2012 Class LL tournament
At Trumbull
Team results -- 1. Xavier 242, 2. Danbury 232, 3. Trumbull 153, 4. South Windsor 126½, 5. Southington 125, 6. Conard 98, 7. Glastonbury 91, 8. NFA 85, 9. Hartford co-op 75½, 10. (tie) Simsbury and Fairfield Prep 75, 12. Newtown 70½, 13. New Britain 69½, 14. Stamford 64, 15. Westhill 63½, 16. Manchester 56, 17. Greenwich 55, 18. Ridgefield 48½, 19. Cheshire 44, 20. Amity 43½, 21. (tie) Staples and Hall 35, 23. Platt Tech/West Haven 19, 24. East Hartford 18, 25. Brien McMahon 15, 26. New Haven 7, 27. Bridgeport Central 0.
Individual results
106: Championship: Kevin Jack (Danbury) dec. Pascal Medor (Westhill) 8-6, OT; 3rd place: Cross Cannone (Trumbull) dec. Tyler Mirando (Southington) 13-4; 5th place: Kevin Side (Ridgefield) won by default over Rafael Gonzalez (New Britain)
113: Championship: Will Chowanec (Xavier) dec. Conor Caffrey (South Windsor) 3-2; 3rd place: Ben Durst (Simsbury) dec. Chris Bryant (Danbury) 8-2; 5th place: Alex Jarombek (Greenwich) dec. Ryan Jurewicz (Manchester) 3-2
120: Championship: Tyler Keane (Glastonbury) tech fall Zach Tepper (Danbury) 22-7; 3rd place: Brandon Liscinsky (Trumbull) pin Matthew Philbin (Ridgefield) 2:50; 5th place: Justin Healy (South Windsor) dec. Alex Kasinskas (Xavier) 6-4
126: Championship: Geovanni Medina (New Britain) pin Cody Keane (Glastonbury) 6:53, OT; 3rd place: Nathan Solomon (Southington) dec. Tyler Bishop (Amity) 1-0; 5th place: Jacob Cervero (Cheshire) pin Dan Izzo (Platt Tech/West Haven) 3:43
132: Championship: Ben Pierre Saint (Stamford) dec. Favion Williams (Hartford) 22-7; 3rd place: David Briganti (Trumbull) pin Daniel Grober (Amity) 5:20; 5th place: Eric Dimalanta (NFA) won by default over Daniel Massucci (Cheshire)
138: Championship: Ben Anderson (Trumbull) dec. Joe Battinelli (Stamford) 8-1; 3rd place: Shane Jennings (Danbury) dec. Daniel Hecker (Glastonbury) 3-0; 5th place: Brendan Butler (Xavier) dec. Edward Cruz (New Britain) 8-3
145: Championship: Sam Odell (South Windsor) dec. Johnny Bello (Conard) 5-0; 3rd place: Ryan Bulter (Xavier) dec. Tyler Courter (NFA) 7-4; 5th place: Anthony Cote (Danbury) dec. Mark Jaffer (Southington) 4-3
152: Championship: Lucas Muntz (Conard) dec. Casey Mitchell (South Windsor) 4-2; 3rd place: Johnny Garcia (Danbury) dec. Conor Ward (Fairfield Prep) 9-1; 5th place: Nishan Valentini (Xavier) won by default over Nick Jimenez (Westhill)
160: Championship: Tyler Cunningham (Xavier) pin Joseph Roberts (Fairfield Prep) 1:58; 3rd place: Wesley Spears (Danbury) dec. Timothy Homan (Cheshire) 4-1; 5th place: John Labonte (South Windsor) dec. Edgar Charles (NFA) 7-4
170: Championship: Elliot Antler (Xavier) dec. Ryan Whittle (Greenwich) 11-4; 3rd place: Tom Gaboardi (Danbury) pin Cory Fisher (Newtown) 4:45; 5th place: David Gary (Weaver/Hartford Public) won by default over Miguel Nieto (Stamford)
182: Championship: Sheldon Rhoden (Hartford) dec. Ricky Cotton (Conard) 11-3; 3rd place: William Jack (Danbury) pin Drew Pichnarcik (Xavier) 2:21; 5th place: Matthew Braddock (South Windsor) dec. Shane Dempsey (Fairfield Prep) 10-1
195: Championship: Jake Whalen (Xavier) pin Zachary Maxwell (Southington) 2:51; 3rd place: Mikell Washington (Staples) dec. John Crooks (NFA) 6-1; 5th place: Thomas Anderson (South Windsor) pin Paul Mckee (Trumbull) 1:20
220: Championship: Sean Marinan (Xavier) dec. Oswaldo Garcia (Danbury) 5-4; 3rd place: Andrew Marino (Trumbull) pin Justin Carlson (Manchester) 2:27; 5th place: Andrew Cavanna (Glastonbury) pin Nicholas Crowle (Fairfield Prep) 4:45
285: Championship: Travis Daly (Southington) pin Christian Kalijulaid (Simsbury) 1:23; 3rd place: Jevon Pegues (Danbury) pin William Morlock (Newtown) 3:21; 5th place: Benjamin Lisle (Xavier) pin Daykwion Aleman (New Haven) 4:56.
Outstanding wrestler: Ben Pierre Saint, Stamford
Fastest fall winner: Andrew Marino, Trumbull, 220, 4 pins, 7:00
Xavier beats Danbury in a thriller for title
Connecticut Wrestling Online
TRUMBULL, Feb. 18 – The Danbury High wrestling team looked so strong all season long. The Hatters went 20-0, beating Mt. Anthony, Vt., for first time since 2008. Those 20 wins also included victories over Timberlane, N.H., Lowell, Mass., and Warwick Veterans from Rhode Island.
No team in Connecticut scored more than 17 points off the Hatters in a dual meet. In tournaments, Danbury won its own Ryan Sabbagh Invitational, took second at the Redskin Invitational in Sanford, Maine and was 10th in the Eastern States Classic in New York. Danbury won the FCIAC championship tournament a week ago.
But due to illness, Danbury was missing Dylan Bryant (31-2), the top seed at 126 pounds, in the Class LL tournament. It left a slight opening for the opposition.
The Xavier High wrestling team took advantage. The Falcons fought their way past Danbury to win their second straight Class LL championship in a thrilling tournament, 242-232.
Xavier had five wrestlers into the finals and all five won. And the Falcons needed every point. Danbury led by 12 going into the championship finals, 228-216. The Hatters extended the lead to 16 after undefeated sophomore Kevin Jack (36-0) beat Westhill’s Pascal Medor in overtime for the 106 pound champioinship. Jack trailed by three in the second period, 6-3 before rallying to force OT. His takedown in OT was the difference.
Xavier cut into the lead when Will Chowanec earned his second straight Class LL crown with a tight 3-2 decision over South Windsor’s Conor Caffrey. Danbury led by 10, 232-222. The Hatters missed an opportunity to extend its lead when Glastonbury’s Tyler Keane (120) won his third straight Class LL title with 22-7 tech fall over Zach Tepper.
The championship drama went on hold until 160 pounds when Xavier’s Tyler Cunningham cut the lead to four, 232-228, by pinning Fairfield Prep’s Joseph Roberts in 1:58. With four pins in the tournament, Cunningham won his third straight Class LL title.
Xavier tied the tournament at 232 when Elliot Antler (170) won his second consecutive Class LL title with an 11-4 decision over Greenwich’s Ryan Whittle. The Falcons took a six-point lead when Jake Whalen (195) pinned Southington’s Zach Maxwell in 2:51.
With Danbury needing a pin to tie, Xavier’s Sean Marinan, Jr. edged Oswaldo Garcia, 5-4 to clinch the championship for the Falcons.
Danbury nearly won the tournament with a strong effort in the consolation bracket as six wrestlers finished third in their respective weight classes – Shane Jennings (138), Johnny Garcia (152), Wesley Spears (160), Tom Gaboardi (170), William Jack (182) and Jevon Pegues (285).
Xavier got some key wins from Ryan Butler, who beat Tyler Courter of NFA, 7-4 to take third at 145 and Benjamin Lisle, who pinned New Haven’s Daykwion Aleman in 4:56 to finish fifth. On this day, every point mattered for the Falcons.
"Xavier wrestled well," Danbury coach Ricky Shook told the Danbury News Times. "There was not much we could do. We just didn't have enough guns."
“I knew coming in here we were the underdogs because Danbury’s been kicking everyone’s butt this season,” Xavier coach Mike Cunningham told the New Haven Register. “I can’t explain the feelings I have right now winning this title two years in a row.
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New Britain’s Geovanni Medina (30-0) survived a long, bloody battle with Glastonbury’s Cody Keane to win the Hurricanes’ first individual state title since 2006 with a pin in overtime in the final at 126 pounds. The match was stopped several times to address bleeding from Keane’s nose. Medina won by pin in 6:53. Medina won New Britain’s 10th state title and the first since Brett Roberts won the 125 pound title in 2006.
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Stamford’s Ben Pierre Saint (132) rolled to his second straight Class LL titles."It feels great to win the title for the second year in a row," Pierre-Saint told the Stamford Advocate. "Anyone who thinks this came by luck is wrong. A lot of heart, hard work and discipline went into this, and that includes hard work in the classroom." Pierre-Saint won by tech fall over Hartford’s Favion Williams, 22-7. He was also voted the tournament's most outstanding wrestler.
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Trumbull’s Ben Anderson (138) beat Stamford’s Joe Battinelli, 8-1 to win his second straight Class LL championship. . … South Windsor’s Sam Odell won his first state title at 145 pounds with a 5-0 win over defending champion Johnny Bello of Conard. … Defending State Open champion Lucas Muntz of Conard won his first Class LL title with a 4-2 decision over South Windsor’s Casey Mitchell. … At 285, Southington’s Travis Daly pinned Simsbury’s Christian Kalijulaid, a first-year wrestler, in 1:23 to win a championship. The No. 6 seed Kalijulaid upset No. 2 seed Daykwion Aleman of New Haven in the semifinals, 1-0.
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Hartford’s Sheldon Rhoden (28-3) won a championship for the co-op Whalers at 182 pounds with an 11-3 decision over top-seeded Conard’s Ricky Cotton in the championship final. The two didn’t meet at the Greater Hartford Invitational in January when Cotton got injured before the final of the tournament. Rhoden won by default on that day.
The Whalers are the co-op team of Hartford Public and Weaver. Rhoden is Hartford’s first state champion since Luis Gomez of Hartford Public won a Class M title in 2005 at 171 pounds.
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For Simsbury High junior Christian Kalijulaid, a second place finish at 285 pounds in the Class LL tournament was an outstanding finish for an athlete who took up wrestling for the first time in December. Two victories by pin put Kalijulaid (28-11) into the semifinals where he used an escape to slip past Daykion Aleman of New Haven, 1-0. Daly of Southington pinned Kalijulaid in the final in 1:23 to win the championship.
His Simsbury teammate Ben Durst (113) finished strong with two solid victories to finish third in the Class LL tournament. Durst (34-2) lost for just the second time this year in the semifinals in a 6-3 loss to Conor Caffrey of South Windsor. But he rebounded with a 4-1 win over Manchester’s Ryan Jurewicz and an 8-2 decision over Danbury’s Chris Bryant in a tension-filled match. Bryant and Danbury were looking for additional points with the Hatters in a tight duel with Xavier for the Class LL championship.
Material from the Danbury News Times, Stamford Advocate, New Haven Register, Hartford Courant, New Britain Herald and personal interviews was used to compile this report.
