Windham dominates and wins fourth straight Class S title
By GERRY deSIMAS, Jr.
Connecticut Wrestling Online
PLAINVILLE, Feb. 13 – It was a performance for the ages for the Windham High wrestling team.
The Whippets placed five wrestlers in the finals, brought home five state titles and had 13 of their 14 entrants in the Class S tournament finish in the top six in their respective weight classes to earn invitations to next week’s State Open championships.
Windham won its fourth straight Class S title with a Class S tournament record 288 points – erasing the record of 264 set by Avon nearly 30 years ago in 1987. The Whippets performance was the fourth highest points ever scored in any CIAC wrestling tournament and the best since Danbury had a state record 311 points in 2005 when they won the Class LL championship.
Killingly was a distant second, 90 points back with 198 points with Montville taking third with 192½ points. It was an ECC-dominated event. The Whippets are the first Class S team to win four in a row.
“The kids have been wrestling tough all year,” Windham coach Pat Risley said. “We focus on improving every week. And this team hasn’t let me down. Every week, we improved.”
Windham’s Julio Anthony Flores (106), Julio Javier Flores (113), Alejandro Garcia (120), Cullan Contos (145) and Seiji Arzuaga (220) brought home individual state championships. It was the second title in a row for Arzuaga.
Sebastein Stulz (126), Victor Garcia-Moreno (160), Alex Perez (170) and Nathan Oaks (285) finished third for the Whippets while Eric Angeles (132) was fifth.
Risley was pleased that Windham wrestled better in the consolation rounds this week that they did a week earlier at the ECC championship meet. “They took the challenge,” he said. “What we needed to do was wrestle back better in the consolation brackets than we did a week ago. We had kids wrestling back strong. That was a big difference.”
Windham had some tough wins in the finals. Julio Javier Flores outlasted Montville’s Noah Caskey, 3-1 at 113 pounds, denying Caskey a second straight Class S crown. Flores beat Casey a week ago at the ECC championship meet, 4-2. At 120, Garcia, the No. 4 seed beat No. 2 seed James Lantigua of Killingly, 10-6 to win the championship. Garcia dominated top-seeded Ian Poitras of Terryville in a 13-2 semifinal victory.
Arzuaga dominated but scored just four points in a 4-0 shutout win over Granby’s Justin Lengvarsky in the final at 220 pounds.
“The Wednesday after Wednesday of tough ECC matches helped (Windham, Killingly, Montville) prepare these kids for this grinder of a tournament,” Nonnewaug coach David Green said. “It prepares them for wrestling back. They do have an advantage because they are competing in a very competitive conference. The crème rises to the top.”
It was Windham’s 13th state championship. Only Ledyard (20) and Danbury (18) have won more.
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At 126 pounds, Portland’s Rodric Grant won his second straight Class S championship with a tough 2-1 win over Montville’s Zachary Looney (39-2) thanks to a takedown with 25 seconds remaining in the match.
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Terryville senior Fred Ellegard trailed the entire match against Montville’s Joel Morth, who took down Ellegard in the first seconds of the finals at 132 pounds. Yet, Ellegard (34-2) had a chance to tie up the match with less than 30 seconds remaining, trailing 7-5. He was desperately trying for a tying two-point takedown but Morth was able to slip out of his grasp for a match-clinching takedown.
“I wrestled 100 percent and but didn’t have enough to break him down,” Ellegard said. “I wanted to go out with a bang.”
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Granby sophomore Cooper Fleming (138) was calm and poised after winning his first state championship by pinning Samuel Kury in 1:41. Kury tried to get a single leg takedown in the early seconds of the match but Fleming was able to get his arms under Kury and threw the Montville wrestler to his back.
Fleming (33-2) rolled through the 138 pound weight class with an impressive 13-5 win over No. 4 Luis Torres of Windham in the semifinals and two other pins. Fleming was named the tournament’s outstanding wrestler by the coaches.
“This is nice but the State Open and the New Englands are my main goal,” he said.
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The magical run for Nonnewaug’s Brian Campbell (145) ended in the final against top-seeded Cullan Contos of Windham.
Campbell (31-14) was the seventh seed in the tournament. He beat No. 2 seed Austin Concascia of Montville in the quarterfinals, 12-7 and upset No. 3 seed Franklin Falcon of Bolton in the semifinals, 16-12.
“You could see him get better and better (throughout the year),” Nonnewaug coach David Green said. “He wrestled hard this weekend and everything came together for him. I’m proud of him.” In the final, Contos was too strong and won by pin in 3:37.
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The first three matches of the Class S wrestling tournament helped Nonnewaug High senior Kieran Duggan get prepared for his 152-pound championship match with Grayson Adler of Haddam-Killingworth.
Adler handed Duggan one of his three losses on the year back in January at the Lawless Duals in his home gym. Duggan won a rematch about two weeks ago so he was ready.
Duggan (35-3) had three takedowns and picked up a rare four-point near fall as he won his third consecutive Class S championship Saturday night with a 17-5 victory over Adler. He is the first BL wrestler to win three straight Class S titles since Thomaston’s Alan Sanford in 2011. He is the third wrestler in Nonnewaug history to achieve that feat.
Duggan had three pins leading up his rubber match with Adler in the final. Duggan led 5-3 after one period with a pair of takedowns and an escape. His second takedown came with just four seconds left in the period. Duggan extended the lead to 6-3 after two periods. In the third period, he broke it open putting Adler to his back twice.
Duggan was relived afterwards. He had been feeling some of the weight of expectations to bring home the title. “He did great,” Nonnewaug coach David Green said. “I like the way he kept going looking to score points. He didn’t get the lead and try to hold it. He kept looking to score and that is how you win.”
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Somers’ Jacob Berry Parker (160) won his second straight Class S championship with a 13-8 win over No. 2 seed Mackay Revis of Haddam-Killingworth. He was joined on the top step of the podium by teammate Jackson Rheault (195), who won his first state title with a 5-3 win over Northwestern junior Gabriel Schwartz. Rheault got a takedown with 1:02 remaining to snap a 3-3 tie and secure the win.
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Hakim Fleming of Notre Dame-Fairfield (285) outlasted Killingly’s Josh Angel, 3-2 in triple OT to win his second straight Class S championship. The match was tied 1-1 after regulation and a pair of one-point escapes. There was no scoring in the first one-minute overtime period.
In the second OT, each wrestler had an escape to increase the score to 2-2.
In the third and final overtime period, Fleming had to ride Angel for 30 seconds to win the title. The two wrestlers cautiously tried for takedowns for a majority of the first eight minutes of competition. In the final 30 seconds, the two men wrestled hard but Fleming was able to control Angel long enough to earn an extra point and the victory.
2016 Class S championships
At Plainville
Team results -- 1. Windham 288; 2. Killingly 198; 3. Montville 192½; 4. Haddam-Killingworth 123; 5. Nonnewaug 115½; 6. Terryville 111; 7. Somers 101; 8. Granby 97½; 9. Northwestern 89½; 10. Morgan 86; 11. Plainville 78; 12. East Catholic 58; 13. Griswold 57; 14. Gilbert 53; 15. Canton 47; 16. St. Paul 46; 17. East Windsor 42; 18. Notre Dame-Fairfield 40½; 19. Holy Cross 40; 20. Rocky Hill 38; 21. Derby 37; 22. Portland 36½; 23. Oxford 36; 24. Enfield 22½; 25. Seymour 20; 26. Stafford 15; 27. Bolton 11; 27. Coventry 11; 29. East Hampton 9; 30. Career Magnet-New Haven 6; 31. Housatonic 4; 32. Valley Regional 3
Individual results
106: Final -- Julio Anthony Flores (Windham) pin Danny Charron (Killingly), 1:38; 3. Angelo Folino (Northwestern) dec. Trevor Follo (Morgan), 11-0; 5. Muhammed Bilal (Rocky Hill) pin Jacob Marselli (East Catholic), 2:44
113: Final -- Julio Javier Flores (Windham) dec. Noah Caskey (Montville), 3-1; 3. Jack Pelley (East Windsor) pin Mike Charron (Killingly), 0:48; 5. Joseph Fleming (Enfield) pin Malakai Maher (Haddam-Killingworth), 4:50
120: Final -- Alejandro Garcia (Windham) dec. James Lantigua (Killingly), 10-6; 3. Ian Poitras (Terryville) pin Steven Muller (Granby), 3:30; Jason Jacaruso (Griswold) dec. William Konikowski (St. Paul), 4-1
126: Final -- Rodric Grant (Portland) dec. Zachary Looney (Montville), 2-1; 3. Sebastien Stultz (Windham) dec. Zach Burgress (Killingly), 4-2; 5. Joseph Pedrolini (Northwestern) dec. Malik Shipman (Morgan), 12-0
132: Final -- Joel Morth (Montville) dec. Fred Ellegard (Terryville), 9-5; 3. Jeffrey Suschana (Somers) dec. Matthew Jenkins (Haddam-Killingworth), 5-2; 5. Eric Angeles (Windham) dec. Grant Sarra (Plainville), 13-4
138: Final -- Cooper Fleming (Granby Memorial) pin Samuel Kury (Montville), 1:41; 3. Connor Levins (Terryville) dec. Edward Boisits (Nonnewaug), 6-4; 5. Joshua Schwartz (Northwestern) dec. Luis Torres (Windham), 6-4
145: Final -- Cullan Contos (Windham) pin Brian Campbell (Nonnewaug), 3:38; 3. Austin Concascia (Montville) dec. Aidan Korper (Haddam-Killingworth), 9-3; 5. Joseph Bradley (Morgan) pin Franklin Falcon (Bolton), 4:12
152: Final -- Kieran Duggan (Nonnewaug) dec. Grayson Adler (Haddam-Killingworth), 17-5; 3. Benjamin Kibby (Granby Memorial) dec. Dan Herold (Oxford), 11-4; 5. Jon Tattersall (Plainville) dec. Sammy Ruiz (Windham), 26-13
160: Final -- Jacob Berry Parker (Somers) dec. Mackay Revis (Haddam-Killingworth), 13-8; 3. Victor Garcia-Moreno (Windham) dec. Freylin Jimenez (Plainville), 3-2; 5. Julian Adams (Canton) injury default over Douglas Delacruz (Montville)
170: Final -- Logan Smith (Gilbert) pin Dillon Knupp (Killingly), 0:30; 3. Alex Perez (Windham) pin Ryan Gervais (Griswold), 4:15; 5. Jordan Silva (St. Paul) dec. Francesco Rinaldi (Somers), 15-8
182: Final -- Austin Caffrey (Killingly) pin Charlie Sampson (Derby), 0:55; 182 Emanuel Diaz (Montville) pin David Wyzykowski (Haddam-Killingworth), 7:08, OT; 5. Flori Cenkolli (Nonnewaug) win by forfeit over Klyde Flag Auba (Notre Dame-Fairfield), disqualified from tournament
195: Final -- Jackson Rheault (Somers) dec. Gabriel Schwartz (Northwestern), 5-3; 3. Connor Lemley (Killingly) dec. Josh Wright (Terryville), 3-2; 5. John Bowler (Holy Cross) pin Xavier Torres-Viera (Windham), 2:38
220: Final -- Seiji Arzuaga (Windham) dec. Justin Lengvarsky (Granby Memorial), 4-0; Nick Cyr (Plainville) pin Matthew Gray (St. Paul), 2:25; 5. Nick Tibbetts (Montville) pin Albert Nieves (Holy Cross), 1:54
285: Final -- Hakim Fleming (Notre Dame-Fairfield) dec. Josh Angel (Killingly), 3-2, 3 OT; 3. Nathan Oaks (Windham) dec. John Desautels (East Catholic), 4-1; 5. Chris Ernst (Seymour) pin Jason Hume (Terryville), 1:52
Outstanding wrestler: Cooper Fleming (138), Granby
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