By Kim J. Harmon
By Kim J. Harmon
GLASTONBURY â A shot at the New England Tournament was the ultimate goal for four Newtown wrestlers as they went to the mat in the CIAC State Open last weekend at Glastonbury High School. Unfortunately, though, none of them will be making the trip north.
A third place finish would have done it. But what Newtown (which finished 20th overall out of 60 teams, tied with Bridgeport Central) did manage was a pair of fifth-place finishes and a sixth-place finish.
Steve Selezan, who won a CIAC Class L state championship at 160 pounds on February 17, with a rousing victory over Mike LaRoche of Berlin, seemed to have the best shot at the New Englands but was defeated early and finished sixth.
But Jon Read (103 pounds) and Dan Maley (135 pounds) had a bit more success. Read captured fifth with a 12-6 win over Dylan Tuz of New Milford while Maley captured fifth with a 4-3 win over Josh Kaplan of Canton.
Close wins were a matter of course for Maley this season.
Maley became the teamâs fourth captain midway through the season mainly because of his solid work ethic and effort he put into practice and matches. Those exciting, down-to-the-wire matches became almost a trademark with the senior.
Like at Stratford in December, when he fell to Anthony Corvino, 7-6, in double overtime. Or like at Bethel on January 10, when he was down 7-2 to Brian Donahue in the second period only to pull a reverse and a quick pin to grab the win.
It was a solid finish for Maley, a solid finish for Read, a solid finish for Selezan (donât forget the Class L title) and a very solid finish for the Nighthawks.
CIAC STATE_OPEN WRESTLING_TOURNAMENT
Team Results
1. Danbury, 127; 2. Bethel, 96; 3. Southington, 90.5; 4. Berlin, 70; 5. Windham, 64; 6. Hand-Madison, 62; 7. Norwich Free Academy, 61; 8. Killingly, 50; 9. New Fairfield, 48.5; 10. Newington, 45; 11. Fairfield and Ledyard, 43.5; 13. RHAM-Hebron, 42; 14. Platt-Meriden, 41.5; 15. Glastonbury, 41; 16. Greenwich, 33; 17. Jonathan Law-Milford, 32.5; 18. Stratford, 32; 19. Amity Regional-Woodbridge, 31; 20. Bridgeport Central and Newtown, 29; 22. Guilford, 27.5; 23. Derby, 27; 24. Harding-Bridgeport, 24; 25. Plainville and Waterford, 23; 27. Fitch-Groton, 22.5; 28. East Catholic-Manchester, 22; 29. Ridgefield, 20; 30. East Windsor, Hall-West Hartford, Morgan-Clinton and New London, 18; 34. Brien McMahon-Norwalk, 17; 35. Gilbert-Winsted, 16; 36. Bulkeley and Middletown, 14; 38. Simsbury, 13.5; 39. Staples-Westport, 11; 40. Avon and Fermi-Enfield, 10; 42. Enfield, 9; 43. Bristol Eastern, Canton, New Milford and Weaver-Hartford, 7; 47. Weston/Barlow/Masuk, 6; 48. Nonnewaug-Woodbury, Pomperaug-Southbury, Stamford, 5; 51. Bacon Academy-Colchester, Branford and Cheshire, 4; 54. East Haven, Rocky Hill, South Windsor, and St. Bernard-Montville, 3; 58, East Hartford and Wethersfield, 2; 60. Bristol Central, Stafford and Woodstock Academy, 1.
Individual results
103 pounds â Championship: Ian Kessler (New Fairfield) dec. James Therrien (Killingly) 7-3. Consolation:Â Trevor Brown (RHAM) def. Phil Young (Danbury) 4-3; Fifth place: Jon Read (Newtown) def. Dylon Tuz (New Milford) 12-6.
112 pounds â Championship: Greg Pace (Bethel) dec. C.J. McCormack (Berlin) 4-3. Consolation: Mike Armstrong (Hall) def. Freddy Ruperto (NFA) 10-3; Fifth place: Nate Russell (Bulkeley) pinned Chris Kaplanis (Danbury) in OT, 6:53.
119 pounds â Championship: Kevin Egolf (Glastonbury) dec. Jeff Oldham (Bethel) 4-2. Consolation: Luis Murillo (Platt) pinned Vito Barbagallo (Plainville) 1:34; Fifth place: Pat Newkirk (NFA) def. Ryan Lee (Southington) 9-1.
125 pounds â Championship: Tim Faucher (Newington) dec. Chris Scheinberg (East Catholic) 6-4. Consolation: Trevor Howe (Danbury) def. Andres Vanegas (New London) 12-9; Fifth place: Steve Arel (Fermi) def. Brett Piscitello (NFA) forfeit.
130 pounds â Championship: Dave Stec (Derby) dec. Doug OâLeary (Southington) 4-2; Consolation: Lee Mannion (Fairfield) def. Mike Beers (Glastonbury) 13-4.
135 pounds â Championship: Ben Davis-Oscar (Windham) dec. Anthony Corvino (Stratford) 6-3. Consolation: John Szymanski (Berlin) def. Justin Gilbert (Killingly) 7-3; Fifth place: Dan Maley (Newtown) def. Josh Kaplan (Canton) 4-3.
140 pounds â Championship: Allyn Quibble (Ledyard) dec. Matt Cattel (Platt) 17-6. Consolation: Dennis Stone (Danbury) pinned Paul Bowman (Newington) 2:51. Fifth place: Jon Spivak (Staples) def. Bryan Hawes (Windham) 16-4.
145 pounds â Championship: Steve Scott (Danbury) dec. Will Deveau (Fitch) 13-4. Consolation: Adam Russell (East Windsor) def. Dan Fortner (Ledyard) 5-1; Fifth place: Jim Bottigliero (Jonathan Law) def. Dan McAveney (New Fairfield) forfeit.
152 pounds â Championship: Jeff Sullivan (Guilford) dec. Adam Chenette (NFA) 15-9. Consolation: Chris Sheppard (Amity) def. Ken Gennett (Jonathan Law) 7-3.
160 pounds â Championship: Matt Palermo (Bethel) dec. Larry Liseo (Southington) 5-0. Consolation: Devin Schibi (Gilbert) def. Mike Laroche (Berlin) 5-2; Fifth place: Damian Mierney (Middletown) def. Steve Selezan (Newtown) forfeit.
171 pounds â Championship: Brett Scholnick (Hand) dec. Colin Sepko (Southington) 8-3. Consolation: Mike Walsh (New Fairfield) def. Silver Oghayore (Bridgeport Central) 3-2; Fifth place: Bo Crotta (Amity) def. Scott Brisson (Danbury) 6-5.
189 pounds â Championship: Scott Fay (Danbury) dec. Adam Karasevicz (Waterford) 10-2. Consolation: Dan Cook (Ridgefield) def. Andre Williams (Stratford) 11-4; Fifth place: Aaron Cramer (Morgan) pinned Andy Palermo (Bethel)Â :54.
215 pounds â Championship: Greg Robertson (Harding) dec. Andre Diaz (Windham) 4-1. Consolation: John Topolski (Fairfield) def. Justin Lepore (Hand) 9-1.
275 pounds â Championship: John Sullivan (Greenwich) dec. Matt Vose (Southington) 6-2. Consolation: Aaron Trusty (Berlin) def. L.J. Spinnato (Hand) 1-0; Fifth place: Anthony Capirichio (Bethel) def. Jerrid Ballard (Brien McMahon) 3-2.
