Photo: Ava Suistunov and Jaden O’Connor with their first place medals at the 2024 Brendan Grant Memorial Wrestling Tournament

A pair of Belmont High wrestlers made history by winning their weight divisions at the Brendan Grant Memorial Tournament held on Saturday, Jan. 6.

Sophomore Ava Suistunov powered through the competitors to win the 106 lbs. weight division in the inaugural girls’ division competition. Wrestling since she was in kindergarten, Suistunov came to the finals having pinned her first two opponents before scoring early against Jailyn Edmonds of Boston’s Joshua Quincy Upper School, giving up just a single point in her 6-1 victory.

“It was good. Tough competition, obviously,” said Suistunov. “I didn’t give up, and I stuck to my plan in the matches,” she said, as she is looking forward to competing in the postseason.

Senior Jaden O’Connor became the first Belmont wrestler in the long history of the competition to win consecutive Brendan Grant titles as he prevailed at 150 lbs., defeating Seamus Olohan from Catholic Memorial via a pin in the second stanza. Last year, O’Connor took the 145-pound crown.

“It really feels good because last year a lot of people told me the first time was a fluke … and to win the whole tournament again is [great],” O’Connor said.

According to Casey Grant, this year’s contest attracted nearly 600 athletes, the most wrestlers to participate in the annual event over 14 hours in the Wenner Field House.

Belmont first-year student Eva Cohen was Belmont’s third finalist in the meet. A football team member who also plays the sousaphone in the band, Cohen took the final distance, losing to Logan Murray of Woburn, 11-1. The Ava/Eva partnership secured third place in the girls’ high school team competition with 44 points.

The Marauders’ varsity scorers included O’Connor, Luke Coelho (3rd place at 132 lbs.), Andre Sweet (4th at 138 lbs.), and Michael Wessman (4th at 120 lbs.), racking up 92 points for 11th place in the team event.

Belmont’s junior varsity squad placed a strong fourth, with Darmir Neal winning the 153.6 lbs. category, Ben Warinner (197.6 lbs.) and Shayan Rostamnezhad (135.9) taking home seconds, and Fergus Williams placing third in the 153.6 weight division.