Holy Cross’ Shivas earns most outstanding wrestler honor at BL championships

Holy Cross junior Anthony Shivas competes in the 285-pound weight class final at this past Saturday’s Berkshire League championships in Derby. Shivas, who wrestles for the Derby/Oxford/Holy Cross co-op, was named the tournament’s most outstanding wrestler. (Copyright, Sports on CT-69)

Holy Cross junior Anthony Shivas is a known commodity up front for his school’s football team during the fall.

Shivas is getting noticed more on the wrestling mat as well this winter. Wrestling for the Derby/Oxford/Holy Cross co-op, Shivas won the 285-pound championship at this past Saturday’s Berkshire League meet. For his efforts, Shivas was named the most outstanding wrestler of the tournament.

Shivas (25-0) is the top-seeded wrestler at 285 in the upcoming Class M state tournament. Senior Crusader teammate Ben Iannantuoni (25-6) is seeded seventh at 215. Iannantuoni was the BL runner-up in his weight class.

Bristol Eastern, which won the CCC South for the first time since 2020, has a bunch of high seeds in Class M as well. Owen Broyles (35-5), fresh off his CCC championship, is the top seed at 175. The Lancers have two No. 3 seeds – Yussuf Bah (35-5) at 106 and Rio Fernandez (26-8) at 215. Eastern’s No. 4 seeds are Andrew Brown (22-12) at 113, Luke Viens (29-5) at 132 and Gabriel White (31-8) at 138. Soph Um (20-11) is the No. 5 seed at 126.
St. Paul is wrestling in Class S. Bristol Central is competing in Class L, but the brackets have yet to be released.

GALLERY: Here are my photos of Iannantuoni and Shivas competing at the BL championships.