2026 MIAA All-State Mixed Gender Wrestling Championships: Central Catholic Grabs Four Individual Wins, First Team Title

Central Catholic High School had a historic day with four individual state championships, and collectively they helped the Raiders to the program’s first All-State Wrestling Championship, capping a two-day event March 1-2 that debuted this year at the MassMutual Center in Springfield.

The highlight of the final day of action was an epic 165-pound championship match between Central Catholic’s Caden Smith and Troy Greaney of Leominster High School. Smith and Greaney – who attends Wachusett Regional High School – battled through regulation and three overtimes in a 3-3 stalemate. Finally Smith escaped from Greaney and earned the “ultimate tiebreaker” point to give him the state championship win over Greaney, the Division 1 champion from the previous weekend.

Central Catholic’s other three winners were repeats from Division 1 the previous week.

Sam Winship started the finals at 106 pounds with a 1:38 fall against Burlington High School’s Maximillian Shvartsman. At 120, Lucas Copper rolled to a 17-4 decision against Kai Napadow Baquero of Winchester High School.
The Raiders’ championship was punctuated in the final match of the event, with Brian Waller-Reitano posted a 5-0 decision over Scott Santos of Melrose High School at 285.

Central Catholic finished with 155 points to dethrone defending champion Shawsheen Technical High School, which was second with 115 points.

Shawsheen’s James Tildsley earned his third consecutive state championship. After wins at 145 in 2024 and then 150 last year, Tildsley continued up the ladder with a 157-pound pin of Marlborough High School’s Samuel Wilcox just 8 seconds into the second period (2:08 fall.)

Two other wrestlers repeated as individual champions from 2025. After winning at 106 last year, Franklin High School’s John Woodall moved up to 113 and earned a 12-3 decision over Devon Mateo of West Springfield High School. Then Matt Harrold of Haverhill High School continued his dominance of the 215-pound class, this time with a grueling 11-10 decision over William Buffington of Taunton High School.

Saint John’s Preparatory School finished third (81.5), led by a victory from Sam Josey at 190 pounds. Also the Division 1 champion, Josey closed the MIAA season with a 4-2 decision over Logan Holmes of Shawsheen.

Winship, Woodall, Copper, Tildsley and Waller-Reitano also were Division 1 individual champions. Three Division 2 champions also earned All-State championships – Kai Ly of Minnechaug Regional High School at 138 (10-4 decision over Jason Ballou of Andover High School), William Merkle of Reading Memorial High School at 150 (5-3 decision over Dan Greaney of Leominster/Wachusett), and Cyrus Jones of Sharon High School at 175 (fall, :46 over Vincent Demaio of Methuen High School).

Division 3 champion Nick Desisto of Tewksbury Memorial High School added a state championship at 126, topping Dante Giusti of Shawsheen (11-4 decision).

Also winning state championships were Derek Marcollini of Milford High School and Jordin Agosto of Agawam High School. Marcollini won at 132, a 12-1 decision over Gavin Lane of Shawsheen, while Agosto prevailed at 144 with a 7-4 decision over Aydin Lamb of Wakefield Memorial High School.

For a complete gallery of images from the 2026 MIAA Wrestling Championships, visit the Owen Jones Photography website.