Two weeks ago, the Greens Farms Academy wrestling team turned in an epic performance at the Western New England Prep School championship meet at Taft School in Watertown.
The Dragons put 14 wrestlers into the finals and all 14 won as GFA won their third straight title.
This past weekend, GFA scored a tournament-record 323 points to win their first New England championship with 10 finalists and eight individual champions. The Dragons are the first Connecticut program to win a New England title since 2006 when Windsor’s Loomis-Chaffee brought home the championship.
“The boys wrestled really well and really tough,” GFA coach Jack Conroy said. “We’re especially excited for this weekend’s national prep school tournament to make a statement. We’re not ranked nationally yet but we’re in position to be one of the top teams in the country.”
The 87th annual National Prep School championship tournament is set for this weekend in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.
“We’re really looking to bring elite wrestling to Connecticut,” Conroy said. “In the past, the top kids in Connecticut would look elsewhere such as a boarding school or to move out of state. We’re looking to be a power national program right here in Connecticut.”
Greens Farms Academy is a day school with students commuting to the school each day in Westport. Twelve of the 14 wrestlers that helped the Dragons win the New England title come from Connecticut.
All-American Nate Taylor of Newtown won his second straight New England title at 190 pounds while returning All-American Brady Kaupp of New Canaan finished second at 120.
Norwalk’s J.T. Schneider (126), Fairfield’s Ben Zuckerman (132), North Haven’s Giuseppe Iamunno (138), Norwalk’s Ronnie Christolin (144) and Guilford’s Chris Murphy (285) each won New England titles . New Canaan’s Harry Kittredge (113) finished second with Milford’s Tyler Shea (150) taking third and Brookfield’s Zahir McLean-Felix (175) and Newtown’s Joseph Stoerzinger (138) each finishing fourth.
GFA’s Xavier Giles (165) from the Bronx, New York, finished first at 165 with Stephen Burrell of New Rochelle, N.Y. finishing first at 215 pounds.
Conroy doesn’t know what his team’s dual meet record but he knows they didn’t lose a dual meet to a team in New England and beat Northfield Mt. Hermon from Northfield, Mass., 44-19.
“We’re not focused on the random Wednesday night dual meet,” he said. “We’re focused on the Ironman and competing against the best (wrestlers) in the country and improving these kids as wrestlers and as people and setting them up to achieve some lofty goals.”
The Walsh Jesuit Ironman tournament is held each December in Ohio with some of the top public and prep school programs in the country.
Conroy hopes the Dragons can get a top five finish at this weekend’s prep school national championship tournament and come home with a few individual champions.
“We’re not here just to attend the national event but to podium and win them and matriculate (wrestlers) into college programs where they can be contributing members not just wrestlers on the roster,” Conroy said.
Four members of the Dragons have signed letters of intent to attend Division I programs next year and wrestle. Shea will attend Franklin & Marshall, McLean-Felix will attend Cornell and Murphy will attend Army West Point.
At the New England championships, Northfield Mt. Hermon was a distance second to the Dragons with 282½ points. Simsbury’s John Mairano won a New England championship for NMH at 150 pounds with a 7-3 win over Colin Nugent of Phillips Andover.
Choate Rosemary Hall had one of their better performances at the New England tournament with a fourth place finish.
Choate was led by Pearson Hill (175), who finished second with an 8-3 loss to David Barrett of Northfield Mt. Hermon. Carson Hill (157) finished third with Paxton Zerega (126) and Manuel Beigel (285) each finishing fourth. Ethan Rothman (120) took fifth and Johan Shattuck (144) was eighth.
The Choate Rosemary girls finished second in New England behind Phillips Andover, 224 to 78½. Choate had three girls finish second – Sachi Mehra (114), Elsa Holmes (138) and Leanne La (132) and two girls finish fourth – Ella Martino (126) and Fernanda Opazo (152).
Seven Brunswick-Greenwich wrestlers won medals at the New England championship meet in Andover, Mass.
Eighth-seeded Patrick O’Donahue (126) was seeded eighth and finished third. He had four straight wins in the consolation round to earn his second trip to the national championships. Michael Accetta (132) finished fourth while Carlos Tucci (157) finished fourth and will be making his first trip to the nationals.
Tucci was the lone Bruin in the semifinals, after beating GFA’s Schneider in the quarterfinals. Schneider had beaten Tucci twice this season including in the Western New England finals two weeks ago.
2023 New England Prep School Tournament results and brackets
2023 New England Prep School championships
At Andover, Mass.
Team scores: 1. Greens Farms Academy 348½, 2. Northfield Mt. Hermon 282½, 3. Belmont Hill-Belmont MA 272, 4. Choate Rosemary Hall 110½, 5. Roxbury Latin-Boston MA 100, 6. Brunswick School-Greenwich 96, 7. St. Paul’s-Concord NH 92, 8. Saint Sebastian’s-Needham MA 81, 9. Phillips Andover-Andover MA 77½, 10. Nobles and Greenough School-Dedham, MA 74, 11. Hotchkiss 55, 12. Trinity Pawling NY 52½, 13. Lexington (MA) Christian 40, 14. Phillips Exeter Academy-Exeter NH 36, 15. Taft-Watertown 32, 16. Eagle Hill-Hardwick MA and Thayer Academy 26; 18. Hyde School 24, 19. Governor’s Academy 22, 20. Avon Old Farms 18, 21. Deerfield (MA) Academy 17, 22. Hopkins School-New Haven, NY Military Acaemy and Pomfret 16, 25. Canterbury School-New Milford 14, 26. Portsmouth Abbey and Salisbury 11; 28. Lawrence Academy 10½, 29. Brooks School 10, 30. Buckingham Brown & Nichols and Suffield Academy 8, 32. Greenwich County Day School 7, 33. Concord Academy 6, 34. Beaver Country Day and Milton Academy 4, 36. Marianapolis Prep, Wilbraham and Monson 1; 38. Landmark, Marvelwood, Saint Mark’s and Tabor Academy 0
Championship finals
106 Julian Rios (Phillips Andover) dec. Isac Novod (Belmont Hill), 3-2
113 Scotty Moreau (Belmont Hill) pin Harry Kittredge (Greens Farms Academy), 3:52
120 Musa Tamaradze (Northfield Mt. Hermon) dec. Brady Kaupp (Greens Farms Academy), 10-4
126 JT Schneider (Greens Farms Academy) pin Jack Dragoumanos (Belmont Hill), 3:43
132 Ben Zuckerman (Greens Farms Academy) dec. Cord Vallis (Belmont Hill), 6-4
138 Giuseppe Iamunno (Greens Farms Academy) dec. Freddy Pimental (Belmont Hill), 6-0
144 Ronnie Christolin (Greens Farms Academy) dec. Turner Rayment (Belmont Hill), 14-7
150 John Mairano (Northfield Mt. Hermon) dec. Colin Nugent (Phillips Andover), 7-3
157 Alex Gavronsky (Belmont Hill) dec. Spencer Leclair (Hyde, ME), 6-4
165 Xavier Giles (Greens Farms Academy) major dec. Shaymus Macintosh (Northfield Mt. Hermon), 10-2
175 David Barrett (Northfield Mt. Hermon) dec. Pearson Hill (Choate Rosemary Hall), 8-3
190 Nate Taylor (Greens Farms Academy) major dec. James Doliscar (Northfield Mt. Hermon), 11-3
215 Steven Burrell Jr. (Greens Farms Academy) tech fall Dylan Greenstein (Northfield Mt. Hermon), 23-8 4:36
285 Chris Murphy Greens Farms Academy) pin Logan Marissal (Northfield Mt. Hermon), 0:49
Consolation finals (third place)
106 Dominic Marinilli (Northfield Mt. Hermon) pin Charlie Holt (Roxbury Latin), 2:47
113 Aaron Stanger (Belmont Hill) dec. Colby Macintosh (Northfield Mt. Hermon), 7-2
120 Andrew Pimental (Belmont Hill) dec. Matthew Loose (Nobles), 3-0
126 Patrick O’Donahue (Brunswick) dec. Paxton Zerega (Choate Rosemary Hall), 3-2
132 Noah Lim (Lexington Christian) pin Michael Accetta (Brunswick), 1:35
138 Nate Consigli (Northfield Mt. Hermon) pin Joseph Stoerzinger (Greens Farms Academy), 2:23
144 Nathan Puchalski (Phillips Exeter Academy) dec. Aydin Hodjat (Roxbury Latin), 9-8
150 Tyler Shea (Greens Farms Academy) major dec. Aidin Bina (Nobles), 9-0
157 Carson Hill (Choate Rosemary Hall) dec. Carlo Tucci (Brunswick), 2-1
165 Alex High (St. Pauls NH) pin Will Stewart (Belmont Hill), 2:15
175 Haden Bottiglieri (Belmont Hill) pin Zahir Mclean-Felix (Greens Farms Academy), 4:25
190 Lachlan Hawes (Taft School) dec. Sean Park (Avon Old Farms), 9-6
215 Vlad Grass Hotchkiss School) pin Michael (St. Pauls NH), 3:59
285 Sean Donovan (Hotchkiss School) dec. Manuel Beigel (Choate Rosemary Hall), 3-1
Fifth place bouts
106 Sawyer Bean (Saint Sebastian’s) pin Christian Yanoti (Brunswick), 2:26
113 Zach Emery (Governors Academy) dec. Benjamin Macharia (Roxbury Latin), 7-6
120 Ethan Rothman (Choate Rosemary Hall) pin Navid Hodjat (Roxbury Latin), 3:45
126 Eddie Zhang (Saint Sebastian’s) FOR Aaron Burstein (Northfield Mt. Hermon), 0-0
132 Lucas Dionne (Northfield Mt. Hermon) pin Jackson Collins (Deerfield Academy), 3:29
138 Miles Palmer (Phillips Andover) dec. Enzo Vera (Brunswick), 5-1
144 Joseph Tumolo (Trinity Pawling) tech fall Eddie Ryan (Saint Sebastian’s), 15-0 4:21
150 Tyler Fromm (Eagle Hill) dec. Justin Lim (Roxbury Latin), 7-1
157 Ryan Schneider (Greens Farms Academy) major dec. Declan Bligh (Roxbury Latin), 13-0
165 Christian Tacogue (Trinity Pawling) pin Charlie Hall (Nobles), 4:32
175 Gibson Akoh (Thayer Academy) pin Dom Valcin (Salisbury School), 2:06
190 Josh Houston-Davis (Belmont Hill) major dec. Tomas Delgado (Brunswick), 12-4
215 Alastair Rose (Nobles) pin Bennett Carroll (Belmont Hill), 2:53
285 Elijah Manning (Canterbury School) pin Ernest Obiorah (St. Pauls NH), 1:33
Seventh place
106 Ryan Lally (Thayer Academy) pin Murphy Codding (Marianapolis), 0:18
113 Thayer Ross (Greenwich Country Day School) pin John Berlandi (Trinity Pawling), 3:24
120 Axel Caramico (Trinity Pawling) pin Alex Hickey (Eagle Hill), 2:38
126 Charles Wang (Nobles) major dec. Ihsan Yumak (Hotchkiss School), 13-3
132 Mujeeb Amin (Brooks School) dec. Jonathan Jeun (Phillips Exeter Academy), 6-4 OT
138 Dovany Estimphile (Roxbury Latin) pin Cam Perry (St. Pauls NH), 3:24
144 Avi Meltzer (Northfield Mt. Hermon) pin Johan Shattuck (Choate Rosemary Hall), 4:11
150 Jack Degl (Brunswick) dec. Philip Kravitz (Pomfret School), 6-4
157 Seamus Mcdonough (Saint Sebastian’s) pin Lucas Viana (Lexington Christian), 4:27
165 Nick Consigli (Roxbury Latin) major dec. Mj Kurbanbaev (New York Military), 14-2
175 Colter Sienkiewicz (St. Pauls NH) pin Colin Anderson (Nobles), 3:43
190 Quinton Delorey (St. Pauls NH) dec. Chris Macarthur (Phillips Exeter Academy), 8-5
215 Landon Bailey (Saint Sebastian’s) pin Matthew Crocker (Lexington Christian), 2:53
285 Jude Okeleke (Taft School) pin Kayden Bennett (Suffield Academy), 1:35
Outstanding wrestler:
NEISWA brackets and results (FloArena)
GIRLS
Team results – 1. Phillips Andover-Andover, MA 224, 2. Choate Rosemary Hall -Wallingford78½, 3. St. Paul’s-Concord NH 69, 4. Marianapolis Prep 51, 5. Middlesex School MA and Northfield Mt. Hermon MA 50, 7. Governor’s Academy 47, 8. Saint Mark’s and Tabor Academy 34, 10. Portsmouth Abbey 27, 11. Marvelwood 25, 12. Greens Farms Academy 23½, 13. Lawrence Academy 18, 14. Deerfield Academy 10½, 15. Phillips Exeter Academy 3, Wilbraham and Monson 3
Championship finals
100 Maddie Morse (St. Pauls NH) pin Claire Yoon (Middlesex School), 2:53
107 Rowan Macintosh (Northfield Mt. Hermon) pin Sakina Cotton (Phillips Andover), 5:40
114 Abigail Alicandro (Marianapolis) pin Sachi Mehra (Choate Rosemary Hall), 0:48
120 Natalia Accorsi (Tabor Academy) MD Tasha Bohorad (Phillips Andover), 9-0
126 Eva Murphy (Phillips Andover) dec. Jiayi Yu (Saint Mark’s), 13-6
132 Wendi Zheng (Phillips Andover) pin Leanne La (Choate Rosemary Hall), 1:07
138 Lily Fitzpatrick (St. Pauls NH) pin Elsa Holmes (Choate Rosemary Hall), 1:47
145 Daniella Nugent (Phillips Andover) pin Xavia Banigan (Governors Academy), 5:27
Consolation finals (Third place)
100 Margaret Tsien (Phillips Andover) dec. Gracia Galicia (Marvelwood), 4-2
107 Thu Hoang (Marianapolis) pin Hashima Moradi (Marvelwood), 1:24
114 Suhaila Cotton (Phillips Andover) pin Kathrine Margulis (Deerfield Academy), 2:37
120 Julia Carmona (Phillips Andover) pin Maya Douge (Middlesex School), 2:27
126 Angie Ceballos-Cardona (Phillips Andover) pin Ella Martino (Choate Rosemary Hall), 3:23
132 Charlotte Lokere (Lawrence Academy) pin Fiona Fittante (Middlesex School), 2:24
138 Ifeoluwa Lawore (Saint Mark’s) pin Aby Joyner (Governors Academy), 2:29
145 Cami Capdevila (St. Pauls NH) pin Bella Shmuylovich (Phillips Andover), 1:49
Outstanding wrestler:
NEISWA brackets and results (FloArena)
Gerry deSimas, Jr., is the editor and founder of Connecticut Wrestling Online. He is an award-winning writer and has been covering sports in Connecticut and New England for more than 40 years. He was inducted into the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2018.