With two individual champions, the Choate Rosemary Hall girls wrestling team won the Beast of the East Sunday in Newark, Delaware. (Photo courtesy Ryan Roddy)
The high school wrestling season is in full gear as the holidays approach. There was a full slate of tournaments on Saturday with some state wrestlers venturing out of state for additional challenges and competition.
At the Beast of the East tournament in Newark, Delaware, Southbury’s William Henckel (175) used a takedown with 1:26 left in the second period and rode out the third period to win his second consecutive Beast championship
Wrestling for Blair Academy (New Jersey), Henckel beat senior Ryan Burton of St. Joseph Regional in Montdale, N.J., 5-3, in a battle between two of the top wrestlers in the country at 175. Henckel (15-0) trailed 3-1 after one period but used an escape and a takedown (three points now) to take a two-point lead.
Burton beat Henckel in July, 4-2, in the final of the USA Wrestling Junior national championship tournament in Fargo. Henckel has committed to wrestle at Penn State next fall.
Xavier had eight wrestlers in the tournament but none placed in the medal round. The Falcons finished 41st in the field with 41 points. Ridgefield, Danbury and Sheehan also had wrestlers in the tournament but none earned a spot on the podium.
In the third annual Beast of the East girls tournament, Norwalk’s Calli Gilchrist went 5-0 with two pins to win a Beast championship at 120 pounds and help Choate Rosemary Hall win the tournament title with a 106-88 win over East Stroudsburg (Pa.) High.
Gilchrist had hoped to meet Savannah Witt of Palisades, Pennsylvania in the final but she lost by technical fall in the quarterfinals to Elle Changaris of High Point Regional in New Jersey. Gilchrist got a headlock on Changaris in the final and won by pin in just 1:09
The Wild Boars had five girls in the tournament and all five finished in the top eight of their respective weight classes. Sara McLaughlin (125) went 5-0 with two pins to finish first while Lily Runez (105) went 5-1 with two wins by technical fall to finish third. Ledyard’s Tati Irizarry (115) finished fourth with a 5-2 record with Rhema Woolcock (235) finished eight for Choate Rosemary Hall. McLaughlin beat No. 8 ranked Lexy Padon of Crofton, Maryland, 10-3, in the title bout. Irizzary won all five of her bouts by pin. Howell’s Kyle Gudewitz used a first period takedown to earn a 3-0 win in the consolation final.
Connecticut tournaments
The scholastic wrestling season opened on Wednesday with dual meet competition. On Saturday, tournament competition began with several tournaments across the state.
Southington won the Lancer Invitational in Waterford for the second straight year and the fourth time with a 6½ point win over Ledyard, 213 to 207½. Southington had two champions and three finalists but won the tournament with 11 wrestlers finishing in the top five of their respective weight classes. East Providence, R.I. had four individual champions.
A victory from John Murphy in the finals at 165 pounds helped Avon win the C.J. McCormick Invitational in Berlin with a three-point win over Foran, 226-223. It was the second smallest margin of victory in tournament history. The closest margin came in 2009 when Xavier beat Hand by two points.
Foran won two of five matches in the finals to pull close. Three wins by Avon in the consolation round helped the Falcons win the tournament for the third time and the first time since 2006.
Saturday, Dec. 21 scores and results
Fairfield Warde had six wrestlers finish in the top five of their respective weight class, including Louis Soracco (157), who finished second, as the Mustangs took second at the 57th annual George Bossi Lowell Holiday Tournament at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, Mass. Shawsheen Valley won the tournament for the second time in the last three years.
Newtown’s Antinio Arguello (150) and Marc Maurath (185) each finished second for the Nighthawks, who took sixth overall. Arguello lost to Shawsheen’s James Tildsley, who was named one of the tournament’s outstanding wrestlers with his fourth straight Bossi championship.
It was the first year since 2015 that at least one Connecticut wrestler didn’t win a championship.
The tournament is named in honor of Bossi, the Hall of Fame coach with Lowell High. He was inducted into the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2000.
Bossi, 90, has been coaching at Lowell since the 1964-65 season, excluding a three-year hiatus from 1995-98 when he served as athletic director at Lowell. He started this tournament in December 1968. Lowell has won 17 Massachusetts state titles and five New England championships (1970, 1973, 1975, 1987 and 2007).
Saturday, Dec. 21 scores and results
With eight individual champions and 10 finalists, East Hartford won the Skip Ardan Invitational at Manchester High for the third straight season. The Hornets had 266 points while Trumbull secured 193½ points.
With nine wrestlers finishing in the top four of their respective weight classes, Guilford won their own Guilford Invitational for the first time since 1998 with a 10-point win over Notre Dame-West Haven, 229-219.
It was the 48th year of the Guilford Invitational, the longest running regular season tournament in Connecticut. The first tournament was in December 1975.
Saturday, Dec. 21 scores and results
With two champions and eight finalists, New Milford won the Chaves Invitational in Simsbury for the second time in three years with a 14½-point win over host Simsbury. The Green Wave also won the girls portion of the tournament with a win over the Bloomfield/Weaver/East Windsor co-op squad.
It began in 1992 as the Derby Invitational and was hosted by the Red Raiders for nearly 30 years through 2021. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament was hosted for two years by Darien. Unable to host in Darien this year, the tournament moved to Stratford where Bunnell hosted the Bunnell Invitational where Shelton won the event for the second straight year with a 204-193½ win over Ridgefield.
Saturday, Dec. 21 scores and results
Fairfield Ludlowe had four finalists and one individual champion to win the Nick Garoffolo Invitational for the third straight year and the eighth year overall. With four individual champions, Enfield finished second.
With seven individual champions and 12 finalists, Danbury won the Blue Devil Invitational in Plainville. The Hatters beat Platt, 269½ to 235. The Plainville Invitational was an early-season staple from 2002 through 2019.
With five victories on Saturday in a six-team dual, including a 47-29 win over Stafford, Killingly moved to 6-0 on the season. Killingly extended their school-record winning streak to 66 dual meet wins in a row, which is No. 3 all-time in state wrestling history. Only Danbury with 96 wins in a row (1996-2001) and Windham with 73 wins (2014-17) have longer dual meet win streaks. With the wins on Saturday, Killingly moved past Manchester (1994-97) and New Milford (2009-12), who had each won 61 consecutive dual meets.
GFA finishes seventh in HOF Duals
Westport’s Greens Farms Academy finished seventh at the third National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dual Classic in Stillwater on Saturday. The Dragons (3-3) beat New England public school champion Ponaganset, Rhode Island, 35-30 to finish seventh.
GFA’s Kayla Batres became the first girl to compete in the Dual Classic at 110 pounds. She went 4-1 with three pins, a forfeit and a loss by decision. In the latest national high school girls rankings, she is ranked No. 1 in the country at 110.
Ten of the 12 teams in the tournament are ranked in the latest MatScouts rankings. GFA is ranked No. 33 in the country with Ponaganset ranked at No. 45.
No. 5 Bishop McCort becomes the third different Dual Classic winner with a 37-28 win over No. 6 DelBarton, N.J. Edmond North High School (Edmond, Oklahoma) won the inaugural event in 2023 and lost in the finals in 2024 to Wyoming Seminary College Prep (Kingston, Pennsylvania).
No. 18 Massillon Perry High School (Massillon, Ohio) beat No. 12 Stillwater High School (Stillwater, Oklahoma), 33-26, to finish third while No. 15 Edmond North defeated No. 21 Sunnyside High School (Tucson, Arizona), 41-31, to place fifth.
GFA beat James Martin of Arlington, Texas, 46-20 in pool play. The Dragons dropped decisions to Sunnyside, Stillwater and Delbarton in pool play. Ponaganset went 1-4 in the tournament with a 40-20 win over Illinois’ Joliet Catholic.
