Former wrestlers Russ Cliche, left, Angel Aponte, center and Geovanni Medina were inducted into the New Britain Sports Hall of Fame on Sunday. Cliche and Medina are two of the three New Britain wrestlers to win a State Open championship.
NEW BRITAIN, May 4, 2025 — Pulaski High in New Britain had one of the first dynasties among small schools in Connecticut in the late 1970s.
The Generals, led by Hall of Fame head coach Paul Campagna, won five of the first six Class S championships from 1976 through 1981 along with three Colonial Conference championships against schools from Bristol (Eastern and Central), Meriden (Platt and Maloney) and Southington.
Pulaski closed in June 1982 as their students were reintegrated back into New Britain High School, ending a 21-year run of two high schools in New Britain.
On Sunday, the Generals received some love for their excellence on the wrestling mat with two former Pulaski High wrestlers being inducted into the New Britain Sports Hall of Fame at Central Connecticut State University.
Russ Cliché, the first and only Pulaski wrestler to win a State Open championship in 1982, and Angel Aponte, who won a Class S title and finished second at the Open in his only varsity season, were inducted into the New Britain Sports Hall of Fame.
Geovanni Medina, the second New Britain High wrestler to win a State Open championship in 2012, was also inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Cliché was a four-year wrestler with the Generals, winning consecutive Class S championships in 1981 and 1982. Over his final three seasons, he was 80-8-1, won the Brookfield tournament three times and the Penney Invitational in East Hartford twice. He was undefeated as a senior.
He wrestled a year at Springfield College before transferring to Tennessee-Chattanooga, a Division I program, where was a starter for the Moccasins.
Cliché was the final Pulaski High wrestler to compete at the State Open in his 1982 championship match with the school closing in June 1982. Connecticut wouldn’t begin competing at the New England championships until 1987.
Today, he lives in Georgia where he has been the public address announcer of the Georgia state wrestling tournament for more than 22 years and signs the national anthem before the tournament commences.
Several former wrestlers from Pulaski High in New Britain attended Sunday’s New Britain Sports Hall of Fame induction dinner. Pulaski closed in 1982.
Aponte was a multi-sport athlete in New Britain. He attended New Britain High as a freshman and sophomore where he played football before transferring to Pulaski as a junior.
At Pulaski, he learned wrestling as a junior. But he was intrigued with the sport and attended a summer wrestling camp at Hofstra before his senior year and participated in in numerous freestyle and Greco-Roman tournaments.
Few knew who Aponte was when the 1977-78 season began but they knew who he was by the end of the season.
He beat two defending state champions at 114 pounds to win the Brookfield Invitational and earn outstanding wrestler honors. He also won tournaments at Trumbull and Penney High in East Hartford.
Aponte won the Class S championship and finished second at the State Open, dropping a two-point decision, 10-8, and finishing his season with a record of 32-1-1. Aponte did wrestle at Central Connecticut State for a few seasons.
Medina, who also played football, became the second New Britain wrestler to win a State Open championship as a junior in 2012. Medina (34-0) beat Glastonbury senior Cody Keane for the second straight week, pinning him in 3:06. A week earlier, he beat Keane in the Class LL championship with a pin in overtime.
The following week, Medina finished sixth at the New England championships but became the first Hurricane wrestler to win a medal at the tournament since Kevin Greco in 1996.
As a senior, Medina won a second straight Class LL championship but fell in the State Open final, 7-4, to finish second. At the New England championships the following week, Medina (40-3) dropped a one-point decision to the New Hampshire and won five straight matches in the consolation round to finish third with a 3-2 win in double OT.
On the way, he beat three-time Massachusetts champion Paul Sughrue of Methuen, 7-5, Connecticut champion Howard Kilpatrick of Bacon Academy, 7-2 and Maine’s top seeded wrestler Trevor Smith of Marshfield, 14-2.
Medina competed at Springfield College and American International College at the collegiate level. He was 26-4 with nine pins as a senior at Springfield.
Bob Angelli, left, Russ Cliche, center, and Phil Ouellette each wrestled at Pulaski High in New Britain. Two former Pulaski High wrestlers were inducted into the New Britain Sports Hall of Fame on Sunday.
Trinity College head coach Sebby Amato, a former state champion wrestler at Pulaski, is a member of the New Britain Sports Hall of Fame, inducted in 2017. Campagna was inducted in 2000.
