14 | February | 2009 | McClelland Miscellanea

Daily Archives: February 14, 2009

February 14, 2009 · 1:37 pm

Triton Wrestling “Rebuilds” to 20-4 Season

Triton westling team with Coach Shawn McElligott at the top left

Somewhere before the 2008-09 season it was decided that this would be a “rebuilding” year for Triton’s wrestling team.

Now that the team has finished the regular season at 20-4, you have to wonder what folks were missing before the season started.

“I think the rebuilding idea came from our lack of experience,” was how Coach Shawn McElligott explained it to me before practice recently. “Only one of last year’s starters had gone to the state tournament. We did have a lot of guys back, however, who had earned varsity letters.”

The Vikings ended up finishing second in the Cape Ann League regular season and third in the recent Cape Ann League Open held at Triton.

A key to this team’s success has been the commitment team members have made. “You can’t be a three-month wrestler anymore and be successful,” he explained. “It is practically a year round sport. A lot of guys put in the extra work and it’s paying off now.”

Two of the top wrestlers on the team, junior brothers Danny (three year starter) and Joey Chandler (CAL All-League team), do a lot of wrestling in the off-season in a program at The Barn in Danville, New Hampshire.

“Another place that kids go to extend their wrestling is the North Shore Wrestling Club in Ipswich which is run by the Georgetown wrestling coach,” added Shawn now in his 11th season.

Coach McElligott explained to me that the programs away from high school are similar to AAU in basketball. “There is a group called USA Wrestling,” he said. “They start as early as March and they sponsor tournaments. Joey Chandler went down to Virginia for a national qualifier as part of it.”

Other key performers Coach McElligott mentioned are Colton Blanchette (CAL All-Star), Cody Miller (30 wins), and Brendan O’Neill (11-0 going into this past weekend).

Coach McElligott attended Triton (1990-93) and wrestled for four years when Con Madigan was coach. He then went on to Norwich University where he did club wrestling.

He returned to Triton in 1997 as an assistant wrestling coach. “We had about 12 or 13 wrestlers that year,” he recalled. “When I became head coach the next year the push was to improve the numbers. We got about 20 involved the first year and since then the average has been between 30 and 40.”

There are 14 starters in a meet, so I asked what keeps the rest of the team going. “We are on the lookout for other tournaments. St. John’s Prep, for one, has a JV tournament. I also rotate the lineup quite a bit.”

Coach McElligott believes that Triton’s wrestling program suffers from under-exposure. “We’re better known elsewhere then we are in this area,” he said. “We have the best program history-wise in the school. Look at the banners.” He was referring to the Vikings being state runner-ups in 1976 and 1983, state champs in 1984, and Division 3 North runner-ups in 2005 to prove his point.

There’s little doubt that when it comes to high school wrestling, Coach Dave Castricone of North Andover runs the most successful wrestling program in the area if not in New England with over 600 wins and 29 league titles to his credit. It is interesting that the second stop in Dave’s coaching career, after Masco, was at Triton where he won the state championship in 1984.

“North Andover was here for the CAL Open the other day and we did something special for Coach Castricone,” said Coach McElligott. “We fixed up the plaques from the 1983 and 1984 seasons and showed him our new banners for those accomplishments and he appreciated it.”

(Prepared for The Town Common.)

Museum Studies Class at Triton Searches for Answers and Help

Triton Museum Studies participants left to right: Matt Denaro,Kathleen Corcoran,Kristin Kelleher,Molly Lovell, Andrea Sargent

978-462-8171 (extension 514) is an important phone number as far as a class of students attending Triton Regional High School is concerned.

If you have information on the opening of Triton in 1973, the students want to hear from you. If you’ve got answers, they’ve got questions!

We all have our own way of visiting museums. Most of us walk in the front door, wander around guided, or unguided, and tour the exhibits possibly offering a few “oohs” and “ahs” along the way. Then we walk back out the front door and return to our normal lives.

At Triton High School, a full-year elective course called, Museum Studies, looks at museums more thoroughly.

Led by Triton media specialist Andrea Sargent, Museum Studies gets into the inner workings of museums and explores what goes on behind-the-scenes.

Wisely, Triton has program coordinator Kathleen Corcoran on board from Historic New England of Boston in what is a museum/school partnership.

Historic New England has the largest collection of New England art and artifacts in the United States. They also own and operate 36 house museums in New England, four of which are located in Newbury. The Museum Studies class has visited several of the Newbury sites to find out how they operate.

“I have worked with Kathleen and Historic New England before and they do a wonderful job,” said Andrea.

The first part of the course involved gathering knowledge about museums. The second part, which is now underway, is where the students will be using their acquired knowledge to create an exhibit featuring the towns within the Triton school district – Rowley, Newbury, and Salisbury.

Remember that phone number I mentioned in the first paragraph? This is where it kicks in……….and you may be able to help.

The students in the course have decided on the time period they will use. It will start the year Triton opened (1973) and end with the present. Each of the students has one town to work on.

When the exhibit is finished at the end of the school year, an observer will be able to see an exhibit that highlights the past 36 years in Salisbury, Rowley, and Newbury.

Gathering information on recent times in the three towns is the easiest part. It’s the earliest Triton days that they want help on.

Some of you were part of the planning that brought the three towns into one district. Some of you were at Triton when it opened. What are your memories? Do you have some pictures and stories that the students could use? The number to call is still in the first paragraph.

“I have started to interview people about Newbury and they’ve been very helpful,” said junior Kristin Kelleher, one of the class members.

Senior Molly Lovell (choice student from Amesbury) is covering Salisbury and wants the exhibit produced to make Triton look good. “This is a very good school system and others need to know that. I am thankful for the opportunity to take this course and for the great support I’ve been getting from the staff.”

Another senior, Matt Denaro of Rowley, will be working on the town he lives in. Matt told me that a clear portrayal of the three district towns could benefit incoming students. “Many of the students enter Triton knowing little about the other two towns.”

“It’s exciting to watch the way they go about this research part,” added Andrea Sargent. “I think that they have a good vision of what they want to do.”

The road ahead will be a busy one for the course members as they search for exhibit materials. If you have materials/information that could help them, they would appreciate hearing from you.

(Prepared for The Town Common.)