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.
2025 State Open championships
Location: Floyd Little Athletic Center, Hillhouse High, New Haven
Friday, February 28
Wrestling begins at 3:15 p.m. Championship quarterfinals, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 1
Wrestling begins at 10 a.m. with consolation round of eight; Championship semifinals, noon; Third place and fifth place matches, 3 p.m.; Parade of Champions, 4 p.m.; Championship finals, 4:15 p.m.
Last year: 1. Xavier 243½, 2. Newtown 147½, 3. East Hartford 116
Seeds: 2025 State Open seeds
Live scoring: FloArena
Defending champions returning from 2024: Braylon Gonzalez (132), Xavier; Jaeckez Mendez (138), East Hartford; Max Konopka (190), Simsbury; Lincoln Carlson (215), East Lyme/Norwich Tech
Top seeds: 100: Yussuf Bah, Bristol Eastern (28-1), 113: William Accorsi, Somers (25-0), 120: Kenna Gioffe, Newtown (38-4), 126: Ethan Buonanducci, Enfield (40-0); 132: Gonzalez, Xavier (24-2), 138: Jay Chase, Sheehan (18-3), 144: Jaeckez Mendez, East Hartford (38-1); 150: Antonio Arguello, Newtown (38-2); 157: Evan Schibi, Gilbert/Torrington/OWTS (33-2); 165: Marc Maurath, Newtown (39-3); 175: Max Morse, Xavier (14-0); 190: Max Konopka, Simsbury (15-0); 215: Lincoln Carlson, East Lyme/Norwich Tech (33-0); 285: Anthony Shivas, Derby/Oxford/Holy Cross (27-0)
Outlook: Xavier is a looking for a fourth straight State Open championship and the Falcons have a pair of No. 1 seeds with Braylon Gonzalez (132) and Max Morse (175) and four others ranked in the top six of their respective weight classes. Xavier and Fairfield Warde each had 11 wrestlers qualify for the Open. The key to winning the tournament is earning points in the consolation round. … East Hartford and Newtown are hoping to contend for the championship with multiple Open champions. Top seed Jaeckez Mendez (138) can become the first wrestler since 2017 to win three State Open championships. Fifteen wrestlers in state history have won three Open titles and three wrestlers have won four 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 8-9 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.
2025 CIAC Girls Championships
Location: Floyd Little Athletic Center, Hillhouse High, New Haven
Friday, February 28
Wrestling begins at 3:15 p.m.; Championship quarterfinals, 6:30 p.m
Saturday, March 1
Wrestling begins at 9:45 a.m. with consolation round of 8; Championship semifinals, 10:30 a.m.; Third place and fifth place matches, 2 p.m.; Parade of Champions, 4 p.m.; Championship finals, 4:15 p.m.
Last year: No official team scores kept.
Seeds: 2025 seeds
Live scoring: FloArena
Defending champions returning from 2024: Selena Batres (107), Jonathan Law; Sybella Landries (114), Berlin; Marangelie Teixeira (165) Trumbull and Kayli Morris (185), Platt.
Outlook: For the first four years of this tournament, it was called the Girls Invitational with no team scoring. Now, it is the CIAC girls championship meet and team scoring will be kept. Look for Trumbull, Amity, Platt and Maloney to battle for the championship. Platt won the first-ever dual meet in state history between two girls teams with a win over Maloney while Trumbull outlasted Amity at last weekend’s Queen of the Mat tournament at Foran. Amity beat Platt at the Queen of the Hill tournament in Rocky Hill.
Four girls are defending state titles won a year ago – Jonathan Law’s Selena Batres (107), Berlin’s Sybella Landries (114), Trumbull’s Marangelie Teixeira (165) and Platt’s Kayli Morris (185). Morris and Teixeira are looking for their third straight CIAC titles. Look out for Norwalk’s Rylee Donahue (132), who won a state title in 2022 at 126 pounds.
The top three wrestlers from each weight class will advance to the first New England championships for girls on March 8-9 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.
Of note: Top seeds Cristel Miguel (126) of Amity and Amelia Peterson (138) of Haddam-Killingworth are both undefeated at 14-0. Morris and Batres are 10-0. Amity’s Jessica Smokes, the No. 5 seed at 100 pounds, has the most wins on the year at 18-5. … Three girls have win three CIAC titles: Foran’s Kelly Aspras from 2022-24, Amity’s Camryn Brown and Stamford’s Samantha Yap in 2020, 2022 and 2023.
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.
A Manchester High wrestler has an Amity wrestle up in the air during last week’s Class LL championships. (Photo courtesy Leigh Busby)
