Trumbull wins first CIAC girls wrestling state championship

The Trumbull High wrestling team won the first girls wrestling state championship Saturday in New Haven.

NEW HAVEN, March 1, 2025 – Three years ago, Trumbull’s Marangelie Teixeira was one of just three girls on the Eagle wrestling. She enjoyed her time on the team, winning two CIAC state championships.

She encouraged her friends and classmates to try it out. Today, the Eagles have 17 girls in the program. Eleven girls joined the team this December.

That depth helped the Trumbull High girls wrestling team with the first CIAC state championship on Saturday with a 113½ to 94 victory over Norwalk. Amity was third with 88 points.

The Eagles had two finalists and six wrestlers that finished in the top six of their respective weight classes.

“Everyone got us points,” Trumbull head coach Charlie Anderson said. “Jade (Castrillon), who has improved so much throughout the year placed in the top four (at 235), which was unexpected. Anna Silver (152) came in sixth and scored some points today. Jilian Blake (120) was out of her mind wrestling. She lost in the semifinals to the No. 1 seed but came back (in the consolation round) with a tech fall and a pin (to finish third).”

Anderson credited assistant coaches Zach Voytek and Joe Vano for the Eagles’ improvement.

“We had five returning girls and 11 first-year wrestlers,” Voytek said. “This season has been a progression. Every tournament we went to, we got better and better.” The Eagles won the Queen of the Mat girls-only tournament at Foran in Milford just six days ago.

Teixeira (14-2) was foiled in her attempt to win a third consecutive state championship at 165 pounds, dropping a 5-3 decision to New Britain’s Kaydence Atkinson (15-1) in double overtime.

The match was tied 1-1 after three periods. After a scoreless first OT, Atkinson took a 2-1 lead with an escape in the first 30 second session of second OT. Teixeria escaped with five seconds gone in the second 30-second session of the second OT but Atkinson got a three-point takedown with 15 seconds left to take a 5-2 lead.

Trumbull’s Emma Rial (132) lost in her championship match to Norwalk’s Rylee Donohue, who won her second state title and the first since she won in 2022 as a freshman. Donohue dominated in a 12-3 decision. Donohue won with three pins and a major decision in the final.

A new championship banner will be coming to the Trumbull gym soon. “It feels good,” Teixeira said. “We did it. We worked as hard as we could out there. The team put it all together and here we are.”

Norwalk finished second with three individual champions – Donohue, Lina Rodriguez (126) and Jeily Euceda (235).

All three will go to next weekend’s New England championships in Providence. The top three wrestlers in each weight class advanced to the New England meet.

Rodriguez dominated in a 21-7 win over Amity’s Cristel Miguel. Euceda pinned NFA’s Tiyana Taylor in 20 seconds to win her state championship.

Platt’s Kayli Morris, left, won her third consecutive state title while Berlin’s Sybella Landrie won her second in a row.

Platt’s Kayli Morris, the defending New England champion, remained undefeated (13-0) with a pin of Bridgeport’s Linette Diaz (1:01) to capture her third consecutive state championship at 185 pounds.

Jonathan Law’s Selena Batres (107) won her second straight state title by pinning Bridgeport’s Jocelyn Sanchez in 2:47 while Berlin’s Sybella Landrie (114) won her second title with a 7-4 win over Amity’s Elliana Selearis.

Landrie, who was 12-12 against the boys at 120 this season, had two pins and a technical fall to advance to the final.

South Windsor’s Sophia Gordon (100) won her third girls tournament of the season with a 16-0 win by technical fall over New Milford’s Clara Reynolds. Gordon also won the Queen of the Mat and the Griswold girls tournament.

Branford’s Ava Gamberdella (120) won her first state championship with a 8-6 win over East Haven’s Gonul Celik in triple overtime. The match was tied 6-6 after regulation with Celik getting three two-point reversals.

After a scoreless first overtime session, the two wrestlers competed in two 30-second sessions that made up the second OT period. Near the end of the second 30-second OT period, it looked like Gamberdella had escaped to score a point and win the match. She celebrated with her coaches.

But the referees reviewed the call and decided it had occurred after time had expired sending the match into triple OT. Gamberdella was down and got a reversal to win a state championship for the second time in less than a minute.

Jonathan Law’s Selena Batres (107) won her second straight championship on Saturday. (Photo courtesy Leigh Bugsby)

At 138, Haddam-Killingworth’s Amelia Peterson (18-0) won her fourth girls tournament of the season by pinning Stratford’s Winner Tshibombi in 3:29 in the final. Peterson also won the Queen of the Mat, Queen of the Hill and Brookfield girls tournament this winter.

East Haven’s Maddie Cooper won a championship at 145 pounds with a 10-5 win over Fairfield Ludlowe’s Kan-yah McCarthy and Bunnell’s Matilda Tote (152) won a championship by pinning Platt Tech’s Jelene Lainez in 4:52.

Before the tournament, the CIAC reported that 240 girls had registered for the CIAC girls championship tournament, up from 178 a year ago and 153 in 2023. There were 36 schools with three or more participants in the tournament and 19 schools with five or more girls.

That was the fifth CIAC girls championship meet but the first one that had team scores kept officially.

2025 CIAC Girls state championship
At New Haven
Team results Top 20 – 1. Trumbull 113½, 2. Norwalk 94, 3. Amity 88, 4. Jonathan Law 78½, 5. Plainville 69, 6. Platt 66½, 7. Stamford 63, 8. New Milford 61, 9. Maloney 58½, 10. East Harven 54½, 11. Conard 50, 12. Stratford 47, 13. Bridgeport co-op 44, 14. New Britain and Windham 41, 16. Shelton 38½, 17. Haddam-Killingworth 38, 18. Bristol Central 37, 19. Fairfield Ludlowe 36½, 20. Bunnell 35
Individual results
Finals
100 Sophia Gordon (South Windsor) tech fall Clara Reynolds (New Milford), 16-0, 4:51
107 Selena Batres (Jonathan Law) pin Jocelyn Sanchez (Bridgeport Co-op), 2:47
114 Sybella Landrie (Berlin) dec. Elliana Selearis (Amity), 7-4
120 Ava Gamberdella (Branford) dec. Gonul Celik (East Haven), 8-6, 3 OT
126 Lina Rodriguez (Norwalk) dec. Cristel Miguel (Amity), 21-7
132 Rylee Donohue (Norwalk) dec. Emma Rial (Trumbull), 12-3
138 Amelia Petersen (Haddam-Killingworth) pin Winner Tshibombi (Stratford), 3:29
145 Maddie Cooper (East Haven) dec. Kan-yah McCarthy (Fairfield Ludlowe), 10-5
152 Matilda Tote (Bunnell) pin Jelene Lainez (Platt Tech), 4:52
165 Kaydence Atkinson (New Britain) dec. Marangelie Teixeira (Trumbull), 5-3, 2 OT
185 Kayli Morris (Platt) pin Linette Diaz (Bridgeport Co-op), 1:01
235 Jeily Euceda (Norwalk) pin Tiyana Taylor (NFA), 0:20
3rd Place
100 Brooke Heffernan (RHAM) dec. Jessica Smokes (Amity), 7-1
107 Gabriella Parris-Dwyer (Maloney) dec. Sophie Mraz (Derby/Oxford/Holy Cross), 7-1
114 Makayla Santiago (Conard) dec. Lila Poincelot (Lyman Hall), 10-8
120Jillian Blake (Trumbull) pin Harley Danton (Plainville), 2:04
126 Gaby Aliaga (Greenwich) dec. Kaylee Hernandez (Maloney), 11-10
132 Olivia Hopkins (Rocky Hill) tech fall Evelyn Lavigne (Daniel Hand), 17-1 5:00
138 Josephina Piel (New Milford) pin Mackenzie Nichols (Jonathan Law), 1:56
145 Jasmine Williams (Windsor) dec. Linda Ixperpuac Castro (Windham), 11-2
152 Kali Fangiullo (Plainville) pin Ella Piccirillo (Shelton), 1:18
165 Jasmine Afrailova (Suffield/Windsor Locks) pin Bethany-Grace Dean (Bristol Eastern), 3:53
185 Adalynn Southworth (Conard) dec. Shyann Bryan (Bristol Central), 1-0
235 Savannah Cabrera- (Plainville) pin Jade Castrillon T (Trumbull), 3:29
5th Place
100 Sophia Coubrough (Foran) forfeit over Daylianette Sanchez Cardona (Platt)
107 Nollan Thomas (Griswold/Wheeler) pin Emme Lim (New Milford), 2:45
114 Nina Smith (Darien) dec. Joseline Sanchez-Ruelas (Killingly), 9-3
120 Maleeah Rios (Bristol Central) pin Ashlynn Cummings (Fairfield Ludlowe), 3:38
126 Myalis Dejesus  (Maloney) pin Sara Ospina Stamford), 1:34
132 Sophia Abbaspour (Jonathan Law) pin Genesis Colon (Ledyard), 2:46
138 Idalia Lopez (Windham) pin Rylee O’Connell (New Fairfield), 1:15
145 Anlly Perez (Windham) forfeit over Zeynep Sare (Amity)
152 Victoria Maillard (Notre Dame-Fairfield) dec. Anna Silva (Trumbull), 17-3
165 Adeanna Mckay (Stratford) pin Addison Powell (Somers), 4:05
185 Camila Mitja (New Britain) dec. Gabriella Mighty (Stamford), 2-1 2 OT
235 Esther faith Albert (Stamford) pin Alexandria Saintphard (Bloomfield/Weaver), 2:11
Outstanding wrestler: Kayli Morris, Platt (185)
2025 CIAC state championships brackets and results (FloArena)
2025 Girls State Championship brackets (printable)