Swimmers beat host Danvers to secure second win
The Marblehead High swim team won its second meet of the year — the first one in 2026 — on Jan. 6 against Danvers at the St. John’s Prep pool, 92-81.
“With many state cuts already under (our) belts, the goal now is to make more cuts in the upcoming meets,” said coach Sue Guertin afterwards.
Omar Elnabarawy, Cale Nelson, Brady Leveroni and Orion Lewis (1:48.40, state cut), and Hazell Wright, Grace Ladouceur, Winnie Waddington and Shaelyn Callahan (1:52.17, state cut) were the top two teams in the 200-yard medley relay.
Leveroni (158.34), Wright (2:05.57, state cut) and Waddington (2:07.87, state cut) swept the 200-yard freestyle. Macy Ladouceur (2:25.50, state cut), Grace Ladouceur (2:30.06) and Paxton Swanson (2:30.34) did the same in the 200 IM. Lewis (23.58, state cut), Wright (25.71, state cut) and Waddington (26.43, state cut) maintained the trend in the 50-yard freestyle.
Claire Burke (155.25 points) and Ivan Monin (153.35) were the top two divers in this meet. Elnabarawy (59. 14), Leveroni (59.95) and Grace Ladouceur (1:01.19, state cut) took the top three places in the 100-yard butterfly.
Nelson (53.81) finished second in the 100-yard freestyle, followed by Phillip Gaber (59.81, third) and Lorelai Mosher (1:07.61, fourth).
Ian Chemel (5:21.52, state cut), Callahan (5:46.81, state cut) and Abby Moore (6:18.44) occupied the top three spots in the 500-yard freestyle.
In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the teams of Swanson, Gaber, Lewis and Chemel (1:47.38), and Monica Pechhold, Mosher, Macy Ladouceur and Moore (1:57.13, sectional cut) topped the ticket.
Elnabarawy (1:00.77), Mosher (1:21.52) and Maya Belfbecker (1:23.14) came in second, third and fourth, respectively, in the 100-yard backstroke, while Nelson (1:08.20, first), Lewis (1:10.87, second) and Grace Ladouceur (1:12.50, state cut, third) dominated the 100-yard breaststroke.
Chemel, Leveroni, Elnabarawy and Nelson (3:49.52) ended up on top in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Wright, Callahan, Waddington and Grace Ladouceur (3:58.69, state cut) teamed up to finish second.
Wrestlers clinch first win during inaugural Super Quad home tournament
It was a tough loss for the Marblehead/Swampscott Black & Blue wrestling squad, when they dropped a 62-16 decision to the Saugus/Peabody co-op at home on Jan. 7.
Senior captain Liam O’Brien, Phineas Jakious and Xavier Tejeda recorded the wins in this meet. In an exhibition match, freshman Kenny Drolette pinned his opponent to come out on top.
But it was a great day for the Black & Blue crew on Jan. 3, when they hosted their first-ever Super Quad at home against Beverly, North Attleborough, Plymouth South, Silver Lake and Bridgewater-Raynham. The Black & Blue ended up losing to three teams, but did win one. However, despite that, coach Mike Stamison thought it was so cool to see three full mats on the field house floor. There were 15 varsity dual meets ongoing throughout the day to go along with another 60-plus exhibition matches.
The Marblehead co-op lost to Plymouth South as a team, 63-17. Senior captain Colin Hart, O’Brien and Jakious secured the wins. Platon Danshyn and Elliot Donato were the JV winners. It was also Donato’s first-ever triumph as a high school wrestler.
The host team then fell to North Attleboro, 64-12. O’Brien and Hart secured the wins. Seventh grader Kristian Drolette won on a forfeit. Ryker Genest came through with a JV triumph.
Silver Lake Regional also came out on top against the locals, 70-12. O’Brien and Hart were credited with a couple of more wins. But the home team did bounce back nicely to beat Bridgewater-Raynham, 42-40. It was their first win of the year after losing six straight meets.
At 106, Kristian Drolette picked up another forfeit win. At 120, freshman Kenny Drolette pinned his opponent. At 138, O’Brien was credited with a pin. At 144, first-year sophomore grappler Phil Duclos accounted for his first varsity win, and did it in style with a pin.
At 157, junior Andrew Delisle lost a gritty 14-5 decision, saving points for the team by staying on his back. At 175, Hart recorded a pin.
Trailing 40-30, the Black & Blue needed its two big seniors to pull through and win their matches by pin and tech fall in order to secure victory, and so at 215, Jakious returned to the lineup and stepped up big to pin his opponent. Then, at 285, senior Xavier Tejeda had his biggest career pin to clinch the team win.
Hockey Headers still looking for that elusive first win
The Hockey Headers, under the direction of first-year coach Brendan Locke, are still looking for their first win of the season after eight games. Gloucester (4-3, Jan. 3) and Beverly (5-3, Jan. 7) were the latest teams to pin losses on them.
As a matter of perspective, the team two years ago started the season with six straight losses, before winning its first two games. That momentum kept on building all the way to the Division 3 state championship at the TD Garden in March. Not saying this year’s club will win a state title, but it’s still much too early to give up on pursuing a state tournament berth, especially after these two most recent losses.
In the game against the host Fishermen, the home team rallied to defeat the snakebitten Headers by one slim goal.
“It was a game of momentum swings,” said Locke afterwards.
The Marblehead boys struck first, when Holden Ferreira intercepted a pass and broke in alone, before burying a shot past the Gloucester goalie. The visitors were able to maintain that lead throughout the rest of the opening stanza.
But Gloucester answered back with two quick goals in the second to take the lead. Marblehead senior captain E.J. Wyman, however, got those scores right back to give his teammates the lead, once again. Ryan Frary assisted on both tallies.
The Fishermen then tied up the proceedings at three with less than one minute to go in the period. In the third period, they were on a power play, which resulted in the game-winning score that developed off a carom caused by the end boards.
The visitors did outshoot the Fishermen by three, 24-21. Goalie Bowden Laramie made 20 stops to once again keep his teammates in the game.
Another late rally did the Headers in against the Panthers at Salem State’s Rockett Arena.
Beverly dominated early to build up a 4-0 lead going into the third period. But the Headers kept on battling, and before anybody knew it, they scored three times to trim the deficit to just one.
Ryan Angilly broke Beverly’s shutout bid assisted by Will DePhillips. Drew DePhillips then netted the second goal that was set up by Teddy Dulac and Ferreira. Kellan Laramie capped the rally with a lamplighter from Drew DePhillips. But Beverly eventually got the all-important insurance tally to ease into the close victory.
