A pair of Hampshire County wrestlers made it to their respective championship bouts on Saturday afternoon, as Hampshire Regional’s Adin Clifford and Holyoke’s Steven Santiago earned runner-up finishes at the MIAA Wrestling Championships.

Clifford competed in the Division 3 meet in Foxborough while Santiago wrestled in the Division 2 meet in Salem.

Clifford came in as the No. 6 seed in the 144-pound weight class, and after two decisive wins on Friday, he made it to the semifinals on Saturday. Clifford battled with Bristol-Plymouth’s Andrew Daley, and after a hard-fought first two periods, Clifford pinned him less than a minute into the third to punch his ticket to the final.

There he took on Taconic’s West Dews in a rematch of the Western Mass. Div. 3 final just a week prior in Williamstown. In a back-and-forth match, Dews came out on top by a score of 13-10 to snag a second consecutive win. Clifford came up just shy of a state title but had nothing to be disappointed about as he made a terrific run as the No. 6 seed at 144.

Santiago was sharp and precise on Friday, earning a pair of major decision wins (12-3 and 13-1) in the first two rounds to move on to Saturday’s semis. There, Santiago, the No. 3 seed in the 120-pound weight class, took on Whittier’s Aiden Fogarty. The only point Fogarty earned was an escape, as Santiago moved on to the championship bout by a score of 6-1.

But Santiago’s run ended with a loss in the finals, as Billerica’s Peter Rincan got the best of him with a first-period pin.

Elsewhere, South Hadley’s Roberto Melendez won a pair of matches on Friday after losing his first to keep his third-place hopes afloat. Melendez, wrestling at 285 in Division 3, opened his day Saturday with a close 2-1 win over Nicholas Leblanc of Athol. He then dropped a close 3-2 decision to Dylan Matthews of Lynnfield before a 7-2 loss to Wayland’s Nathan Hartunian. Melendez earned sixth place in his weight class in a strong showing over the weekend.

Frontier’s Konnor James made it to Saturday in the Division 3 meet following two wins on Friday, but he was unable to pick up any victories on Saturday as he dropped both of his matches in similar fashion. James was pinned by Foxborough’s Michael Powers and then Excel Academy’s Ethan Martinez in the final 20 seconds of the third period in each of his two bouts at 157. James earned eighth place in his weight class.

MIAA Division 2 boys swimming

Four Belchertown boys swimmers competed at the Division 2 championships at Boston University on Saturday, while a pair of Holyoke swimmers also made the trip out east to compete in a pair of events each.

Orioles junior Ryan Shea had a stellar outing, finishing top five in three different events and placing 15th in a fourth. Shea took third in the 50 yard freestyle in a time of 21.97 before helping out Belchertown’s 200 medley relay team (1:40.33) and 400 freestyle relay team (3:24.50) earn fifth place in both events. Shea placed 15th (1:03.99) in the 100 breaststroke.

J.R. Zlogar put forth a solid showing as well, as the Belchertown sophomore was on both relay teams and also took eighth in the 100 butterfly (53.60). Zlogar’s other individual even was the 200 individual medley, where he placed 12th with a time of 2:04.10. Ryan Gould and Drake Dragon were both a part of the two Orioles relay team, and Gould also competed in the 100 backstroke (eighth, 55.01) and 100 freestyle (15th, 50.72) while Dragon participated in the 500 freestyle (14th, 5:09.43) and 200 freestyle (22nd, 1:55.19).

Belchertown placed a very respectable sixth place with 105.5 points on Saturday.

For Holyoke, senior Brady Pijar and junior Ibrahim Salloum were in action. Pijar cracked the top 10 in the 100 butterfly, placing 10th with a time of 54.40. He also took 11th in the 50 freestyle (22.47). Salloum’s two events were the 500 freestyle and 100 butterfly as well, where he turned in times of 5:15.25 (18th) and 58.46 (25th), respectively.

The Purple Knights accumulated 13 points as a team.