben Tammany joined them on the victory stand.
Tanner, who has been on a roll of late, won an exciting 1-0 decision in the finals and Tammany defeated Memorial heavyweight Steve Dwight 3-2 in overtime in a rematch of the Lowell Holiday Tournament finals.
"It was really one of the best heavyweight matches I've seen, with a lot of great scrambles and flurries," said Chooljian. "They've got a good rivalry going."
Luke Morrier finished second at 140 for the Owls and both Adam Corey (119) and Shane Tremblay (189) came in third. Corey lost to Londonderry runner-up Dan Roger in the semifinals.
"We had a nice effort in the finals to try to catch up, but we didn't wrestle very well early in the tournament and we gave them (Mount Anthony) too big of a lead," said Chooljian. "You have to get it done the whole tournament and we didn't do that."
This was only the third time since the tournament began in 1988 that Timberlane did not win its tourney and it had won 19 crowns in a row before yesterday.
"Hopefully, this will be a lesson for us and we'll learn from it," said Chooljian.
Mount Anthony only had two champions among its eight finalists but more consolation placers.
Also for Londonderry, John Young (135), Jon Paul (145) and Jake Tavano (160) all came in third. Samborn's Ryan Manasian was third at 140 and teammate Jon Scheidegger was fourth at 152.
Timberlane Invitational
Top team scores (17 teams): Mt. Anthony 261, Timberlane 248 1/2, Londonderry 99 1/2, Winnacunnet 97, Manchester Central 77, Memorial 75
