Support for No. 1 Danbury remains consistent in state top 10 poll

Tolland’s Michael Angers (160, top) won at the John Gorman Memorial tournament in Cumberland, R.I. for the fourth straight year Saturday.

Danbury’s support as the No. 1 team in Connecticut Wrestling Online’s top 10 state poll has remained consistent all season. In three weeks voting, the defending Class LL and State Open champion Hatters have received every first place vote from the coaches and media members participating in the poll.

Danbury had an impressive fourth place finish at the Eastern States Classic on Saturday in New York State with Ryan Jack becoming the fifth Connecticut wrestler to bring home an Eastern States Classic title in the 17-year history of the two-day tournament that attracted 174 teams.

The Hatters have a challenging week ahead of them. Danbury (5-0) travels to No. 8 Trumbull (20-4) on Wednesday and head to Bennington, Vt., on Monday night for their annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day clash with Mt. Anthony Union.

The top four spots in the poll remained the same with Danbury finishing first, undefeated Bristol Eastern (10-0) finishing second with Fairfield Warde (8-1) third and Southington (7-1), which won the Greater Hartford Open for a record fourth time on Saturday, ranked fourth.

Four top 10 teams, including Bristol Eastern, Trumbull and Fairfield Warde, will be in Middletown on Saturday for Xavier’s annual Colter-Abely Midseason Classic at Mercy High.

Simsbury (7-1) beat Manchester last week and finished tied for sixth in the John Gorman Memorial Tournament on Saturday in Cumberland, R.I., to move up one spot to No. 5.

Middletown (12-2), which had victories over Guilford, Trumbull and Ledyard on Friday, had the biggest leap within the top 10, moving up four spots to No. 6. The Dragons travel to Bristol Central on Wednesday for a challenging match with the Rams.

With the most dual meet victories of anyone in the state, Foran (23-2) stayed at No. 7. Foran hosts Hand (10-3) in a big SCC match on Wednesday night.

Trumbull (20-4) went 3-1 last week handing Greenwich their first loss of the season and beating Ledyard and Guilford as they slipped three spots to No. 8.

Xavier dropped one spot to No. 9 while undefeated Avon (13-0) slipped one spot to No. 10 despite victories over Glastonbury, Westhill, Masuk, Harding and Jonathan Law.

The Connecticut Wrestling Online’s Top 10 high school wrestling poll. First-place votes in parentheses, record through Saturday, points tabulated on a 30-28-26-24-22-20-18-16-14-12-11-10-9-8-7 basis, and last week’s poll ranking.

Week 3, January 14, 2019

Others receiving votes: Killingly (15-2) 149, Ledyard (10-5) 141, East Haven (14-3) 103, Montville (15-2) 100, Waterford (13-3) 71, Greenwich (5-1) 47, Gilbert (16-2) 28, Guilford (9-6) 26, New Canaan (2-1) 20, Windham (10-4) and Hand (10-3) 16, Wethersfield (6-4) 9, Enfield (8-4) 7

Voters: Charlie Anderson, Trumbull; Matt Boissonneault, Bristol Central; Steve Bilheimer, Ledyard; Mike Cunningham, Xavier; Gerry deSimas, Jr., Connecticut Wrestling Online; Paul Gallo, New Canaan; Chris Gamble, Waterford; Tim Jensen, Patch Media Corp.; Larry Kelley, Norwich Bulletin; Ryan Lacey, Danbury News Times; Bryan McCarty, Platt-Meriden; Eric Misko, Farmington; Chris Piel, New Milford; Patrick Risley, Windham High; Matt Schoonmaker, Jonathan Law-Milford; Jason Shaughnessy, Fairfield Warde; Ricky Shook, Danbury