Date: Fri 16-Feb-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: TOMW

Illustration: I

Quick Words:

SWC-Wrestling-Championships

Full Text:

SWC Wrestling Championships

B Y T.W YATT

He's been wrestling at Newtown High School for four years, but he's just a

freshman. Since the sixth grade James " The Prez " Monroe has been working out

with his older brothers Mike and Dan, and the NHS wrestling team, chomping at

the bit, just waiting for his chance to become a high school wrestler himself.

The long wait and all the hard work finally came to its fruition at the South

West Conference Wrestling Championships on Saturday night, February 10, when

Prez became the first freshman in school history to win a conference title.

After having knocked off the fifth and second seeds earlier that afternoon by

respective 7-2 and 16-5 decisions, the third-seeded Monroe - one of three NHS

wrestlers to reach the conference final - defeated top-seeded Mike Mangon of

Bunnell in the 125-pound championship.

Mangon, a junior with a 25-1 record, had defeated Monroe only three nights

earlier. But on this night, he was whipped by the Newtown frosh.

" I thought I was the better wrestler the other night, even though he beat me,

" Monroe later said. " My brothers showed me some moves for tonight, to try

and get him to his back. I had to fight, but I was able to get the back

points. "

Prez got out to a quick 2-0 advantage and led 2-1 after the first period. He

upped his lead to 8-4 with an impressive second period, and then held off a

late Mangon rally in the final minute to win 9-7.

" I feel pretty good right now, " the Prez said, exhausted after the match. "

I'm a little tired. I have to admit, I was nervous and a little scared during

the whole build up leading up to the match. But once that whistle blew that

all went away. "

Monroe had only lost two conference matches all season long, one to Mangon and

other to Jonathan Law's Dave Gianetta. In his semifinal match on Saturday,

Prez also avenged the loss to Gianetta with a 16-5 major decision.

" You've got to feel great for a guy like Prez, " said a smiling NHS athletic

director, Bob Zito. " I remember when he came in here and mixed it up as a

sixth grader. He could give our freshmen then all they could handle. He

weighed less than ninety pounds, but James was good enough to be a high school

wrestler when he was in the sixth grade. "

With his three victories on Saturday, Monroe upped his overall season's record

to 18-3, and inked his name to a list of some talented former-NHS freshmen.

But even the great Kyle Turoczi, Newtown's only 100-match winner, didn't win

the conference title in his first year.

Gutty Defeats

While Monroe's title-match victory produced a lot of positive emotion, the

whole night wasn't smiles and high-fives for the NHS squad.

Newtown's other two finalists, juniors Kevin Smith and Kevin Lausten, were

defeated in their matches leaving them as SWC runners up.

Smith carried the number-six seed into the tournament where he started his

day's work by beating up on Foran's Kevin Bradley and winning by a 22-7 tech

fall. Bradley had been seeded third.

Smith's victory set up his next match with second-seeded Doug Cherniski of New

Milford who had pinned Smith earlier in the season.

This time, though, it was the NHS junior who had his way. The match was

scoreless early, but Smith found a weakness in the second period and stacked

on the points before catching Cherniski and pinning him.

In the 140-pound final, Smith met up with top-seeded PJ Romano, of Bunnell,

who had beaten him 13-9 only a few night's earlier. The two battled to a

scoreless draw in the first period, but Romano went up 2-0 in the second.

In the third frame Smith made his move, but Romano was able to score again to

go ahead 4-0 with 1:18 left in the match. Smith was unable to score.

" I was really tired from my earlier matches, " Smith said after it was over.

" He's a really smart wrestler who's good on defense. I just couldn't do much

to him tonight. "

" Kevin Smith showed up to wrestler today, " NHS coach John Zelina said. " He

must have had something crazy for breakfast. All year long he's been sick and

plagued with injuries and he hasn't even had a full week of practice until the

end of the season. My hat's off to him. The kid he lost to was Class M state

champ last year. He's a phenomenal wrestler. He's a junior too, so Kevin and

he will probably butt heads again. "

In Newtown's third championship bout, Kevin Lausten went to the mat against

Pomperaug's Cameron Evans who won the first seed by virtue of a tie breaker

even though Lausten had pinned him earlier in the season. Lausten, in turn,

drew the third seed and was forced to battle a pair of tough foes.

In the first round the NHS co-captain made short work of Law's Jeremy Didonato

earning a first-period pin. But then he was forced to wrestle Straford's Dan

Hylton who had beaten him 9-5 during the season.

It wasn't even a contest this time. Lausten owned his boy from start to

finish, earning a 17-7 major decision and advancing to the finals.

Evans had reached the finals with a pair of pins and got out to a 2-0 lead on

Lausten when their match began, but saw it turn quickly around.

Lausten seized control of the match in the second period and got up 8-4, but

was unable to get a pin. Evans' sudden reversal at the end of the second, cut

Lausten's lead to 8-6 at the buzzer.

In the third period, Lausten seemed to lose his steam. Evans cut the deficit

to 8-7, went ahead 9-8, and then earned a pin.

Solid Efforts

Though they only placed three wrestlers into the conference finals, Newtown

saw solid efforts throughout its lineup.

In the heavyweight class, junior Billy Henckel earned third place by chalking

up a pair of impressive pins. The only thing that stood between the first-year

NHS wrestler and a conference title was a tough 10-6 loss to eventual-champion

Tom Gairing of New Fairfield.

Falling in their consolation-round matches for Newtown, and thus earning

fourth-place in the SWC, were Brett Tannone, Darryl Newman, and Garrett

Denniston. Tannone and Newman had the misfortune of running into the Serrano

brothers, Tom and Bob, both who eventually won their divisions at 130 and 152

pounds, respectively. Despite tough defeats, both NHS wrestlers did manage to

stay off their backs against the defending state champs.

Newman (seeded fourth) had beaten Gary Smith of Bethel 6-4 in the first round,

while Tannone (fifth seed) majored Tom Morris of Stratford, 12-1 in his

first-round bout.

Denniston, meanwhile, wrestling at 160 pounds, beat Pomperaug's Craig Corbett

6-2 in the first round before being pinned by eventual runner-up, Mark Veleri

of New Fairfield. The NHS junior then lost the consolation match to Joe

Delbene of Stratford.

Newtown grapplers Justin Pease (eight seed at 119), Chris Gleason (sixth seed

at 130), Dan Monroe (fifth at 135), Chris Sullivan (fifth at 112), and Paul

Giarratano (fourth at 103) were all defeated in their first-round contests.

" I'm very proud of everybody, " coach Zelina said after the long day's events

wore down at around 9:30 pm. " We had great efforts from all of our wrestlers

tonight and that's all that you can ask for. I see a lot of improvement and it

makes my heart happy."

The Indians placed fourth, overall, at the championship meet and finished

fourth in the SWC.

New Milford became the new conference's first champion having gone 9-0 during

the season and then placing first at the meet.

New Fairfield was second, and Pomperaug was third.

Newtown will next wrestle at the Class L state tournament, beginning with its

first-round bouts on Friday, February 16.