By ANNE MARIE TOBIN
Peabody wrestlers Jon Salmeron (160 pounds) and freshman Phil Makoci (195 pounds) earned fourth place finishes at Saturday’s Division 1 North Wrestling sectional tournament at Methuen High School to punch their tickets to the Division 1 State Championship this weekend, also at Methuen High.
Salmeron received a first round bye, then defeated Drew Diamantopoulos of Lowell in the championship bracket quarterfinals with a pin in only 1:04. He then lost to eventual champion Nick Succimarra of Billerica in the semifinals by technical fall, 15-0. He rebounded with a pin win in 5:06 over Jesus Geronimo of Lawrence to advance to the third place match, where he lost to Methuen’s Bill Trainor (3:31) to finish fourth.
Makoci also received a bye in the round of 16. He pinned St. John’s Prep’s Evan Chaisson in the third period (4:51) in the quarterfinals, but was eliminated from the championship bracket with a loss in the semifinals to Methuen’s Travis Manick (1:18). He defeated Sammy Estevez of Lawrence in an 8-3 decision in the consolation semifinals before losing a 9-5 decision to to Derek Sardella of Shawsheen in the third place match.
Aaron Sacca (220 pounds) and Ben Caputo (285 pounds) also won matches but finished out of the money with 1-2 records.
Sacca needed only 31 seconds to pick up a pin win in the opening round, but was eliminated with a loss in the quarterfinals to Lowell’s Aaron Diaz and a loss to Billerica’s Aramis Ramos in the consolation round of eight.
Caputo had a first round bye, then was relegated to the consolation bracket with a loss in the quarterfinals to Chelmsford’s Thomas Marshall (1:18). Caputo was eliminated in the consolation quarterfinals by a pin (2:59).
For St. John’s Prep, winners were Malcolm Mitchell, 126; and Zach Alexander, 132.
Ryan Garlitz was second at 113, falling to defending New England champ Jake Ferri, 9-8.
Placing fifth were Quinn Alexander, 106; Sam Little, 138; Sam Blizard, 145; Chris Kwmutis, 160 and Evan Chaisson, 195.
The Eagles got sixth-place finishes from Ben Shaw at 152 and Mike Costello at 170.
Division 2 North
At Beverly High Saturday, the Lynnfield/North Reading wrestling team had only four place winners (top 6). Senior captain Connor Stead turned in the Black and Gold’s top effort, finishing fifth in the 145 pound weight class. Fellow senior captain Adam Rossetti placed sixth at 138 pounds, while junior Kevin Farrelly (195 pounds) also placed sixth. Dylan Reardon was sixth at 126.
Division 3 North
At Danvers High, Marblehead/Swampscott’s Stephen Hopkins, the No. 2 seed, was a runner-up at 138, falling to Matt Butler of Tyngsborough, the top seed, in a 1-0 decision.