Twelves girls win titles at CIAC Girls Invitational with Aspras winning her third

NEW HAVEN, Feb. 24, 2024 – It was a bit challenging for Foran High senior Kelly Aspras this season.

After getting hurt last season, Aspras, who competes at 152 pounds, decided to stop competing against the boys this winter.

“Sometimes, when I watched the (dual) meet it was sad that I couldn’t be partaking in helping the team (on the mat) but I was always there to support,” she said. “Being outmuscled a lot wasn’t my favorite part of wrestling boys. I still get to practice with them.”

Aspras is looking ahead. She will be attending Sacred Heart University beginning this fall and plans to wrestle for the Pioneers. She wants to be healthy.

She doesn’t have a lot of matches under her belt this winter but she is taking advantage of the opportunities she has. Aspras became just the third girl to win a third CIAC Girls Invitational championship on Saturday with a pin over Rockville’s Nora Locicero in 4:24.

Aspras was one of four girls to defend their titles at the Girls Invitational. Trumbull’s Margangelie Teixeira (165), Platt’s Kayli Morris (185) and Maloney’s Arianna Bellamy (285) each won a second straight title.

Eight other wrestlers won their first Girls Invitational title, including Ledyard’s Tatianna Irizarry (107), who became the first girls to win a match at the boys State Open a year ago.

It was a different experience for Aspras on Saturday. In previous years, she was able to fly under the radar without much attention on her even as she won Girls Invitational titles at 145 and 138 pounds.

She may not be wrestling the boys but she is competing against the girls. Aspras (9-1, eight pins) finished third at the Eastern States Classic in New York at 145 pounds in January and won Foran’s Queen of the Mat tournament for the second time with three pins.

“No one puts pressure on me but I can feel it,” she said. “Everyone knows who I am. It’s wrestling, anything can happen. I just have to go out, put your heart (out there) and wrestle.”

With her victory, she qualified for the first New England girls tournament to be held next week in Providence along with the boys tournament. The top three finishers in the CIAC Invitational earned bids to the New England tournament.

Aspras is also planning on competing at the National High School Coaches Association’s national girls tournament in Virginia Beach in March.

Aspras, who also has several years of training at the New York Performing Arts Academy, sang the national anthem before the finals began.

Teixeira, Morris and Bellamy each won their second CIAC Girls Invitational titles with pins. All three are sophomores. Teixeira (165) pinned Bunnell’s Matilda Tote, Morris (185) beat Rockville’s Ava Zuccalo and Bellamy (285) pinned St. Paul’s Mallory Sefick.

Irizarry had two pins to win her first Girls Invitational title, beating Ellis Tech’s Addisyn Herdic in the final at 107 pounds. Irizarry (35-6) spent the season in Ledyard’s starting lineup, finishing second in the Eastern Connecticut Conference tournament for the second straight year and taking third at last week’s Class S tournament.

Does she change her style for the girls?

“I try to wrestle the same,” she said. “If it works against the boys, then it works for the girls, too.”

But she admitted it is harder to pin girls. ”They’re more flexible and it is a bit harder to pin them,” she said. “It’s easier to score points like takedowns but it is harder to pin them.”

The final at 100 pounds was a thriller with Jonathan Law freshman Selena Batres scoring a takedown with six seconds left in regulation to beat Platt’s Daylianette Sanchez, 5-4. Sanchez had a 4-1 lead with a minute to go but was twice called for stalling, cutting her lead to one. 4-3.

A week ago, Berlin’s Sybella Landrie was the 15th seed in the Class M tournament at 106 pounds. She finished sixth, going 4-3 with an overtime victory in the consolation round to earn a spot in the medal round. Those points helped Berlin, who finished second just 3½ points behind RHAM at the Class M championship meet.

On Saturday, Landrie was the No. 1 seed at 114 pounds and she had four consecutive pins and didn’t give up a single point to win her first Girls Invitational title. She pinned Nonnewaug’s Elliana Selearis in 2:55 in the championship match.

At 120, Stamford’s Jasmine Whitfield had three takedowns in her 6-3 win over Amity’s Cristel Miguel, a first-year wrestler who quit the basketball team this year to give wrestling a try.

Stratford’s Lindsey Rywolt (126) got a reversal with 1:26 remaining to beat Norwalk’s Lina Rodriguez in the semifinals before getting a 44 second pin of Trumbull’s Emma Rial in the championship match. Rywolt also finished first at the Eastern States Classic in New York in January with three victories and two pins.

Top seed Hoshena Gemme (132) of Old Lyme won her first CIAC Girls Invitational title with a pin over Norwalk’s Rylee Donahue in 3:58 in the championship match. Gemme had four wins and three pins on the day. Donahue, who was 3-1 with two pins, was trying to win a second state title. She won at 126 pounds in 2022.

At 138 pounds, the match went to overtime after Shelton’s Lilya Akande escaped with eight seconds left in the third period to tie the championship bout with Fairfield Ludlowe’s Kan-Yah McCarthy at 2-2 and force OT

McCarthy had a 2-0 lead after one period thanks to an early takedown. McCarthy was called for stalling in the third period to cut the lead to one. Twice in the final minute, the match was halted for injury time as Akande tried to turn McCarthy to her back.

Because injury time had been called twice, Akande had the option to take bottom and she did, giving her an opportunity to escape and tie the match

In overtime, Akande tried to throw a headlock and got her arm around McCarthy’s head. But McCarthy had leverage and pushed Akande to her back and pinned her for the win.

At 145 pounds, Esther Riberio of Bethel pinned Norwalk’s Esmeralda Ramos in 1:31 to win the championship.

The tournament had 182 girls register with 159 competing in the two-day event. No team scores are kept because girls wrestling isn’t an official CIAC sport at this time.

Twelve teams had one champion each with Platt bringing home five medals. The Panthers had two finalists, a third place finisher and two sixth place medalists.

2024 CIAC Girls Invitational
At New Haven
Team results: none
Championship finals
100: Selena Batres (Jonathan Law) dec. Daylianette Sanchez Cardona (Platt), 5-4
107 Tatianna Irizarry (Ledyard) pin Addisyn Herdic (Ellis Tech), 3:57
114 Sybella Landrie (Berlin) pin Elliana Selearis (Nonnewaug), 2:55
120 Jasmine Whitfield (Stamford) dec. Cristel Miguel (Amity), 6-3
126 Lindsey Rywolt (Stratford) pin Emma Rial (Trumbull), 0:44
132 Hoshena Gemme (Old Lyme) pin Rylee Donohue (Norwalk), 3:58
138 Kan-Yah McCarthy (Fairfield Ludlowe) pin Lilya Akande (Shelton), 6:17, OT
145 Esther Ribeiro (Bethel) pin Esmeralda Ramos (Norwalk), 1:31
152 Kelly Aspras (Foran) pin Nora Locicero (Rockville), 4:24
165 Marangelie Teixeira (Trumbull) pin Matilda Tote (Bunnell), 4:31
185 Kayli Morris (Platt) pin Ava Zuccalo (Rockville), 0:47
235: Arianna Bellamy (Maloney) pin Mallory Sefick (St. Paul) 2:41
Third place (consolation final)
100 Sophia Gordon (South Windsor) dec. Abby Pallotto (Amity), 11-2
107 Maleeah Rios (Bristol Central) pin Ava Gamberdella (Branford), 0:49
114 Nayeilli Vargas (Platt) forfeit over Marissa Wargo (Jonathan Law), 0-0
120 Gonul Celik (East Haven) pin Maela Sosa (Canton), 0:48
126 Lina Rodriguez (Norwalk) pin Amelia Peterson (Haddam-Killingworth), 4:57
132 Maddie Cooper (East Haven) dec. Madison Atkison (New Britain), 5-3
138 Sophia Lancin (Weston) pin Ava Cleary (Foran), 0:33
145 Kaydence Atkinson (New Britain) pin Gabriella Kiely (Stratford), 3:38
152 Kali Fangiullo (Plainville) dec. Jelene Lainez (Platt Tech), 6-5
165 Te andre La beach (Nonnewaug) pin Adalynn Southworth (Conard), 2:04
185 Fiona Hood (Norwich Free Academy) pin Jen Thompson (Manchester), 1:39
Fifth place
100 Jazleene Mattingly (Cheney Tech) dec. Brooke Heffernan (RHAM), 3-0
107 Gabriella Parris-Dwyer (Maloney) pin Lila Poincelot (Lyman Hall), 2:19
114 Evie Day (Guilford) pin Olivia Lavalley (Rocky Hill), 0:27
120 Evangeline Moran (Ellis Tech) dec. Makayla Santiago (Conard), 6-1
126 Olivia Hopkins (Rocky Hill) pin Serenity Perez (Platt), 0:28
132 Josephina Piel (New Milford) pin Aubrey Langlois (Stafford), 4:14
138 Allison Periera (Manchester) forfeit over Ela Celik (East Haven)
145 Peyton Dixon (Haddam-Killingworth) dec. Valeria Plaza Ploanco (Platt), 5-0
152 Adenna McKay (Stratford) dec. Mia Mitja (New Britain), 3-1
165 Ruby Rios (Maloney) pin Addison Powell (Somers), 3:07
185 Camila Mitja (New Britain) dec. Eleanah Diaz (Suffield/Windsor Locks), 3-1
Outstanding wrestler: Tatianna Irizarry Ledyard (107)
2024 CIAC Girls Invitational brackets and results (FloArena)
Printable brackets