Four 2024 CIAC state championship meets begin Friday

The four CIAC state championship tournaments are being held this weekend. (Photo courtesy Leigh Busby)

Two days of wrestling for the CIAC’s four 2024 state championship tournaments begin Friday in Trumbull (Class LL), Wilton (Class L), Guilford (Class M) and Killingly (Class S).

Wrestling begins Friday at 2:30 p.m. in Trumbull, at 3 p.m. in Killingly and at 4:30 p.m. in Wilton and Guilford. On Saturday, action begins at 10:30 a.m. The semifinals begin Saturday at noon at all four locations with the medal round, including the finals, beginning at 3:15 p.m.

The seeds for the four tournaments have been announced and can be found below. The official records do not include any results from Saturday’s conference tournaments nor any matches the wrestler may have wrestled outside of New England or New York. Results from the Central Connecticut Conference tournament are included in wrestler’s individual seeding because it was held before Feb. 7.

The top six individuals in each weight class at all four meets will earn an invitation to the State Open championships on Friday, February 23 and Saturday, February 24 at the Floyd Little Athletic Center on the campus of Hillhouse High in New Haven.

The CIAC will host their girls state championship tournament at the State Open. Girls can wrestle this week in the divisional tournaments (Class LL, L, M and S) but will have to choose which tournament they want to participate in at the State Open – boys (if they quality) or girls.

Tickets are not available at the door. They must be purchased online.

The four tournaments will be streamed on FloWrestling and through the NFHS network. There are subscription fees for both streaming services.

Class LL championships
At Trumbull
Last year: Trumbull 181, East Hartford 177½, Danbury 172½
2024 seeds
Class LL brackets and results (FloArena)
Streaming video: FloWrestling and NFHS network.
Outlook:If they are healthy, East Hartford should have the personnel to win this tournament for the second time in three years. But look for Danbury, Fairfield Warde, and Ridgefield to challenge the Hornets. East Hartford has five No. 1 seeds – Drayvn Roberts (175), Isaac Quiles (126), Jaeckez Mendez (138) and Sammy Montovani (215). Roberts and Quiles are looking for their third straight Class LL titles while Mendez is looking for his second. Other defending champions returning are Fairfield Warde’s Dominic Spadaro, the No. 2 seed at 138, Danbury’s Cristian Pote, the No. 2 seed at 120 and Warde’s Owen Sheiman, the No. 3 seed at 126.
Notable: Trumbull won their first-ever state championship a year ago with a 3½ point win over East Hartford, which won a share of their first state title with Danbury in 2022, the first and only tie at a CIAC state wrestling championship meet.

Class L championships
At Wilton
Last year: Xavier 293½, New Milford 269, Simsbury 211
2024 seeds
Class L brackets and results (Flo Arena)
Streaming video: FloWrestling and NFHS network.
Outlook: Xavier is the favorite to win but New Milford, Newtown and Simsbury have some talented wrestlers. But they probably won’t have enough to challenge the Falcons, who have five No. 1 seeds — Raekwon Shabazz (113), Braylon Gonzalez (126), Anthony Basile (138), Kyle Levesque (144) and Charles Weidman (215). Newtown has three No. 1 seeds in Fisher Stites (165), Marc Maurath (157) and John DaSilva (157). Shabazz is looking for third consecutive Class L championship while Gonzalez, Levesque, Basile, Weidman and Xavier’s Kevin Kasperowski are looking to win back-to-back state titles. Newtown’s Maurath, Stites and DaSilva are also looking to defend Class L titles they won a year ago.
Notable: The most recent team to win the Class L title other than Xavier was Bristol Eastern, who won three in a row from 2017-19.

Class M championships
At Guilford
Last year: Avon 196½, RHAM196, Foran 187
2024 seeds
Class M brackets and results (FloArena)
Streaming video: FloWrestling and NFHS network.
Outlook: A year ago, Avon beat RHAM by a half point for their first championship since 1995. Avon and RHAM may battle again for the championship. RHAM has a three No. 1 seeds in Ben Fournier (106), Kyle Currier (132) and Thiago Delacruz (215) along with Gavin Plourde (138) at No. 2 and Roy Landon (120) at No. 3. Avon’s undfeated Gavin Fallon (30-0) is the No. 2  seed at 190 with three other Falcons earning No. 2 seeds and one earning a No. 4 seed.  Foran doesn’t have a No. 1 seed but they have six wrestlers ranked in the top four of their respective weight classes and Berlin has a few contenders, including top seed Mason Arbiorio (33-0) at 120, who won a Class M title in 2022. Fournier is a defending Class M champion along with Brookfield/Shepaug’s Danny Carrozza at 138. Branford’s Cole Snider, the No. 1 seed at 190, won a Class M title in 2022.
Notable: Last year’s half-point win by Avon over the Raptors was the closest in the history of the Class M tournament and the third time in state history that a state championship tournament was won by a half point. Bristol Eastern won Class L in 2019 by a half point while Berlin did the same in Class M in 1991. … The Class M team with consecutive championships was Ledyard, who won four straight from 2012-15.

Class S championships
At Killingly
Last year: Killingly 213½, New Fairfield 202½, Windham 188
2024 seeds
Class S brackets and results (FloArena)
Streaming video: FloWrestling and NFHS network.
Outlook: Killingly has won nearly every event they have participated in this winter, going 30-0 in dual meets and winning seven of eight tournaments they entered, including last week’s ECC championship meet. With nine wrestlers ranked in the top four of their respective weight classes and two No. 1 seeds, Killingly is the favorite but they should be challenged by New Fairfield and Windham once again. Jonasch Bradey (106) and Anthony Oates (285) are the top seeds for Killingly. New Fairfield’s Joe Mahoney (126) is hoping to win his third straight Class S title while Lewis Mills’ Jack Gedney (120), Montville’s James Lender, Jr. (144) and Windham’s Malachi Fowler (215) are defending Class S champions and No. 1 seeds.
Notable: Killingly has won six state titles including four in Class S (2008, 2009, 2020, 2023) and two in Class M (2003, 2019). New Fairfield’s most recent title came in 1998 in Class M. Windham’s most recent state title was in 2018 in Class S. … The last Class S team with consecutive titles was Windham, who won four in a row from 2013-16.