With a victory over No. 9 RHAM to win the Art Powers Duals on Saturday, Branford got the attention of voters in the top 10 poll. The Hornets are just outside the top 10 at No. 11. (Photo courtesy Branford High wrestling)
The top-ranked Xavier wrestling team remains No. 1 for the second week in a row in the Connecticut Wrestling Online top 10 poll after finishing third at the War on the Shore tournament in Maryland this past weekend with teams from Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Raekwon Shabazz (106) and Anthony Basile (138) won their respective weight classes for the Falcons while Kyle Levesque (132) and Charles Weidman (182) each finishing second.
Xavier (7-4) got 13 first place votes in the poll of state coaches and media members, up from 10 a week ago. No. 2 Danbury (5-0) got three first place votes, down from six a week ago.
The Hatters had a successful weekend with fine performances at the Eastern States Classic in New York State. Danbury earned their third straight top 10 finish by taking eighth in the tournament, which was held for the first time since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Danbury’s Nuh Adjindoski finished fourth at 285 pounds with teammate Cristian Pote (102) finished seventh with an OT win. Dominic Iaquinto (172) also finished seventh for the Hatters.
Stratford’s James Duhancik finished fifth at 215 thanks to a 3-2 win with Fairfield Ludlowe’s Dylan Sherman (126) going 7-2 to earn a medal by taking seventh.
New Milford (4-0) remains at No. 3 with a solid week. The Green Wave dominated Newtown last week with a 49-17 victory and had a second place finish at the John Gorman Tournament in Cumberland, R.I., behind host Cumberland, 225-209.
The Green Wave had four finalists and two individual champions – Ryder Langlois (145) and Chris Reiss (220). Alex Oberc (106) and Tynan Lim (132) finished second. It was Cumberland’s first win in the tournament since 2014.
No. 4 Newtown (10-2) is the only team to move up in this week’s poll, moving up two spots. The Nighthawks lost to No. 3 New Milford but rebounded with a solid effort to win the 19th annual Greater Hartford Open for the first time since 2015.
Newtown had 10 wrestlers finish in the top five of their respective weight classes. The Hawks had five finalsts and three individual champions – Tommy Milligan (106), Kenna Gioffre (113) and Fisher Stites (170). Newtown won with 202 points with defending tournament champion East Hartford and Killingly finishing tied for the second place with 193½ points.
No. 5 East Hartford had five finalists and four individual champions at the Greater Hartford Open, which had four top 10 teams participating – Newtown, East Hartford, Killingly and Southington. Isaac Quiles (120), Jaeckez Mendez (139), Drayvn Roberts (160) and Sammy Montovasi (195) each won titles.
No. 7 Killingly had three individual champions at the GHO – Brad Zadora (126), Kaden Ware (132) and Jack Richardson (152).
No. 6 Fairfield Warde (7-1) slipped two spots despite an undefeated week with wins over Stamford (78-4), Amity (45-33), Joel Barlow (61-18) and Brien McMahon (75-6).
No. 8 Simsbury got a win over Griffin Devivo at 126 pounds to finish seventh at the John Gorman Tournament in Cumberland, R.I.
No. 9 RHAM (14-2) lost to Branford (12-4) in the finals of the 34th annual Art Power Duals, 42-33. The Hornets won the tournament for the third straight year. Berlin beat Avon, 48-25 to finish third.
No. 10 Southington blanked Farmington last week, 76-0 and finished fourth at the Greater Hartford Open.
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On Saturday, Trumbull (19-2) won the 25th annual Ben Aleks Duals in Enfield for the second straight season. Trumbull won four matches in dominant fashion. Including wins over Enfield, 57-18 and West Springfield, Mass., 51-17. The tournament began as the Fermi Duals in 1999 where Aleks once coached.
Foran topped Guilford, 39-36 to win the John Chaco Duals at Staples in Westport. Fairfield Ludlowe beat East Lyme/Norwich Tech, 48-21 to finish third.
Windham had a tournament record 255½ points to win the 20thXavi Griswold Mid-Season Invitational. The Whippets had five individual champions and seven finalists. Barrington, Rhode Island was second with 166 points. Windham snapped the previous record of 228½ points set by Bacon Academy in 2006.
Saturday, January 14, 2022 results and boxscores
Connecticut Wrestling Online’s top 10 high school wrestling poll for the 2022-23 season. First-place votes in parentheses, record through Saturday, points tabulated on a 30-28-26-24-22-20-18-16-14-12-11-10-9-8-7 basis, and last week’s poll ranking.
Week 3, Tuesday, January 17, 2023
| Team | Rec. | Pts. | LW | Class |
| 1. Xavier (13) | 7-4 | 468 | 1 | L |
| 2. Danbury (3) | 5-0 | 452 | 2 | LL |
| 3. New Milford | 4-0 | 416 | 3 | L |
| 4. Newtown | 10-2 | 350 | 6 | L |
| 5. East Hartford | 2-0 | 328 | 5 | LL |
| 6. Fairfield Warde | 7-1 | 320 | 4 | LL |
| 7. Killingly | 12-0 | 310 | 7 | S |
| 8. Simsbury | 3-1 | 208 | 8 | L |
| 9. RHAM | 14-2 | 194 | 9 | M |
| 10. Southington | 6-2 | 177 | 10 | LL |
| Also receiving votes: Branford (12-4) 164, Berlin (13-3) 151, Trumbull (19-2) 147, Avon (8-5) 81, Windham (7-2) 64, Foran 37, Fairfield Ludlowe 33, New Fairfield 19, Platt (12-1) 15, Bristol Central (7-1) 10, NFA 9, Guilford (8-4) 7, New Britain (12-2) 7 | ||||
| Voting this week: Charlie Anderson, Trumbull; Matt Boissonneault, Bristol Central; Mike Cunningham, Xavier; Gerry deSimas, Jr., Connecticut Wrestling Online; Derek Dion, Southington; Chris Gamble, Waterford; David Green, Nonnewaug; Tim Jensen, Patch Media; Chris Piel, New Milford; Patrick Risley, Windham High; Matt Schoonmaker, Jonathan Law-Milford; Jason Shaughnessy, Fairfield Warde; T.J. Silva, Simsbury; David Stewart, GameTimeCT.com, Jimmy Zanor, Norwich Bulletin; Not voting: Paul Musso, New Fairfield | ||||
