Londonderry High School wrestling squad senior standouts Jean-Luc Lemieux and Richard Bilodeau both walked away from the 51st annual New England Interscholastic Wrestling Championships at North Andover, Mass., High last weekend with medals in their grasps.
Lemieux tallied a fourth place finish in his 138-pound weight class and Bilodeau took fifth in his 195-pound division at the major event, which took place Friday and Saturday, March 6 and 7, and brought together the best high school grapplers in the region to compete.
Both wrestlers finished second in the state at last months Meet of Champions.
The Division I-champion Lancers brought four wrestlers to the event and finished eighth overall and second among Granite State squads behind only the Timberlane Regional Owls.
Lemieux posted an overall record of 5-2, bagging fourth place after losing to Andrew Howard of the Moses Brown School of Rhode Island by a 5-3 tally in the third place match.
One of Lemieux’s shining moments at the competition was his pin win over Brandon Weir of Hampshire Regional (Mass.) after losing to that opponent in the first round.
Bilodeau wound up going 6-2 overall and besting Dan Wensley of Wakefield, Mass., by a 6-3 score in their weight division’s fifth place battle.
Londonderry’s 126-pound junior stalwart Ryan Cabezas posted a 2-2 overall mark at the event, losing a tight match to Jeremy Fields of Danbury (Conn.) High School in the consolation round quarterfinals in getting eliminated.
Londonderry High junior 170-pounder Mahdi Achab went winless at 0-2 on his first visit to the New England tournament.