NHSCA National Tournament
Gillen takes fourth,
Frick wins two bouts
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., April 4 – Shelton sophomore Patrick Gillen (215) finished fourth Friday in the NHSCA’s Sophomore Nationals. Gillen dropped a 5-0 decision to Brian Beattie of Pennsylvania in the semifinals but rebounded to beat New York’s Joe Bilello in the consolation semifinals, 7-0. In the consolation final, Brandon Clark of Pennsylvania beat Gillen, 7-0. Gillen was 3-2 in the tournament and finishes the year at 49-7 and 97-12 career.
At the Senior National tournament, Bristol Central’s Tim Chambers (285) and Danbury’s Humphrey Swift (285) were the only state wrestlers to earn first round wins. However, both lost in the second round to move into the consolation bracket.
In the consolation bracket, New Fairfield's Michael Frick (145) won twice and was the only Connecticut wrestler to win more than one match in the tournament. Bacon Academy's Ryan Quinn (130), Fairfield Warde's Curtis Watkins (135), Windham High's Travis Koch (215) each earned a consolation round victory. Connecticut finished 39th in the Senior Nationals with nine points.
NHSCA National Tournament
Gillen wins two, moves into semis
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., April 2 – Shelton sophomore Patrick Gillen (215) won two matches to earn a spot in the semifinals of the NHSCA Sophomore Nationals and earn All-American honors for the second straight year. Gillen beat New Mexico’s Michael Lamb, 4-1 and New York’s Jake Barnhart, 6-4, to earn a spot in the semifinals Friday morning against Brian Beattle of Pennsylvania.
Sean McAllister (112) of Bacon Academy won three straight matches in the consolation round at the Sophomore Nationals but fell one victory shy of earning All-American honors. He finished 3-2 in the tournament with a thrilling 4-2 OT win over Virginia’s Omar Maknassi on Thursday.
Alex Manwaring (140) of Ledyard went 3-2 in the Freshman Nationals with a win in his opening bout and two tight victories in the consolation round over New Jersey’s Tyler Miller, 5-3 and Georgia’s Hunter Gamble, 3-1 in OT. Windham’s Taylor Grauer (119) went 2-2 in the Freshman tournament.
At the Junior Nationals, Bristol Central’s Nick Cyr (130) was the only Connecticut wrestler to win at least two matches with a 4-0 and 3-2 victories in the consolation round. Danbury’s Charlie Costanzo (119), Waterford’s Zac Deer (140), Shane Battista (189), Sheehan’s Nick Giulietti (140) and Bacon Academy’s Danny Thompson (160) each earned one victory.
At the Freshman Nationals, Windham’s Taylor Grauer (119) and Danbury’s Kyle Westerfield (140) each earned victories while Fairfield Warde’s Evan Fraser (119) and Ledyard’s Dean Gilbert (145) earned wins at the Sophomore Nationals.
U.S. Girls Wrestling Association
Carden earns
All-American honors
YPSILANTI, Mich., March 19 – Branford High sophomore Cheyenne Carden finished fourth at the 2009 United States Girls Wrestling Association’s national championships at 128 pounds. After dropping her first match, Carden won three straight bouts with two pins and a forfeit before dropping a 10-9 decision to New York’s Tanya Kruse in the consolation final. Carden earned All-American honors for taking fourth. Cheney Tech’s Taylor Zboray (103) finished ninth at 103.
Web site recognized for excellence
HAMDEN, May 21 -- Connecticut Wrestling Online, the state’s first and oldest high school wrestling Web site, was recently recognized by the Connecticut chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists at its annual excellence in journalism award banquet. Connecticut Wrestling Online won first place in the General Excellence, Independent Web site category for its work in 2008.
Sunday, March 15
Costanzo named wrestler of the year
SOUTHINGTON, March 15 – Danbury junior Charlie Costanzo (119), who missed several months of off-season wrestling with a broken arm, was named wrestler of the year at the Connecticut High School Coaches Association’s 2009 All-State banquet in Southington. This winter, Costanzo (38-5) won his second straight Class LL and State Open championships and finished second in New England.
Wrestlers who won Class LL, L, M, S and State Open championships were honored with All-State recognition. Academic All-State awards were also presented to wrestlers who finished in the top six of the Class LL, L, M and S tournaments while meeting academic requirements.
Update: Five additional names have been added to the Academic All-State list. Download the PDF to see the latest list.
Saturday, March 7
Bowman wins New England title
NEW HAVEN, March 7 – St. Bernard’s Lucas Bowman (189) hit a reversal with 42 seconds left in the third period and made it stand up to win a New England championship with a 4-2 victory over Travis Spencer of Belfast, Maine at the New haven Athletic Center. Bowman was the only Connecticut wrestler to win a title.
At 119 pounds, Massachusetts champion Miguel Guzman of Greater Lawrence picked up a key takedown with 20 seconds left in the second period to earn a 5-1 win over Danbury’s Charlie Costanzo. At 152 pounds, Bethel’s Andrew Ford slipped trying for a takedown with 26 seconds left and lost to New Hampshire champion Cody Byrd of Londonderry, 5-3. And at 171, Massachusetts’ Mike Wrin got a takedown with two seconds left in regulation to beat Somers’ Tim Vollaro, 5-3.
Simsbury’s Lawton Arnold (215) won six matches in the consolation round to finish third. Timberlane, N.H. won its fourth New England championship in the last five years with a 21.5-point victory over Cranston West, R.I. Danbury led Connecticut schools in sixth place with 47 points while Bethel, Southington and St. Bernard were among five schools tied for 17th place with 31 points.
Saturday, Feb. 28
Danbury captures 9th Open title
NEW HAVEN, Feb. 28 -- Danbury had three champions and eight medalists to earn 131 points, well ahead of second place South Windsor with 82½ points for its best-ever showing at the CIAC State Open wrestling championships Saturday. Xavier had its best finish in the tournament by taking third with 68 points. Southington (55½) and Bethel (51½) rounded out the top five. Undefeated East Lyme junior Ross Spencer (103) was named outstanding wrestler. Danbury's Charlie Costanzo (119) and Somers' Tim Vollaro (171) won their second straight Open titles.
Victories on and off the mat
NEW HAVEN, Feb. 28 -- Amity's Steve Matson won the Class LL title at 103 pounds last week and finished fifth at the State Open. But he has won a larger battle over leukemia. Read about Matson's story in Lori Riley's profile in the Hartford Courant.
Thursday, Feb. 26
Jadach is No. 1 for wins in state history
DERBY, Feb. 26 – The record came quietly on a busy Saturday in Suffield. Buster Jadach’s Derby High wrestling team swept a five-team meet on February 7 beating Morgan, Suffield, Granby and Griswold to give the Raiders their seventh 20-plus win season (20-6). It also gave Jadach the state record for most career wins by a coach in wrestling.
Jadach, who is completing his 29th season with Derby, has 475 career victories, four better than NFA’s Carl Snitkin, who went 471-80-7 from 1975-99. Jadach (475-193-5) has led Derby to 24 winning seasons in 29 years, including a perfect 27-0 campaign in 2000. His Derby teams have won four Class S championships (1984, 2000, 2001, 2004) and finished in the top five 16 times.
Most wins as a coach
Coach
Years W-L-T
a-Buster Jadach, Derby 1981-09 475-193-5
Carl Snitkin, NFA 1975-99 471-80-7
a-Steve Konopka, E. Htfd./Penn. 75-09 464-307-6
Frank Chaves, Simsbury 1978-06 452-150-20
Jim Day, Berlin 1982-07 445-132-3
a-Active coaches
Saturday, Feb. 21
New title banners for Danbury, Warde, Waterford, Killingly
Danbury, Fairfield Warde, Waterford and Killingly captured state championships on Saturday. ... Danbury had five individual champions to win its 13th straight Class LL championship with 252½ points. Xavier earned its first CIAC championship trophy ever by taking second with 11 medalwinners and seven wrestlers finishing in the top four. ... Fairfield Warde won its second Class L title in four years with a 50-point win over New Milford. Ian McAllister (125) won for Warde with a 9-7 win over Newington’s Nestor Rivera. Ten Warde wrestlers finished in the top six and 13 won at least two matches. … A week after taking third in the ECC championships, Waterford (169) rallied to outlast Jonathan Law (162), Bacon Academy (160) and Ledyard to win the Class M title. … With just nine wrestlers, Somers nearly won the Class S title. But Killingly had more depth and won its second state title in a row by 12 points. Killingly’s Brandon Thuotte (125) won his second straight Class S title and was named outstanding wrestler.
Post-season tournaments
Conference tournaments
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