NORTH ANDOVER – Central Catholic’s boys and Lowell’s girls wrestling teams took home the MIAA Division 1 titles on Saturday at North Andover High School, besting strong opponents like Shawsheen Tech, St. John’s (Shrewsbury), Greater Lawrence and Springfield Central.

With four champions from Central Catholic and two from Lowell, both schools came out on top with 224 and 174 points, respectively.

Central’s Lucas Cooper (120), Izaiah Santiago (132) notably took titles in their weight classes, while Sam Winship (106) beat Shawsheen’s Kyle Dube (106) 3-0 with a takedown at 1:21 to gain a huge team edge on the Rams.

Often neck and neck with Shawsheen throughout the day, Raiders head coach Jaime Durkin said that Saturday was Central Catholic’s time to pull ahead.

“They’re a great team, they’re tough. I think this year we just had a little bit more steam than they did,” said Durkin.

Central Catholic also claimed victory in the last match of the day with Brian Waller-Reitano (285) beating Lowell’s Atilio Colon (285) 7-1, with an escape and two takedowns.

“I’m feeling good, worked hard this whole season so I think I deserve this,” said Waller-Reitano.

Shawsheen claimed second place, with champions Dante Giusti (126) and James Tildsley (157). Tildsley pinned down his fourth state title. Saint John’s Prep followed in third with final winners James Lally (144) and Sam Josey (190).

To round out the boys MIAA champions, Franklin sophomore John Woodall (113), Andover senior Jason Ballou (138), Leominster seniors Dan (150) and Troy Greaney (165), Methuen senior Vincent DeMaio (175), and Taunton senior William Buffington (215) claimed championship titles in their final matches.

On the girls side, Lowell’s Alex Plowman (126) and Amelyiah Martinez (235) claimed the championship, with Martinez pulling through after suffering a tough injury on the mat.

“When I landed on it … I remember hearing a crunch. It was the worst pain I’ve ever had,” she said.

Despite this, Martinez says that it’s most likely “not a big deal” and is eager to get back in the weight room.

“Definitely can’t skip out. A lot of hard work to get here, definitely can’t give it up now,” she said.

This is Martinez’s third state championship win, and she has no intentions of stopping.

“I remember when I was a freshman in high school I was the only girl in the JV room,” said Martinez. “Now, being here is just such an accomplishment. It really shows you can move mountains when you want to, you can cut through them, but only hard work can get you to the top of the summit. This is just proof of all that hard work and dedication.”

Overall, Lowell head coach Nick Logan is proud of his girls for keeping their drive and dedication all the way to the win.

“It was a great overall team effort, which is something we’ve been preaching to the girls all year. We knew that if they all came together at this tournament, we could get it done,” said Logan. “The couple of girls who wrestled back… They took some tough losses, and they got a bunch of pins on the backside. I think that really helped towards that team title.”

Greater Lawrence finished second after Lowell, with Springfield Central in third. Greater Lawrence had two champions, Aliana Garcia (100) and Jordyn Reynolds (165). Springfield Central had one division champion, Izabella Perez (120).

Other final matches saw wins from North Andover senior Alexia Henriquez (107) and junior Bella Prince (185), Bridgewater-Raynham senior Kennedie Davis (114), Newton North senior Madeline Ngo (132), Framingham junior Adriana DeGroat (138), Whittier freshman Olivia Leone (145) and Bristol-Plymouth senior Rileigh Fagan (152).