The State Open and Girls Invitational tournaments begin on Friday at the Floyd Little Athletic Complex on the campus of Hillhouse High in New Haven. Competition begins at 3:15 p.m. for the boys tournament and 4:30 p.m. for the girls tournament.
2023 State Open championships
Location: Floyd Little Athletic Center, Hillhouse High, New Haven
Friday, February 24
Wrestling begins at 3:15 p.m. Championship quarterfinals, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, February 25
Wrestling begins at 10 a.m. with consolation third round; Third place and fifth place matches, 2:30 p.m.; Parade of Champions, 3:45; Championship finals, 4 p.m.
Last year: Xavier 204; 2. Danbury 145; 3. Simsbury 135
Seeds: 2023 State Open seeds
Live scoring: FloArena
Defending champions returning from 2022: Joe Mahoney, New Fairfield; Isaiah Adams, Avon, Chad Mairano, Simsbury
Outlook: No. 1 Xavier with six Class L champions and 12 wrestlers qualified for the State Open is the team to beat. The Falcons have wrestled a challenging schedule all season, competing in tournaments in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New York and have done well in all of them. New Milford has 13 qualifiers and could threaten the Green Wave along with East Hartford and Avon, who have some outstanding individual wrestlers. The key to winning the State Open will be winning matches and continuing to earn points in the consolation round. The top five wrestlers from each weight class will advance to the New England championships on March 3-4 in Providence, R.I.
Tickets: All tickets must be purchased online through GoFan at https://gofan.co/app/school/CIAC. No tickets will be sold at the door.
Video: Live video will be available through FloWrestling or the NFHS network. Each is a paid subscription service.
2023 CIAC Girls Invitational
Location: Floyd Little Athletic Center, Hillhouse High, New Haven
Friday, February 25
Wrestling begins at 4:30 p.m.; Championship quarterfinals, 5:30 p.m
Saturday, February 26
Wrestling begins at 9:30 a.m. with consolation second round; Third place and fifth place matches, 1:30 p.m.; Parade of Champions, 3:45 p.m.; Championship finals, 4 p.m.
Last year: No official team scores kept.
Seeds: 2023 seeds
Live scoring: FloArena
Defending champions returning from 2022: Samantha Yap, Stamford (107), Calli Gilchrist, Brien McMahon (114), Emily De Souza, Amity (120); Rylee Donahue, Norwalk (126); Esther Ribeiro, Bethel (132); Camryn Brown, Amity (138), Kelly Aspras, Foran (145), Brianna Seixas, Guilford (152)
Outlook: Eight girls that won state titles a year ago return, including Stamford’s Samantha Yap (107), who will be looking for her third state championship. She won in 2020 as well. Two potential outstanding finals could be at 114 with Brien McMahon’s Calli Gilchrist and Old Lyme’s Hoshema Gemme, who finished second in Class S a week ago and at 126 with Norwalk’s Rylee Donahue and nationally-ranked Julianna Morris of Pomperaug.
Tickets: All tickets must be purchased online through GoFan at https://gofan.co/app/school/CIAC. No tickets will be sold at the door.
Video: Live video will be available through FloWrestling or the NFHS network. Each is a paid subscription service.
