WRESTLING
Bristol Eastern wins three titles at Sabbagh tourney: In a tournament that featured several of the state’s best squads — including No. 1 Danbury and No. 2 New Milford — the Lancers acquitted themselves well.
Mikey Barrett (152), Trinidad Gonzalez (170) and Zac Marquis (182) all won individual titles for Bristol Eastern, which finished second to the host Danbury in the Ryan Sabbagh Holiday Tournament on Tuesday. The Lancers entered the meet as the fifth-ranked team in the state.
Later in the week, Eastern took down Newtown in a battle of Top 5 teams. The Lancers clinched a 39-36 comeback win with Carson Sassu’s decision. Keegan Bartis, Andrew Cercone, Jordon Champagne and Bryce Beebe had pins in the match.
Bristol Central takes sixth at Chaves: The Rams competed in the Frank Chaves Invitational, and they were able to post a sixth place finish.
Chris Trelli (106) posted the lone individual victory for Bristol Central on Tuesday. Haddam-Killingworth won the team title while host Simsbury finished second.
Mike Guzman posted the best effort of the day for the Rams, finishing second at 220. Mike Paloka (182) and Connor Staubley (195) each took third. Those results came from Connecticut Wrestling Online.
Later in the week, Central beat Manchester and Hall but fell to Fairfield Ludlowe.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
St. Paul claims Rybczyk title: The Falcons played only once in Plainville’s Rybczyk Memorial Tournament, but that was enough to claim the championship.
After having its Thursday game against Pomperaug postponed by weather, St. Paul played in the final on Friday night against the hosts from Plainville, who had defeated SMSA. The Falcons won 50-37 behind 21 points from freshman Janessa Gonzalez. With the win, St. Paul improved to 5-0.
Bristol Eastern claims consolation prize, Wnuk all-tourney choice: The Lancers finished third in the News-Times Greater Danbury Holiday Festival after dominating New Milford 55-23 on Wednesday evening.
Bristol Eastern lost to Danbury in the opener, but came back to thump New Milford in the third place game. Diana Wnuk helped get the Lancers off to a 9-0 start, and they kept rolling from there, according to tweets from Richard Gregory of the Danbury News-Times.
Wnuk was named to the All-Tournament Team.
BOYS BASKETBALL
St. Paul guts out OT win at home: Austin Jones hit a 3-pointer to send Tuesday’s game with Torrington into overtime.
From there, the Falcons secured a tough home win by a score of 77-76. Jones had a double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Mike Palmieri led the St. Paul scoring with 31 points and added six assists.
Bristol Central wins one, loses one in holiday tournament: The Rams beat Conard to advance to their own Christmas Tournament final, only to lose to South Windsor in the final.
Jaekwon Spencer was chosen for the All-Tournament team from Bristol Central, which stands at 3-1 on the season.
Bristol Eastern ends week with two straight wins: After losing at the buzzer to Pomperaug in Nonnewaug’s holiday tournament, the Lancers won their last two games of the week.
Bristol Eastern knocked off Watertown behind 19 points from Roderick Jenkins and 15 from Jake Violette. Rajon Collins, Tom Gonzales, Justin Blake, Cam Tate and Nate Silva also played well for the Lancers. Head coach Bunty Ray also mentioned Matt D’Amato in an article on the Bristol Press website.
On Saturday, Eastern beat Rockville 57-48 for a home win. Jenkins had the big day offensively, but Tyler Mason provided all-around hustle that was valuable to the Lancer cause. Gonzales was physical under the basket and set a tone for his team.
The two wins got Eastern to 3-2 on the season.
INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD
Knox, Savino qualify for Class L: It’s early in the season, but Bristol Central’s Kenneth Knox and Olivia Savino have already qualified for the Class L state meet.
That’s according to a tweet from Rams indoor track and field head coach Kevin Taylor. The qualifying marks were achieved during the Wilton Wright Invitational held on the campus of Southern Connecticut State University. Some great efforts were put together by the Rams in that meet. Savino was first in the 55-meter hurdles while Jose Navedo claimed second in the high jump. Shy-Ann Whitten was second in the high jump, Knox third in the 600 meters. Nick Marcantonio claimed ninth in the pole vault while Knox was 10th in the 1,600.
Central did well in both 4×400 relays. The boys were third (Conrod, Pat Kjornrattanawanich, Sean Fitzgerald and Knox) while the girls took fourth (Adalia Malick, Nicole Pizzaro, Savino and Mia Hinton).
Bristol Central also put together solid efforts at the Hillhouse Qualifier Meet on Friday at the Floyd Little Athletic Center in New Haven. This included a slew of top finishes. Kaynan Conrod was fifth in the 55-meter dash, 10th in the 300. Knox was seventh in the 600, Devin Flores took eighth in the 1,600. In the pole vault, Nick Marcantonio went fifth with teammate Ben Funk right behind him in sixth. Hunter Peterson took eighth in the high jump while Nigel West was ninth in the long jump. Luis Medina was ninth in the 55 dash.
For the girls, Shy-Ann Whitten claimed fourth in the high jump while Olivia Savino (55 hurdles) and Joana Lalaj (pole vault) each claimed fifth in their events. Ashley Cummings and Meghan Curtis were seventh and eighth in the 600 while Nicole Pizzaro and Savino were seventh and eighth in the long jump. Jenna Ptak was ninth in the 55 dash. Paige Hinton (1,600) and Hannah Jones (3,200) each claimed 10th in their event.
Piana with great effort for St. Paul: Pierce Piana claimed fourth place in the shot put during the Hillhouse meet on Friday.
