Twenty years of coverage for Connecticut Wrestling Online

There wasn’t a lot of photography in the early years of Connecticut Wrestling Online but this was one image from the 2005 Greater Hartford Invitational was used on the website and on social media for several years.

Twenty years ago this week, Derby High was the defending Southern Connecticut Conference champions and the Raiders won for the 29th time in 30 matches with a 63-10 win over Branford. Newington secured the 200th win in the history of their program and Ledyard handed Bacon Academy a 43-27 defeat in the Bobcats’ first-ever ECC match.

It was also 20 years ago today that Connecticut Wrestling Online made its first appearance on January 5, 2001. On the next day, Connecticut Wrestling Online covered their first event as Cranston East, R.I. won the 20th annual Bristol Central Tournament with a comfortable 67½ point margin over the host Rams.

A version of Connecticut Wrestling Online from 2008. The style of the website didn’t change much until a redesign in 2018. Along with the latest news was links to wrestling coverage in newspapers across the state.

In the ensuing two decades, Connecticut Wrestling Online has published hundreds of pages of scores, boxscores, tournament brackets and information about high school wrestling in Connecticut. In the last three years, we’ve made more than 550 posts to an upgraded website we launched in October 2018 that has enabled us to include more wrestling photography.

For the last 20 years, we’ve been compiled standings and chronicled league tournaments, state tournaments (Class LL, L, M and S), the State Open and the New England championships.

We’ve archived results over the past 20 years and have some New England championship results prior to 2001. We research and publish the Connecticut High School Wrestling Record Book yearly to provide perspective on the achievements of wrestlers and coaches.

Over the years, we’ve expanded our coverage to include how Connecticut wrestlers are doing at the collegiate level, at the national-caliber tournaments and international competitions.

In 2018, we took over the top 10 high school wrestling poll after the long-time sponsor of the poll, the Norwich Bulletin, decided to step aside.

For those of you, I haven’t met yet, my name is Gerry deSimas, Jr., and I am the founder and editor of Connecticut Wrestling Online. I have been covering high school athletics, wrestling and a variety of other Connecticut sports for nearly 40 years.

I use the word “we” to describe the wrestling community that has been a vital partner in the success of Connecticut Wrestling Online. While I have posted content for years, gone to many tournaments, snapped thousands of photos, taken extensive notes and asked many questions, I couldn’t have done this without the cooperation and assistance of the wrestling community in Connecticut.

I have received help from coaches, parents, athletes and sports writing colleagues providing results, boxscores, tournament brackets and information to share with wrestling fans across Connecticut and New England. Coaches have patiently listened to my questions and provided me the information I need to enable me to share the achievements of Connecticut wrestlers on and off the mat.

Wrestlers from Windham High celebrate after winning the Class S championship in 2018.

How did Connecticut Wrestling Online start?

I wanted to provide fans and coaches with the key wrestling information they needed in one place. In 2001, there were more daily and weekly newspapers than there are today and they covered their local teams. But there wasn’t one place to get a complete view of wrestling in Connecticut.

I was also looking for a platform to cover wrestling across the state. As a sportswriter, I wanted to provide my colleagues with a place where they could get accurate historical data, information and perspective on what they watched themselves.

Over 20 years, Connecticut Wrestling Online has made an impact. A few friends of the website were kind enough to share their thoughts.

“We were page 2 most of the time and rarely had anything (coverage) but the score. Your passion for the sport opened up so many eyes. In terms of us that were already fans, (Connecticut Wrestling Online) became a real sounding board and site for legitimacy,” said John Lawless, the Hall of Fame wrestling coach from Nonnewaug in Woodbury.

Before the site was launched “there was no way, except for a phone call, to find out about different teams statewide,” he said.

“Connecticut Wrestling Online is a valuable resource for those seeking to know simple facts — such as the outcome of high school meets. Very few schools report their scores to the CIAC, but nearly every school in the state reports results to the site,” said Tim Jensen, Connecticut sports editor for Patch Media.com, who is also president of the Connecticut Sports Writers Alliance.

“The site and information helped grow the wrestling community’s excitement for the sport,” said long-time Platt High head coach Bryan McCarty. “Gerry’s own touch on covering wrestling has not only sparked intrigue but has given a coach a sense of pride to see his team’s accomplishments in print and digitally. As the central hub for information, Connecticut Wrestling Online also links the past to the future through the state record book.“

Gilbert assistant wrestling coach Chris Marks leaps in celebration, left, after Andrey Zhovkly won a 2017 Class S championship at 195 pounds. Head coach Darek Schibi is on the right.

David Nowakowski was a wrestling coach in eastern Connecticut for many years before becoming a talented tournament coordinator, who one can find at the Eastern Connecticut Conference, Class S and State Open tournaments ever year along with a few other key events.

“I have always appreciated the resources you have provided the wrestling community (on the website),” said Nowakowski, who is also a member of the CIAC wrestling committee. “The record book is a valuable source of information, in terms of not only results, but also hard-to-find stuff such as Hall of Fame inductees. I am especially appreciative of you taking over the weekly (top 10) poll, as that was something the state of Connecticut would have missed greatly once the Norwich Bulletin decided to pass on it.”

Ted Oczkowski was a coach at Bridgeport Central and Trumbull before becoming an athletic director and an official.

“Your website emerged and was instantly popular among the wrestling community. My wrestlers would inform me of results of wrestlers they would be competing against in upcoming weeks, information they found on your website,” he said.

And the coaches quickly began to use the site for competitive purposes.

“As coaches, you had to review the website to be prepared,” said Oczkowski. “It was a strategic resource to prepare for opponents. Which weight classes were forfeited? Which kids were recording unexpected results? How would my team match up against other teams? It wasn’t long before it was essential, to remain competitive, to review and dissect the results posted on your website.”

To this day, there are coaches that provide dual meet scores to Connecticut Wrestling Online but still decline to submit a boxscore for competitive reasons.

“The information on your website has been insightful, supportive and many times, inspirational as more and more people in the wrestling community rely on your website to bring wrestling into their households, said Oczkowski, who is president of the Connecticut chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

In the spirit of transparency, I have served with Ozckowski on the executive committee of the Connecticut chapter of the National Wrestling of Fame for the past 11 years.

Danbury High’s Hall of Fame wrestling coach Ricky Shook — as he usually does — got right to the point. “Thanks for making it the best news source for wrestling in the state,” he said.

Thank you to the wrestling community for your help the past 20 years. I look forward to when we return to the mats again and we can enjoy the competition on the mat.

An early version of Connecticut Wrestling Online from April 2001.