The Xavier High wrestling team won their third State Open title Saturday. (Photo courtesy CIAC)
For the second consecutive season, Xavier is the No. 1 team in the final Connecticut Wrestling Online top 10 wrestling poll in voting by state coaches and members of the media.
The Falcons (10-4), who won their second straight State Open title on Saturday, were a unanimous selection for No. 1 by the 17 voters in the poll. It’s the third time that Xavier finished No. 1 in the poll. They were also the top selection in 2012.
“We came back after last year focused and set some new goals,” Xavier coach Mike Cunningham said. “We made the schedule harder and they didn’t complain one time. They did the work and I am proud of them.”
Xavier sent several wrestlers to the Beast of the East tournament in Delaware in December, went to the War on the Shore tournament in Maryland in January and attended the National High School Duals in Wisconsin in early January, going 2-4.
The Falcons have won 29 straight dual meets against Connecticut squads, including a win over then-No. 1 Danbury in January 2022. The last loss by the Falcons to a Connecticut team was to Danbury in January 2019. Xavier’s last six dual meet losses have been to out-of-state teams.
Undefeated New Milford (8-0), which finished second behind Xavier in the Class L championships and fourth at the State Open, was the No. 2 selection for the fourth time since 2014.
With a third place finish at the State Open, Newtown moved up three spots to No. 3 in the poll. With three Open finalists and one champion, East Hartford remained at No. 4 in the poll.
New Fairfield, which was second behind Killingly at the Class S championships, jumped into the poll for the first time this season at No. 5. The Rebels finished second behind Xavier at the State Open and put three wrestlers in the finals with Joe Mahoney (120) and Thomas Bock (145).
Danbury finished the season at No. 6 with Class S champion Killingly moving up three spots to No. 7. Trumbull, which won their first-ever state championship two weeks ago at the Class LL meet, leaped back into the top 10 at No. 8.
Fairfield Warde slipped six spots to No. 9 while RHAM, which finished second in the Class M championships by a half-point behind Avon, slipped three spots to No. 10.
Connecticut Wrestling Online’s top 10 high school wrestling poll for the 2022-23 season. 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.
Final poll 2023, Feb. 27
| Team | Rec. | Pts. | LW | Class |
| 1. Xavier (17) | 10-4 | 510 | 1 | L |
| 2. New Milford | 8-0 | 464 | 2 | L |
| 3. Newtown | 17-2 | 393 | 6 | L |
| 4. East Hartford | 10-1 | 342 | 4 | LL |
| 5. New Fairfield | 21-4 | 333 | nr | S |
| 6. Danbury | 12-1 | 330 | 5 | LL |
| 7. Killingly | 25-0 | 303 | 10 | S |
| 8. Trumbull | 24-3 | 287 | nr | LL |
| 9. Fairfield Warde | 16-2 | 244 | 3 | LL |
| 10. RHAM | 27-2 | 218 | 7 | M |
| Also receiving votes: Avon (14-6) 185, Simsbury (7-3) 162, Norwalk (13-3) 120, Windham (19-4) 117, Southington (10-2) 81, Fairfield Ludlowe (18-3) 70, Berlin (18-4) 33, Stratford (9-10) 32, Fairfield Prep (17-10) 22, Foran (28-9) 16, Haddam-Killingworth (17-5) and NFA (17-7) 14 | ||||
| Voting this week: Charlie Anderson, Trumbull; Matt Boissonneault, Bristol Central; Mike Cunningham, Xavier; Gerry deSimas, Jr., Connecticut Wrestling Online; Derek Dion, Southington; Chris Gamble, Waterford; David Green, Nonnewaug; Tim Jensen, Patch Media; Chris Piel, New Milford; Patrick Risley, Windham High; Matt Schoonmaker, Jonathan Law-Milford; Jason Shaughnessy, Fairfield Warde; T.J. Silva, Simsbury; David Stewart, GameTimeCT.com, Jimmy Zanor, Norwich Bulletin; Paul Musso, New Fairfield | ||||
