Class L Tournament
At Bristol Central
Team results – 1. Middletown 178½, 2. Bristol Central 159½, 3. Farmington 145½, 4. Bristol Eastern 143, 5. Berlin 137½, 6. Hand 122, 7. Bethel 111½, 8. Jonathan Law 94, 9. Conard 88, 10. Staples 84½, 11. Wethersfield and Bunnell 84, 13. Fermi 83½, 14. Maloney 75, 15. Hall 69, 16. Guilford 65½, 17. Fitch 65, 18. East Lyme 61, 19. Pomperaug 55, 20. Wilton 41½, 21. Branford 35, 22. Brien McMahon 30½, 23. Rockville 25, 24. E.O. Smith 22, 25. Fairfield Ludlowe 20, 26. Windsor 19, 27. New Canaan 17, 28. Bulkeley 4, 29. Notre Dame-West Haven 3
Individual results
103 – Final: Kenneth Velez (Wethersfield) dec. Ryan Carbonell (Bristol Central) 21-7; 3. Victor Ektukudo (Middletown) dec. Kevin Workan (Bethel) 18-7; 5. Eric Orrell (Farmington) dec. Roberg Longergan (Law) 18-7
112 – Final: Casey Leslie (Middletown) dec. Luke Walsh (Farmington) 11-4; 3. Andrew Wilhelm (Law) pin Eric Bergeron (Maloney) (3:46; 5. Paul Mazzarella (Wethersfield) pin Andrew Lattimer (Wilton) (2:22
119 – Final: Chris Lombardi (Bristol Central) dec. Marc Halper (Bunnell) 22-7; 3. Bryan Jiravisitcul (Jonathan Law) dec. Jordan Levasseur (Fermi) 6-2; 5. Diego Perez (Wethersfield) dec. Evan Bailey (Farmington) 2-0
125 – Final: Mike Brignano (Farmington) dec. Ryan Clarke (East Lyme) 7-2; 3. Chris Malenfant (Bristol Central) dec. Kevin Moss (Berlin) 5-3; 5. Jordan Dess (Bristol Eastern) dec. Robert Caleca (Pomperaug) 7-6
130 – Final: Alex Helbling (Branford) dec. Jake Bernardo (Hand), 6-5; 3. Brett Kalbacher (Conard) pin Brandon Mals (Bristol Eastern), 1:35; 5. Chris Solek (Berlin) pin Evan Jacobs (Bunnell) 2:28
135 – Final: Shane Day (Berlin) dec. Brian Onofrio (Daniel Hand), 11-3; 3. Malcolm Yancey (Farmington) dec. Derek Marsette (Jonathan Law), 8-7; 5. Andrew Turnbull (Fermi) default over Brendan Ivan (Bethel)
140 – Final: Derick Fish (Hand) dec. Nicholas Tenan (Bristol Eastern), 5-3; 3. Patrick Toole III (Staples) dec. Alberto Ortiz (Bunnell), 6-5; 5. Justin Scalise (Hall) dec. Austin Darley (Bristol Central) 7-2
145 – Final: Ryan Thiel (Middletown) dec. Peter Gabrielle (Conard), 11-7; 3. Todd Krolikowski (Bristol Eastern) pin Brendan Andrew (Hand) 3:37; 5. Patrick Porzillo (Pomperaug) dec. Jamison Blackwell (Bunnell), 6-2
152 – Final: Adrian Gonzalez (Fitch) dec. Andrew Ford (Bethel), 12-3; 3. Joe Lambert (Fermi) pin Andrew Cyr (Bristol Central), 3:56; 5. James Dey (Hand) dec. Dimitri Orlando (Bristol Eastern), 6-2
160 – Final: Jon Fiorillo (Berlin) tech fall Abraham Casarez (Middletown), 23-8; 3. Mike Marcovivi (Rockville) dec. Spencer Cohen (Staples), 7-0; 5. David Kerr (Fitch) dec. Nicholas Abrams (Maloney), 10-7
171 – Final: Mike Kaptein (Bethel) dec. Brandon Sundwall (Guilford), 5-4; 3. Jim Walonoski (Berlin) dec. Jon Manwaring (East Lyme), 5-3; 5. Evan Zeitchick (Staples) dec. C.Jay Chaika (Bristol Eastern), 7-1
189 – Final: Brian Sylvester (Middletown) dec. Jose Melendez (Maloney), 4-3; 3. John Maljevic (Bristol Central) dec. Mike Milano (New Canaan), 3-2; 5. James Coyle (Farmington) dec. Robert Toole (Staples), 4-3
215 – Final -- Jesse Ludgin (Hall) dec. Dan Lamberton (Guilford), 5-2; 3. Lucas Bowman (East Lyme) pin Richard Perry (Middletown), 2:51; 5. Kia Gholampour (Farmington) pin Anthony Bonagura (Bethel), 0:56
285 – Final: Edwin Agosto (Brien McMahon) dec. Timothy Chambers (Bristol Central), 10-2; 3. Ray Belanger (Middletown) dec. George Robinson (Farmington), 5-3; 5. Mike Galarza (Fitch) pin Patrick McKinney (Fermi), 4:58
Fast fall -- Brendan Ivan from Bethel (135), 4 pins in 10:49
Outstanding wrestler: Chris Lombardi (Bristol Central) 119
Middletown wins first state title
Connecticut Wrestling Online
BRISTOL, Feb. 17 – Middletown High had the state champions. They also had wrestlers that continued to win even after they lost an initial match. It helped the Blue Dragons capture its first-ever state championship with a thrilling 178½-159½ victory over host Bristol Central in the Class L tournament.
Middletown’s Casey Lesile (112), Ryan Thiel (145) and Brian Sylvester (189) won championships while Abraham Casarez (160) finished second. Victor Ektukudo (103) won five straight matches in the consolation round to finish third along with teammates Ray Belanger (285). Richard Perry (215) was fourth.
“I thought if we won it would be because of our depth,” Middletown coach Mark Fong told The Herald Press. “Friday night we didn’t wrestle well at all but coming through the semifinals we got on a roll. The kids fed off each other.”
Lesile won his second straight state title. A year ago, he won the 112 pound championship in Class M. He had a tough 4-3 win over Wethersfield’s Paul Mazzarella in the semifinals. Thiel (145) nipped No. 2 seed Todd Krolikowski of Bristol Eastern, 8-7, in the semifinals before beating top-seeded Peter Gabrielle of Conard in the finals, 11-7.
Sylvester (189) was seeded seventh and had a magical run to help the Dragons win the championship. He upset No. 2 seed Jim Coyle of Farmington in the quarterfinals, 8-5 and beat No. 3 seed John Maljevic of Bristol Central, 8-3. He beat Jose Melendez of Maloney, 4-3 to win the championship.
Casarez (160) was seeded sixth but he wrestled hard throughout the day. He had a grueling 16-14 victory over No. 3 Spencer Cohen of Staples in the quarterfinals and beat Maloney’s Nicholas Abrams in the semifinals, 8-4.
Four times, Middletown (26-2) had finished as high as fourth, most recently in 1999. Bristol Central finished second for the second straight year.
"My guys wrestled with a lot of heart," Central coach Brian Archibald told The Herald Press. “We've been wrestling well for the past month and we showed up this weekend and showed that we can hang with the best in the state. Kudos to Middletown. They've come a long way since the beginning of the season. They've become a great team."
Central was led by senior Chris Lombardi (119), who became the first BC wrestler to win three straight Class L title. Lombardi, who won the outstanding wrestler award, also won state titles at 103 and 112.
Ryan Carbonell (103) and Tim Chambers (285) each finished second while Chris Malefant (125) and John Maljevic (189) took third. Andrew Cyr (152) was fourth while Austin Darley (140) took sixth.
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Berlin’s Shane Day has finished in the top six to win a medal every year in the Class M or Class L tournaments since he was a freshman. He medaled at the State Open for the past two years. But he had never won a CIAC tournament until Saturday.
Day (41-0) remained undefeated with a solid 11-3 win over Hand’s Brian Onofrio to win his first state championship. He won four decisions on points.
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Farmington finished third for its best-ever performance in the Class L tournament. Top-seeded Mike Brignano (125) won a championship with a 7-2 win over Ryan Clarke of East Lyme. The real battle was Brignano’s 3-1 overtime win over Chris Malenfant of Bristol Central in the semifinals. “I’ve wrestled him four times and it’s even,” Brignano (45-2) told The Herald Press. “Last time I beat him right before overtime. I needed to win. I’ve been training to win the whole year. That was my goal. That was my dream.”
Luke Walsh (112) finished second to Middletown’s Casey Lesile, losing in the finals, 11-4. But he had a thrilling 7-5 OT win over Maloney’s Eric Bergeron in the semifinals. Other medalwinners for Farmington included Eric Orrell (103, 5th), Evan Baily (112, 6th), Malcolm Yancey (135, 3rd), Jim Coyle (189, 5th), Kia Gholampour (215, 5th) and George Robinson (285, 4th).
Bristol Eastern’s Jordan Dess (125) and Brandon Mals (130) pulled some upsets to advance to the semifinals. Dess was seeded 10th while Mals was seeded 11th. Dess eventually finished fifth while Mals finished fourth. … Bristol Eastern’s Nicholas Tenan (140) tied his championship match with Hand’s Derrick Fish at 3-3 with 15 seconds left but Fish managed to get a takedown with 10 seconds to go to earn a 5-3 decision. …. Wethersfield’s Ken Velez (103) improved to 38-4 with four easy victories. He had little trouble with Bristol Central sophomore Ryan Carbonell in the finals with a 21-7 victory. Velez had a pin and a pair of technical falls on the way to the championship.
Material from personal notes and The Herald Press used in compiling this report.
