Newtown High School’s wrestling team placed third out of 20 Connecticut teams at the 36th Annual New Milford Tournament on January 22; the Nighthawks accomplished this success with only ten of 14 weight division wrestlers competing.

Among them, seven made it onto the podium and all won their final bouts, including four in the championship round: Tommy Milligan, Luca Manfredi, Marc Maurath, and Fisher Stites. Newtown had a trio of third-place finishers who came out on top in their battles for third and fourth: Kenna Gioffre, Ben Plaue, and Acea Shaham.

New Milford was first as a team and Fairfield Prep second; NHS defeated both in dual competitions.

On February 2, the Newtown High wrestling program is planning to celebrate 50 years of wrestling in the renovated practice room at 6 pm prior to the scheduled match against Masuk of Monroe.

Following the 6 pm ceremony, NHS wrestling will honor Newtown Youth Wrestling Association grapplers; the future high school wrestlers will warm up on the NHS mats at 6:30 pm; the Newtown High match will follow at 7 pm — both in the main gymnasium.

Newtown High wrestlers, alumni, and youth program families are invited to attend the 6 pm ceremony, and both events as well as the match are open to the public.