Simsbury’s Max Konopka, left, and Southbury’s William Henckel each finished second at the USA Wrestling championships in Fargo. (Photo courtesy Sarah Jadach)
Two state wrestlers earned All-American honors in boys freestyle at USA Wrestling’s Junior and 16-and-under national championships at the Fargodome in Fargo, North Dakota on Thursday.
Southbury’s William Henckel finished second in Junior Freestyle at 175 pounds while Simsbury’s Max Konopka finished second in the 16-and-under freestyle at 190 pounds.
Henckel, who won a national Prep School championship at Blair Academy at 175 pounds last winter, earned his fourth medal in Fargo, tying Simsbury’s Joey Martin (2003-05) for the most medals won by a Connecticut boy at the tournament.
Henckel, 19, who will attend Penn State in the fall, won a 16U freestyle title at 145 pounds in 2021, was second in Junior freestyle at 160 in 2023 and was fourth in Junior freestyle at 152 in 2022.
At Fargo, Henckel won six consecutive matches to reach the final as the No. 2 seed in the tournament. He had a pin and five technical falls. Henckel fell to New Jersey’s Ryan Burton in the championship match, 4-2.
Burton, who will be a senior at Montvale St. Joseph Regional High School this fall, won his first national championship.
Konopka went 6-1 with three pins to finish second at 190 pounds in the U16 tournament, falling to Elijah Brown of York, Pa., in the title bout, 8-2. Brown had a 3-2 lead in the final seconds before he hit a four-point move with a second remaining to secure the match.
Konopka, who won a Class L, State Open and New England championship at Simsbury last winter, will be a sophomore at SHS this fall.
Konopka pinned Owen Burling of Wisconsin in the quarterfinals in 2:50 and beat New Jersey’s Tanner Hodgins in the semifinals, 11-0 in just 1:41.
Several other state wrestlers didn’t earn All-American honors for finishing in the top eight of their respective weights but they did earn multiple wins.
In the Junior freestyle tournament, Norwalk’s J.T. Schneider (138) won four straight consolation round matches and finished with a 6-2 record with three technical fall victories. Schneider, who wrestled at Westport’s Greens Farms Academy (GFA) will be at Williams this fall.
Newtown’s Marc Maurath (150) and Bristol Eastern’s Yussef Bah (160) each won three matches and went 3-2 in the tournament. Cesar Rodriguez (113), Colby Houle (138), Dom Spadaro (144), Donnell Young (164), Jackson Helsin (126), Jay Chase (138) and Xavier Giles (175) were each 2-2.
In the 16U freestyle tournament, Newtown’s Brighton Karvoski (113) went 5-2 with three pins in the tournament. He had four consecutive wins in the consolation bracket. Karvoski will be a sophomore at GFA this fall.
West Hartford’s Harry Marino (138) went 4-2 with two pins and three straight wins in the consolation bracket. Marino attends Conard. Chase Kastner (113), Harry Kittredge (138), Ryan Schneider (190) and Zack Dixon (100) each went 2-2 in the 16U tournament.
NOTES: The last time Connecticut had two wrestlers in the finals in the same year was 2013 when Southington’s Zach Murillo (88, 16U) and Hotchkiss’ Angus Cowell (220, Junior) were both in the finals. … Henckel is the most recent national champion from Connecticut when he won the 16U freestyle at 145 in 2021. … The highest scoring match in the Junior freestyle tournament was between J.T. Schneider (138) and Minnesota’s Jack Bainbridge. Schenider won, 29-22.
2024 Junior and 16U national championship results and brackets (FloArena)
