The Londonderry Middle School’s Storm wrestling squad had a number of its talented athletes gain plenty of attention and enjoy success at the recent eighth annual Youth New England Wrestling Championships at North Andover (Mass.) High School.
Seventh grade standout Henry Lagasse ranked as the cream of the crop in his 188-pound weight class, collecting a championship for the third consecutive year at that prestigious event. That success came in the aftermath of Lagasse’s gold medal work in both regional and state competition earlier.
But Lagasse was just one of seven Storm grapplers who qualified to compete against the best middle school wrestlers in the region.
The others included his teammates Michael Watts (a sixth grader), seventh graders David Donnelly, Ty Belville, and Ben Psaledas, and eighth grader Kevin Robischeau.
The team title at the New England event wound up being won by one of the Storm’s most capable Granite State opponents, the Salem Bulldogs.
During the 2013-14 regular season, the Storm posted a fine 6-2 record during its eight dual/team meets. At the regionals, the LMS crew finished second in the 7/8 grade division.
Along with the aforementioned athletes, the Storm received strong work during state and regional competitions from sixth grader Dylan Raadmae, seventh graders Sean Wilson and Minot Dilorenzo, and eighth graders Tyler Leblanc, Alex Boucher, Abhy Patel, and Ben Mazzoni.
The LMS team was led by head coach Chad Owen and assistants Eric Sullivan, Ryan Lockwood, Kevin Robischeau Sr., and Jason Lagasse.
The considerable success of the Storm athletes can only bode well eventually for a Londonderry High School wrestling program that accomplished record successes of its own during its winter 2013-14 campaign under outgoing varsity coach Jim Marron.