BY TERRY DEVEREAUX

Correspondent

Last winter, the Eastern A regional crown was decided by three points. The hunt for the title should be just as close this season.

Skowhegan won the title last fall, beating Mt. Ararat by three points. Cony was third, just ahead of Erskine Academy and Morse. All five teams should be in the mix, again.

Skowhegan lost a pile of seniors but still returns enough talent to be a contender. Kaleb Austin finished fourth at the state meet as a freshman and junior Joey Buzzell won the regional title in the 140-pound class. Seniors Dillon White and James Graham provide leadership, along with Todd Steward, who missed last season, but should be a force at heavyweight.

Erskine has veterans in every weight class except 103 and 285. Sophomore Bryton York, who placed fourth in Class A at 103 last season, moves to 112. Kyle Pooler, Ryan Spicer, Aaron Taylor, David Heikila and Alex Wood were all state qualifiers last season, while Kevin Lees and Drew Leeman qualified two seasons ago.

Cony has two of the top wrestlers in the state back in TJ Vallee and Shawn White. Vallee was the runner-up at the state meet in the 171-pound class, while White finished fourth at 215. Vallee will move up to 189 this winter.

Also back for Cony is Will Lundquist and Geoffrey Ancira, who both narrowly missed placing at the state meet. Chris Robinson, meanwhile, drops from 160 to 152.

Gardiner has its best depth in a while and returns one of the state's top wrestlers in Matt DelGallo. A junior, DelGallo has a 79-4 record and has not lost to Maine competition. He finished fifth at the New England tournament last year. He will wrestle at 119 pounds this season.

Mt. Blue High School's coach Bob O'Connor is working hard to rebuild the Cougar program. Two-time state champion Sam Webber has graduated, but O'Connor has a solid cast of youngsters. Gary Theriault is a past Eastern regional champion and Andrew Currier, Jon Iams, and Brandon Cochran bring experience to the team.

Justin Gould led Nokomis last winter with a fourth-place finish at the Eastern A meet at 285 pounds. At that meet, he scored two pins to advance to the consolation finals.

In Class B West, Oak Hill High School will have a tough time unseating powerful Mountain Valley, but the Raiders have enough quality athletes to have a shot at the runner-up plaque.

Clyde Tibbetts went to the state championship finals as a sophomore, while sophomore Craig Morrill was fourth at the state tournament. Ben Deschaine, Mike Hamm, Dillon Tibbetts, and Tim Blais were also state qualifiers last season.

Maine Central Institute, Mt. View and Winslow will battle defending Eastern B champion Belfast.

At MCI, senior Brandon Wright has finished second once and fourth twice at the state championship meet. Donald Russell, Chris Ouellet, Patrick Hapworth and Revelin Goewey all return with a great deal of experience.

Mt. View coach Hamilton Richards continues to rebuild the Mustangs. He has a top-notch performer in Tristen Ripley, who finished third at the state meet last season.

Kevin Fredette takes over as coach at Winslow High School and has wrestling in his blood. His father and uncle were part of the Winslow team when it was founded in 1959 and Kevin competed at Winslow in the 1980s.

Now Fredette is Winslow's coach and will coach his son, Ben, who was a state qualifier last season, as were Dallas Cherry and Derek Clark.

Madison's program is just four years old but has enjoyed a great deal of success. Last winter, the Bulldogs finished seventh overall in Class C. Madison lost Nick Ellis, George McLean and Steven Kirkwood, all of whom placed at the state meet last season, to graduation and will look to rebuild.

Monmouth Academy returns two state Class C finalists to a relatively young squad. Cody Guzman and Patrick McInnis each placed second last season.