With 8 champions, Greens Farms wins first Western New England title

With eight individual champions, Greens Farms Academy won their first Western New England Prep School title on Saturday. (John Nash photo courtesy Greens Farms Academy)

GREENWICH, February 8, 2020 – Greens Farms Academy of Westport went 8-for-8 in the finals and won their first Western New England Prep School championship Saturday, outlasting defending champion Brunswick School-Greenwich by 17½ points.

Sophomore Mikey Bartush (160 pounds) of Greens Farms was named the outstanding wrestler of the tournament. Greens Farms piled up 266½ points to win the title with host Brunswick (239) and Trinity-Pawling (202) finishing second and third, respectively, in the 16-team event.

The top six finishers in each weight class qualify for next weekend’s New England Prep School championships at the Hartford Armory.

“It was special,” GFA coach Jack Conroy said. “Going 8-for-8 in the finals, we beat three guys who were nationally ranked, it was just really special.”

Bartush (160 pounds) joined teammates Caleb Seyfried (106), CJ Shea (113), Ronnie Christolin (120), Nico Provo (126), Aidan Hebert (132), Justin Mastroianni (138) and Peter Kane (145) as individual Western New England champions.

Bartush was the No. 2 seed and knocked off top-seeded Pearson Hill of Hopkins-New Haven with a pin at 3:30 in the finals. In the tournament, Bartush had four pins, including one in 33 seconds, one in 1:09 and one in 48 seconds.

“It just means to me that we’ve been working hard in the room,” Bartush said. “It was important for us to win this, but this is just the next step to some of our bigger goals.”

Mastroianni, the former New Canaan High star, was also a second-seeded who knocked off top-seeded Luca Errico of Brunswick with a 9-0 victory in the final.

GFA’s Neil Gawande (152) and Jonnie Jackson (195) both placed fourth, one spot better than their respective seeds, to garner more points for GFA, and Soren Morrison placed sixth at 182 pounds.
Gus Bachner also notched a win at 170, gaining valuable points for the Dragons.

“Soren, Jonnie, Gus and Neil—the amount of points they earned was the margin,” Conroy said. “It’s impossible for us to win that tournament without them.”

Greens Farms’ previous best finish was taking second in 2015.

Three Brunswick wrestlers won titles with Nick Bell (152), Nadjingar Ngbokoli (170) and Clayton Ostrover (195) winning their respective weight classes. Kyle Pagnani (106), Errico (138) and Chris Perry (145) each finished second.

Brunswick, who has won a record 15 WNEPSA championships, had captured the last six WNEPSA titles, a new record.

Suffield Academy’s Kechaun Bennet won a WNEPSA title at 220 with a pin over Avon Old Farms’ Brian Namnoum in 2:35. AOF’s Aiden Maag (113) was a finalist but he lost by pin, too.

Western New England Prep School Championships
At Greenwich (Brunswick)
Team results – 1. Greens Farms Academy-Westport 266½, 2. Brunswick-Westport 239, 3. Trinity-Pawling (Pawling NY) 202, 4. Avon Old Farms 159½, 5. Suffield Academy 134½, 6. Hopkins School-New Haven 132, 7. Pomfret 72, 8. Taft-Watertown 69, 9. Hamden Hall 57, 10. Salisbury 45, 11. Canterbury 29, 12. Marvelwood 27, 13. Forman-Litchfield 25, 14. Hotchkiss 23, 15. New York Military Academy 16, 16. Woodhall 7.
Championship results
106 Caleb Seyfried (GFA) pin Kyle Pagnani (Brunswick), 0:42
113 CJ Shea (GFA) pin Aiden Maag (Avon Old Farms), 5:50
120 Ronnie Christolin (GFA) dec. Kellen Horst (Pomfret), 9-4
126 Nico Provo (GFA) pin Nick Kruczynski (Pomfret), 1:24
132 Aiden Hebert (GFA) pin Dominic Roberts (Hopkins), 2:20
138 Justin Mastroianni (GFA) dec. Luca Errico (Brunswick), 9-0
145 Peter Kane (GFA) dec. Chris Perry (Brunswick), 7-0
152 Nick Bell (Brunswick) pin Robbie Accomando (Trinity Pawling), 5:45
160 Mikey Bartush (GFA) pin Pearson Hill (Hopkins), 3:30
170 Nadjingar Ngbokoli (Brunswick) dec. Luis Perez (Suffield Academy), 14-13
182Lucas Hughes (Trinity Pawling) pin Kareem Moumina (Suffield Academy), 2:31
195 Clayton Ostrover (Brunswick) dec. Peterson Monexant (Suffield Academy), 3-2
220 Kechaun Bennet (Suffield Acad.) pin Brian Namnoum (Avon Old Farms), 2:35
285 Liam Dietrich (Trinity Pawling) pin Erik Bockisch (Salisbury School), 2:38
Consolation final (3rd place)
106 Owen Cronin (Avon Old Farms) pin Jonathan Leite (Hopkins), 2:36
113 Charlie Fisher (Hopkins) dec. Enzo Vera (Brunswick), 8-4
120 Ethan Costanzo (Taft School) pin Sam Rivera (Hopkins), 3:09
126 George Brannon (Avon Old Farms) dec. William MacGillivray (Brunswick), 4-2 SV
132 Gavin Pintro (Taft School) dec. Auggie Berklas (Avon Old Farms), 10-5
138 Kyle Hammel (Trinity Pawling) medical forfeit over Ken Pardo (Suffield Academy)
145 David Bancroft (Trinity Pawling) pin Jake Marasco (Pomfret), 2:14
152 Tommy Howell (Marvelwood) medical forfeit over Neil Gawande (GFA)
160 Kyle Lee (Trinity Pawling) dec. Will Donovan (Brunswick), 3-2
170 Connor Massey (Hamden Hall) pin Mark Schadt (Avon Old Farms), 4:12
182 Alex Burdick (Brunswick) pin Charlie Knight (Hotchkiss School), 1:13
195 Jeff Miller (Trinity Pawling) pin Jonni Jackson (GFA), 1:59
220 Austin Anderson (Trinity Pawling) dec. Sean Quaye (Canterbury School), 6-4
285 Howard Powell (Brunswick) pin Hobie Jamison (Avon Old Farms), 2:17
Fifth place
106 Adam Kortmansky (Hamden Hall) pin Anishka Perera (Taft School), 3:13
113 Alec Dendas (Hamden Hall) pin Landon Phipps (Forman School), 1:15
120 Giovanni Flaccavento (Trinity Pawling) pin Ryan Choi (Avon Old Farms), 0:38
126 Jack Fuoco (Hamden Hall) dec. Daniel Barber (Hopkins), 11-7
132 Connor Smith (Suffield Acad.) pin Devin Walcott (Pomfret), 4:50
138 Chris Connor (Forman School) dec. David Helsley (Avon Old Farms), 11-5
145 Jack Kent (Suffield Acad.) dec. Gunnar Desantis (Hopkins), 8-5
152 Dylan Kasperzyk (Avon Old Farms) pin Eugene Acevedo (Taft School), 4:34
160 Devin Sierra (Marvelwood) pin Lachlan Hawes (Taft School), 1:15
170 Jakob Edwards (Trinity Pawling) pin Aristotle Averas (New York Military), 0:47
182 Jon Feinberg (Salisbury School) dec. Soren Morrison (GFA), 3-2
195 Brandon Smith (Hopkins) pin Billy Carroll (New York Military), 0:58
220 Scott Fulton (Salisbury School) pin Michael Neviera (Brunswick), 1:21
285 Natale Frangione (Canterbury School) pin Mason Frank (Taft School), 3:15
Outstanding wrestler: Mikey Bartush, Greens Farms (160)
Brackets and results (FloWrestling.com)

John Nash contributed to this story