The Bristol Eastern and Bristol Central wrestling teams were both in action on Saturday at midseason tournaments, and each squad finished in the Top 5.
The Lancers won the Colter-Abely Midseason Classic, held at Mercy High School in Middletown, with 166 points, 14.5 ahead of second place Xavier (151.5). The Rams finished fifth at the Griswold Mid-Season Invitational (118 points) in a tournament won by East Haven (197). Here’s more on how each team did:
Bristol Eastern
Three Lancer wrestlers won the championship in their weight class. Tommy Nichols (132), Justin Marshall (152) and Trinidad Gonzalez (220) were the winners. Nichols took the 132 title with a 3-2 decision over Xavier’s Grant Barber. Marshall claimed the 152 crown with an 8-5 decision over Nate Reid of Bishop Hendricksen (R.I.). Gonzalez secured the 220 championship with a pin of Fairfield Warde’s Alec Nardone in 1:06.
Noah Piazza (160) and Dylan Garcia (182) finished second while Nick St. Peter claimed third (285). Trent Thompson (106), Mason Lishness (113), Joe Morelli (170) and Ethan Mathiew (195) all claimed fourth place while Alex Marshall (145) took fifth. Gabe Soucy was sixth at 138.
Bristol Central
Two Rams were individual champions in their weight class. Will Hamilton won the 106 bracket while Karriem Hoe took the top position at 126. Hamilton took two overtimes to claim a 7-5 decision over Montville’s Blake Chapman in the 106 final. Hoe won a 10-6 decision over Logan Starr of St. Bernard/Norwich Tech in the 126 final.
Jake Aldi (113) and Adam Ward (120) each finished second. Andrew Beaucar tied with East Haven’s Fabricio Bugatti for third place at 152 after the competitors reached the five-bout limit.
In other wrestling action from this weekend:
St. Paul wrestled four dual meets on Saturday at Mt. Everett in Massachusetts and finished with a 2-2 record. The Falcons beat Granby (Mass.) 36-30 and Mt. Greylock (Mass.) 42-22. St. Paul lost 42-18 to Monument Mountain (Mass.) and 42-18 to Mt. Everett. Here’s what happened in the two Falcon victories:
Granby (Mass.): Evan Kowalski pinned his opponent at 113 (5:32), Chris Warner won by fall at 120 (3:13), and Joshua Silva took a win by pin at 132 (1:48). Erik Atkinson (152), Matthew Seficki (160) and Ben Foligno (220) won by forfeit.
Mt. Greylock (Mass.): Silva pinned his opponent at 132 in 3:35. Daniel Kelly (106), Kowalski (113), Matt Walker (138), Sefcik (160) and Foligno (220) took wins by forfeit.
St. Paul has a record of 3-12.
And there was also this:
St. Paul took on Thomaston/Holy Cross/Litchfield in a matchup of local teams, and the co-op claimed a 42-36 victory on Wednesday. Because of limited numbers on both sides, only two bouts were actually contested. Kowalski was a winner for the Falcons by fall over Cesar Velez at 113 (1:52). Nick Pietrorazio claimed a pin against Matt Walker for the Thomaston co-op at 138 (0:38). St. Paul forfeit winners were Kelly (106), Warner (120), Silva (132), Atkinson (152) and Foligno (285). Thomaston’s forfeit winners were Joseph Buchanan (145), Patrick Chesanek (160), John Reeser (170) Zach Stevenson (182), J.C. Scheerer (195) and Preston Ross (220).
Thomaston lost 23-18 at Coventry on Saturday to drop to 6-11 on the season.
Another great article on our local wrestlers weekend meets. Local Press dedicated two inches of coverage to wrestling. Keep up the good work. It is appreciated.