Danbury’s Cristian Pote, right, and Ridgefield’s Dominic Barrella battle in the 120 pound final at the Class LL championships. Barrella remained undefeated (25-0) win a 3-1 victory.
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 3:30 p.m. for the girls tournament.
2024 State Open championships
Location: Floyd Little Athletic Center, Hillhouse High, New Haven
Friday, February 23
Wrestling begins at 3:15 p.m. Championship quarterfinals, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, February 24
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: 1. Xavier 175½, 2. New Fairfield 121½, 3. Newtown 120
Seeds: 2024 State Open seeds
Live scoring: FloArena
Defending champions returning from 2023: Raekwon Shabazz, Xavier; Joe Mahoney, New Fairfield; Dominick Spadaro, Fairfield Warde; Jaeckez Mendez, East Hartford; Fisher Stites, Newtown; Charles Weidman, Xavier
Outlook: Two-time defending Open champion Xavier had 14 wrestlers finish among the top six in their respective weight classes at the Class L championships to earn a spot at the State Open and will be the team to beat. A year ago, New Milford sent 13 wrestlers to the Open while Xavier sent 12. Even with a large number of wrestlers, the key to winning an Open championship is winning matches and picking up bonus points for pins, tech falls and major decisions – even in the consolation bracket. Six champions return from 2023 including New Fairfield’s Joe Mahoney, who is looking to join an exclusive club of wrestlers with three State Open championships. Eighteen wrestlers in state history have won three or more State Open titles. The most recent was Danbury’s Ryan Jack, who won four times from 2017-20. The top five wrestlers from each weight class will advance to the New England championships on March 2-3 in Providence, R.I.
Notes: In the past three years, Xavier has the most qualifiers (14) for the State Open with 14 this year. New Milford had 13 qualifiers in 2023 while Xavier had 12 in 2023 and 2022. Danbury and Simsbury had 11 qualifiers each in 2020 along with Haddam-Killingworth in 2022.
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.
2024 CIAC Girls Invitational
Location: Floyd Little Athletic Center, Hillhouse High, New Haven
Friday, February 23
Wrestling begins at 3:30 p.m.; Championship quarterfinals, 6:15 p.m
Saturday, February 24
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: 2024 seeds
Live scoring: FloArena
Defending champions: Addisyn Herdic, Ellis Tech; Kelly Aspras, Foran; Marangelie Teixeira, Trumbull; Kayli Morris, Platt; Arianna Bellamy, Maloney.
Outlook: Five girls that won state titles a year ago return, including Foran’s Kelly Aspras (152), who will be looking for her third state championship. No team scores will be kept. This is the fourth Girls Invitational hosted by the CIAC and for the second year, there will be competition in 12 weight classes. The top three wrestlers from each weight class will advance to the first New England championships for girls on March 2-3 in Providence, R.I. Similar to what is done in Connecticut, the girls New England championship meet will be held at the same time as the boys meet.
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.
