By GERRY deSIMAS, JR.
Connecticut Wrestling Online
BERLIN, Jan. 28, 2004 -- With Mount Anthony Union of Bennington, Vermont comfortably in front, the battle at the 10th annual Silk City Classic was for top honors in Connecticut and second place in the tournament.
Windham High wrestling team won the battle for second place among host Berlin and Killingly. The Whippets amassed 152 points while Berlin took third with 133.5. Killingly had 124 points.
Windham had four finalists with Bran Crudden (145) earning a 7-3 win over Mt. Anthony's Ken Volkmer and top-seeded Kurtis Strout earning an thrilling 2-0 victory over Kainen Mattison at 140 pounds.
"When we began the season, we had seven State Open placewinners returning but we still had some holes to fill," Windham coach Pat Risley said. "We only had a few kids who wrestled in the off-season. A majority are three-month wrestlers. We're still catching up to some of the other teams."
Windham, ranked No. 2 in the latest state poll and 19-0, had its highest-ever finish in the Silk City Classic. They had five additional medal-winners including Navarre Jones (2nd, 125), Ferdinand Quiles (2nd, 189), Travis Richardson (3rd, 130), Derek White (5th, 275) and Luke Guyot (6th, 152).
"This is a great tournament that is very deep in talent," Risley said. "I'm not disappointed at all. Berlin took third with 10 Redcoat wrestlers earning medals, led by Eric McCurdy, who took second at 171 pounds.
No. 6 Berlin, No. 7 Rockville and No. 9 Plainville all participated in the tournament.
MY TURN NOW: For a majority of the past three seasons, Plainville's Tranh Tran has watched his teammates battle on the mat. Tran just couldn't get past Jesse Cavallaro or his brother, Nick, and earn a varsity spot.
But this winter, Tran finally cracked the starting lineup as a 103-pound senior. And he is making the most of his opportunity. Tran won his 25th match in 26 starts with an impressive victory in the finals of the 10th annual Silk City Classic. With a front headlock, Tran pinned Chris Fusco of New Fairfield in 3:07.
"He had a great day," Plainville coach Sean Kelly said. "He is totally capable. He has a lot of ability and when he wrestles with intensity, he is at another level." He had three pins in four victories.
MENTALLY TOUGH PATS: Mount Anthony Union from Bennington, Vt., won the Silk City Classic for the eighth straight year with 325 points. The Patriots had 12 finalists and seven champions and won the tourney over Windham High by a tournament record 176.5 points. Mt. Anthony was 1.5 points shy of the tournament record of 326.5 that they had in 2000. Mt. Anthony had 12 finalists out of 15 weight classes and crowned seven champions.
"I was pretty happy," Mt. Anthony coach Scott Legacy said. "This is a pretty tough tournament and there isn't many easy matches here. I thought we wrestled extremely well."
Two MAU wrestlers brought home the Outstanding Wrestler trophies. Carey Greene (119) was one of three MAU wrestlers that were seeded sixth and earned a spot in the finals. Greene handed Plainville's Jesse Cavallaro his second loss of the season, 13-9. Greene was able to get Cavallaro into a cradle in the second period and take advantage when Cavallaro slipped attempting a takedown late in the third period.
Vince Chirogno (152) won the Outstanding Wrestler trophy for the upper weights. He had three pins (27, 73, 24 seconds) and won the final by technical fall.
"The biggest thing is that we don't panic," Legacy said. "We have been in enough situations to know if we are scored upon, you have to remain calm. We recognize that you have to get back into position, reach back and fight. You might be in pain but it a momentary thing."
Mt. Anthony has only five seniors in the lineup, none lower than 145 pounds.
SILK CITY NOTES: Killingly's Mike LaBeef had four pins to win the title at 215 pounds and become only the third wrestler in tournament history to capture three titles in a row. Three wrestlers won the tournament four times. LaBeef won the tournament's fast fall award with 4 pins in 10:03. ... One of the more impressive victories came from Simsbury's Joey Martin at 112 pounds. Leading 4-0 in the second period, he sank a double chicken wing on Mt. Anthony's Andrew LaCross, who fought with every ounce of strength. Martin had to sit out completely before LaCross finally turned over. Martin pinned him in 3:34. ... Woodstock Academy's Jeff Larrow fought off a takedown attempt with 1:38 left in the third period to get the takedown and a 2-0 win over top-seeded Brad Betit of Mt. Anthony at 135 pounds. .... Jerad Smith of Mt. Anthony prevailed in double overtime with an escape to beat East Catholic's Tracy Deleston in the finals at 275 pounds. ... The tournament will return to Manchester next winter in the newly-renovated East Catholic gymnasium. ... Mt. Anthony's Nick DeLucia (171) won the best technician award. Plainville won the team sportsmanship award while East Catholic's Brian Moretz won individual sportsmanship award.
DUAL MEET TOURNAMENT: Former Griswold Dave Nowakowski developed a dual meet power ranking system this winter. Next year, he hopes to develop a dual meet tournament to see which team has the best dual meet team in Connecticut.
He proposes that the top 16 teams meet in a one-day tournament the first Saturday in February, 2005. Teams would be determined by ranking in the power ratings and the state coaches poll on a 50-50 basis. Teams would compete in a pair of four 4-team pools. Details will follow at the end of this notebook. Interested schools should e-mail Nowakowski at Nowakowski@sbcglobal.net.
AROUND THE STATE: Farmington improved to 12-2 with three easy victories over Wolcott Tech, Terryville and Bacon Academy. But the Indians will get a stiffer test on Saturday at the Northeast Duals. ... Bristol Eastern improved to 14-1 by sweeping three bouts. ...Fairfield High won three to improve to 21-2. Montville set a new single-season record for wins (22) with three wins over Avon, Portland and Derby. ... Kevin Hylan (215) won 4-2 in double OT to help Morgan beat Waterford, 36-34 in the finals of the Morgan Duals to give the Huskies the title for the fourth time in six years. Hand topped Newtown, 53-27 to finish third. Morgan and Waterford met in the tournament for the third straight year. Morgan won in 2002 while Waterford won a year ago. ... New Milford had seven wrestlers in the finals and had four champions including tournament MVP Dylan Tuz (125) to win the New Milford Tournament over Ridgefield, 192-149.5. ... Ledyard's Ben Berryman (130) was voted outstanding wrestler in the North Fork Invitational in Mattatuck, N.Y. Teammates T.J. Hepburn (112), Brandon Gunnels (160), Adam Collins (171) and Nate McNeese (275) each won for LHS. ... Southington's four-year run as CCC South champion could be at an end. Twice this year, Southington has won CCC South matches with pins in the final bout but it didn't work this time in a 35-27 loss to Bristol Eastern, snapping a 34-match league win streak dating back to 1999. It places Eastern (11-1, 3-0) in command of the CCC South race.
2005 Connecticut Dual Meet Championships
A PROPOSAL
Date: Saturday, February 5, 2005
Format: Dual meet pool tournament
Cost: $100 per team to help cover cost of officials & trophies (remainder of fee to be collected from gate)
Gate: Admission to be kept minimalthis is not a CIAC Tournament
Concession: Host school's responsibility and profit
1. Host school must be determined in advance, and must accommodate a minimum of 4 mats. Host school commitment must be maintained, so even if that school does not qualify as one of the top 16 teams, it will be given the 16th spot. Consideration will be given to a centrally located site, perhaps incorporating a scheduled youth event on the following day. For future, defending champion will be given first opportunity to host.
2. Qualification notice will be February 2nd. While this is very late notice, we want to include as much of the season as possible. Teams would have to accept the fact that whatever they MAY have scheduled for the second to last Saturday prior to states would be tentative--qualifying as a top 16 school would require participation if your school agreed to take part prior to the season. If your team is not part of the agreed group, the opening would go to next highest ranked teams. This could result in a few scheduled quads becoming tris (or maybe even a dual) on that date, as teams adjust schedules to participate in this event. It may be beneficial for a team that is not realistically going to be included to consider hosting a "tier 2" tourney.
3. Four pools of 4 teams wrestling quads (split by seeds, with seeds 1, 8, 9 & 16 in Pool A, seeds 2, 7, 10 & 15 in Pool B, seeds 3, 6, 11 & 14 in Pool C and seeds 4, 5, 12, & 13 in Pool D). Pool Champs advance to semis (A vs D and B vs C), with winners meeting in finals, while 2nd place pool teams (2-1 records) will also meet for 5th and 7th. Teams going 1-2 and 0-3 in pool will be done. If 3 teams go 2-1, tie-breaker advancement would be fewest team points allowed among 3 common opponents in pool.
4. The state coaches poll would constitute 50% of the criteria, while the other 50% would be balanced by a "CIAC football" format point criteria (which takes into account strength of schedule). Top teams in each format would be given ordinal rankings, and lowest 16 scores would be invited. For instance, 1st in poll and 3rd in points would be "4", and 2nd in poll but 7th in points would be a "9" (any ranking below 16 in either category will be given a "17" as a maximum. Seedings based on this combined number, with ties broken according to coaches poll.
5. Time schedule
7:30 a.m.: Weight Checkscales open
8 a.m.: Weigh-ins by weight (4 scales) and determination of starting weight class
8:30 a.m. Coaches meeting/roster distribution
9 a.m. Round 1 Pool A & D (1v16; 8v9; 4v13; 5v12)
10:30 a.m. Round 2
Pool B & C (2v15; 7v10; 3v14; 6v11)
Noon Round 3Pool A & D (1v9; 8v16; 4v12; 5v13)
1:30 p.m. Round 4Pool B & C (2v10; 7v15; 3v11; 6v14)
3 p.m. Round 5Pool A & D (1v8; 9v16; 4v5; 12v13)
4:30 p.m. Round 6Pool B & C (2v7; 10v15; 3v6; 11v14)
6 p.m. Semifinals Champs Pool A vs. D; B vs. C
6 p.m. Consolation A 2-1 vs D 2-1 & B 1-2 vs C 1-2
7:30PM Finals, 3rd, 5th and 7th
2004 Silk City Classic
At Berlin
Team results -- 1. Mt. Anthony Union-Bennington, Vt. 325, 2. Windham High 152, 3. Berlin 133.5, 4. Killingly 124, 5. Rockville 98, 6. Plainville 93, 7. South Windsor 82, 8. Nonnewaug 77, 9. Woodstock Academy 70, 10. RHAM 62, 11. Bristol Central 61, 12. Fermi-Enfield 60, 13. New Fairfield 56, 14. Manchester 55.5, 15. Simsbury 54, 16. Newington 52, 17. Rocky Hill 48, 18. East Catholic 40.5, 19. Canton 40, 20. East Windsor 21, 21. Lewis Mills 13, 22. Tolland 0
95 pounds
Brandon Bushee, MAU pin Chris Lombardi, Bristol Central, 5:03; 3. Sajjad Raza, Newington dec. Bryan Wasik, Berlin, 11-2; 5. Brian Harrington, East Windsor pin Dan Schuberth, Rocky Hill, 0:51
103 pounds
Thanh Tran, Plainville pin Chris Fusco, New Fairfield, 3:07; 3. Tom Phillips, Killingly dec. Adam Olin, MAU, 9-4; 5. Doug Rohner, Manchester dec. Mike Cunningham, South Windsor, 10-8
112 pounds
Joey Martin, Simsbury pin Andrew Lacross, MAU, 3:34; 3. Kevin Horan, Newington dec. Nick Cavallaro, Plainville, 5-2; 5. Mike Longo, Rockville dec. Trevor Olmstead, RHAM, 11-6
119 pounds
Carey Greene, MAU dec. Jesse Cavallaro, Plainville, 13-9; 3. Nick Miragliulo, Woodstock Academy dec. Scott Warren, RHAM, 7-5; 5. Mike Crowe, Berlin dec. Kyle Dess, Bristol Central, 4-2
125 pounds
Rob Labrake, MAU dec. Navarre Jones, Windham, 15-4; 3. Mike Karpman, RHAM dec. Andrew Descisciolo, Woodstock Academy, 4-2; 5. Shane Day, Berlin, win by injury default.
130 pounds
T.J. Maroney, MAU pin Mike Fiorini, Bristol Central, 3:21; 3. Chevon Schaniol, Manchester dec. Travis Richardson, Windham; 5. Pat Szczesiul, Fermi pin Mike Robinson, Berlin, 2:44
135 pounds
Jeff Larrow, Woodstock Academy dec. Brad Betit, MAU, 2-0; 3. Dan Madey, Berlin dec. Jordan Blain, Windham, 1-0; 5. Greg Hom, Lewis Mills pin Alex Gibson, Nonnewaug, 2:09
140 pounds
Kurtis Strout, Windham dec. Kainen Mattison, MAU, 6-4; 3. Chris Lovell, Fermi dec. Frank Desimone, South Windsor, 8-3; 5. Kevin Turko, RHAM dec. Dave Fiorillo, Berlin, 5-4
145 pounds
Bran Crudden, Windham dec. Ken Volkmer, MAU, 7-3; 3. Jeremy Pavlik, Nonnewaug dec. Tim Gardiner, Rockville, 7-4; 5. Nick Catalano, Berlin dec. Peter Ouellette, Fermi, injury default
152 pounds
Vince Chirogno, MAU tech. fall Dave Loomis, Killingly, 15-0; 3. Mike Patrizz, Rockville dec. Tim Jachym, South Windsor, 7-6; 5. Jim Solek, Berlin dec. Luke Guyot, Windham, 7-1
160 pounds
Larry Loomis, Killingly dec. Scott Crawford, MAU, 7-0; 3. Ryan Quinn, New Fairfield dec. Bryant Reed, South Windsor, 5-3; 5. O'Brien Hunter, Manchester dec. Alex Pender, Rockville, 7-6
171 pounds
Nick Deluca, MAU tech fall Eric McCurdy, Berlin, 16-1; 3. Andy Waller, Nonnewaug dec. Joel Jacques, South Windsor, 4-2; 5. Nate Shippee, East Catholic pin Pete Postell, RHAM, 2:53
189 pounds
Mike Sanders, Rocky Hill dec. Ferdinand Quiles, Windham, 5-2; 3. Justin Fangiullo, Plainville dec. Brendan Margelone, Rockville, 3-1; 5. Josh Barreto, Killingly dec. Chuck Desrochers, Berlin, 3-0
215 pounds
Mike LaBeef, Killingly pin Kelvin Valencia, Canton, 3:42; 3. Ibai Irazoqui, Rockville dec. Tory Rich, MAU, 7-5; 5. Justin Pawlike, Simsbury dec. Brian Loretz, East Catholic, 2-1
275 pounds
Jerad Smith, MAU dec. Tracy Deleston, East Catholic, 2-1, 2 OT; 3. Andy Dohan, Nonnewaug dec. Tim Boland, Rockville, 5-2; 5. Derek White,Windham dec. Morgan Wanzer, Fermi, 5-4
Awards
Outstanding wrestler, lower weights: Carey Greene, MAU (119)
Outstanding wrestler, upper weights: Vince Chirogno, MAU (152)
Dennis Sigemann Fast Fall Award: Mike LaBeef, Killingly (215), 4 pins in 10:03
Best technican: Nick DeLucia, MAU (171)
Most exciting final: 275 pounds
Barry Bernstein team sportsmanship: Plainville
Lee Pinney individual sportsmanship: Brian Moretz, East Catholic
