SPRINGFIELD -- It was a good day to be a Central Catholic Raider.
Just a little over a week after claiming the Div. 1 team state championship, the Raiders rode four individual wins Monday to claim 155 collective points and claim the outright MIAA championship at the Mass Mutual Center.
"Four champions is something we've never done here, so excited about that," Raiders head coach Jamie Durkin said. "We've never won, we've come in second four times. They grind every day, every day. They're working hard, they're not taking anything for granted. This is the result of that."
Sam Winship got things started for the Raiders in the 106-pound group, besting Burlington's Maximilian Shvartsman via a technical fall. Lucas Copper then continued the momentum for the Raiders in the 120-pound division with a major decision victory.
The next win opportunity for Central Catholic was in the 165-pound division for Caden Smith. The junior had fallen in the finals of the Div. 1 sectionals to his opponent, Leominster's Troy Greaney, and had an opportunity to avenge that on Monday.
"Last week it kind of got a little chippy in that match," Smith said. "I wasn't going to let that happen again. I told him that I would see him right back next week and that's exactly what happened today. He's a good wrestler, but I knew in my heart that I wasn't going to let the same thing happen to me."
Smith secured a 4-3 decision victory to avenge the loss. The final victory for the Raiders came in the last bout of the day, when Brian Waller-Reitano secured a 5-0 decision victory over Melrose's Scott Santos.
The second-place team in the meet was Shawsheen Tech, who had one individual winner and multiple finalists. James Tildsley was the individual winner, taking the 157-pound division with a successful fall at 2:08. He finished the season with a perfect 46-0 record.
"There's always somebody out there that's going to be training as hard as you so you just have to do the extra rep, train a little bit harder," Tildsley said. "If you do that, you'll get what you want, absolutely."
Other individual winners on the boys side were Franklin's John Woodall (113), Tewksbury's Nick DeSisto (126), Milford's Derek Marcolini (132), Agawam's Jordin Agosto (144), Reading's William Merkle (150), Sharon's Cyrus Jones (175), St. John's Prep's Sam Josey (190) and Haverill's Matt Harrod (215).
On the girls' side, Agawam claimed the top prize with 86 points. This included an individual victory for Stella Christopher in the 165-pound division and two other top-five finishes.
Mansfield's Tessa Johnson emerged victorious in the 145-pound division and finished her season undefeated. This avenged a loss in last year's all-states and she said winning was a huge relief.
"It's really good to get it out this year," Johnson said. "It feels so good, like such a good accomplishment. It's a much smaller bracket than divisionals and its more exciting when there's higher-level opponents."
Hanover's Emma Leonid was the winner in the 185-pound division, upsetting top-ranked Leanna Watson from Putnam. Leonid said that she set the goal of claiming the title at the beginning of the season and felt proud to see it come to fruition.
"My goal was definitely to win states," Leonid said. "Now, I'm excited to see what I can do in New Englands."
Other girls' individual winners were Triton's Riley-Anne Tarmey (100), Sharon's Elsa Scott (107), Bristol-Plymouth's Kennedie Davis (114), Bristol-Aggie's Hannah Dyckman (120), Woburn's Caitlin Castoldi (132), Framingham's Adriana Degroat (138), Bridgewater-Raynham's Nmachukwu Okoli (152) and Lawrence's Hillary MacDonald.