Belmont High School Wrestling

Photo: Belmont High’s Ava Svistunov is now a two-time Massachusetts Division 1 champion

Ava and Eva bring home the silverware

It took Belmont High’s Ava Svistunov less than six minutes of total mat time in her three matches to retain the title of Massachusetts’ top Division 1 wrestler at the MIAA Wrestling Divisional championships held at North Andover High School.

On Feb. 22, Svistunov won the title at 114 pounds, a weight class one step higher than last year when she took the 107 pound crown. Not that moving up made much difference as the junior stormed through the category, defeating Saphira Sao from the powerful Lowell High team in the finals via a fall in the first period.

Svistunov’s teammate Eva Cohan came home with her own medal, taking third at 120 pounds; her only defeat coming at the hands of eventual champion Adriana DeGroat from Framingham High. Cohen would go on to compete at the Girls All-State Championships on the next weekend.

Dana Lehr and Noah Geiger were on-track indoors

After being a lynch pin in the midfield on the Belmont High varsity soccer team in the fall, senior Dana Lehr traded her boots for track spikes and showed her versatility as an athlete with top-notched performances going round and round the indoor track.

A member of Emerging Elites – the same club Belmont’s Ellie Shea, the USA Under20 cross country and track member, competed – Lehr doubled at the Middlesex League Indoor Track & Field Championship, winning the one (4 minutes, 57.74 seconds) and two mile (10:56.10), taking the deuce by more than 20 seconds.

At the MIAA Indoor Meet of Champions held on Feb. 22 at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center, Lehr would hang on to Needham High’s junior sensation Greta Hammer (who won in 10:21.48) before running solo for an impressive second and setting her indoor PR of 10:33.19. Lehr was invited to run in the two mile at the New Balance Nationals Indoor meet held in Boston, where she crossed the finish line in 10:43.53. Lehr will attempt to repeat as All-State outdoors 2 mile champion this spring.

Belmont High also showed off some young talent as first-year Noah Geiger took 7th in the two mile at the MIAA State Division 2 Championships finishing in 9:59.69, running as the only 9th grader in the finals. Geiger was 4th in the Middlesex meet (9:57.71).

State titles for Belmont Girls Youth Hockey

There will be two brand-new banners just waiting to be hung in the new Belmont rink and community center this December. And they belong to a pair of teams from Belmont Girls Youth Hockey who won state titles on March 2 at the New England Sports Center in Marlborough.

The Under 12 Tier IV girls showed a great deal of grit after starting the tournament losing two of their first three games. But with some help from other teams, Belmont got into the semifinals where they defeated Milton, 2-1. In the finals, Belmont topped Hingham, 2-1, exercising some revenge on the town whose high schoolers defeated Belmont, 2-1, in the MIAA state Division 1 quarterfinals.

In the Under 14 Tier III division, Belmont came out on top of KP Walpole, 3-2, in the semi-finals. A three goal second period against Charlestown put the championship game to bed as the Marauders secured its state title with a 5-2 victory. With five eighth graders having played varsity hockey this season, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a few of the state champions on the high school team much sooner than later.

Photo: Three for three as Belmont’s girl grapplers – (from left) Head Coach Craig Janjigian, Ava Svistunov, Eva Cohen, and Clarise O’Neil – each grab medals at the 44th annual Brendan Grant Memorial Wrestling Tournament.

For more than 10 hours, the six mats on the Wenner Field House floor were busy on Saturday, Jan. 4, filled with approximately 500 wrestlers from 21 high schools across eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island participating in the 44th annual Brendan Grant Memorial Wrestling Tournament.

Over the near half-century, Belmont High has had its share of wrestlers who used the early-season meet to springboard their season toward divisional and state championships. And this edition, Belmont—which came ready to compete in all but one weight class—was well represented throughout the two days.

In Saturday’s Boys’ competition, Jonathan Doban took the 144 lbs. title with relative ease via three pins and a majority decision. His championship run came after he was sidelined for a week with the flu.

Luke Coelho went to the mat six times to capture 5th place in the 138 division, losing to the eventual champion (Charles Phillips from East Providence) and the third-place medalist. In his final match of a long day, Coelho took the match the entire three rounds to ground out a 4-1 decision.

On Sunday, it was an impressive haul when the second annual Girls’ tournament was held. In the round-robin event, where each grappler wrestled four times in her weight division, a pair of Marauders dominated their classes.

Defending MIAA Division 1 state champion Ava Svistunov (114.3-118 lbs.) dropped just a single point – in her final match with Woburn’s Racia DeSousa – in her four matches, each ending with a pin in the first round. Svistunov came to the meet, winning the prestigious George Bossi Lowell Holiday Tournament at 107 lbs.

Second-year wrestler Eva Cohen (118.7-120.6 lbs.) was equally impressive without dropping a match with three falls. Rookie Clarise O’Neil (112.6-114.1 lbs.) took home two wins while losing one of her matches by a single point to pick up a third-place medal.

Senior night for Belmont High Wrestling will be Tuesday, Jan. 28, vs. Melrose.