Killingly begins defense of ECC wrestling tourney title on Friday
Killingly High School, fresh off an unbeaten regular season and ranked No. 7 in the latest state poll, begins defense of its Eastern Connecticut Conference wrestling tournament championship on Friday.
Killingly is also hosting the event again, starting at 4:30 p.m. on Friday and concluding with the championship bouts on Saturday at 3 p.m. The finals will be streamed lived via GameDay on www.theday.com
There are six defending champions in the field, including three from Killingly. Brady Zadora (126 pounds) won at 106 last year while Kaden Ware (132) was the 126 champion a year ago and Jack Richardson (160) was the 145 champion in 2022 and winner of the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler award. Richardson went on to win the New England championship.
Other returning champions are Norwich Free Academy’s Jaiden James (120), Windham’s Malachi Fowler (195) and Windham’s Yael Garcia-Rodriguez (220).
All six returning champions are seeded No. 1 in their weight classes.
In addition to crowning individual champions and the tournament team title, all three ECC divisional titles will also be determined with New London (Division I), Killingly (Division II) and Lyman Memorial/Windham Tech (Division III) beginning the weekend in first place.
Wrestling begins Friday with the Round of 16 at 4:30 p.m. followed by the championship round quarterfinals and consolation first round at 5:30 and the consolation second round at 7.
Wrestling resumes on Saturday with the championship semifinals and consolation quarterfinals at 10 a.m., the consolation semifinals at 11:45 a.m., the consolation finals (both 3rd vs. 4th and 5th vs. 6th) at 1:15 p.m. and the championship finals at 3 p.m.
Presentation of medals for each weight class will follow each subsequent match.
Tickets each day are $10 for adults and $5 for students and senior citizens and can be purchased in advance online. Use https://gofan.co/app/events/878823?schoolId=ECC for Friday tickets and https://gofan.co/app/events/878824?schoolId=ECC for Saturday.
2023 ECC Wrestling Tournament / Seeds by weight class
106 pounds: 1. Tatianna Irizarry (Ledyard), 26-2; 2. Seth Christie (Griswold/Wheeler); 3. Mason Connetti (Killingly); 4. Jacob Olson (Putnam); 5. Adrian Adames (Montville); 6. Marco Ursini (Fitch); 7. Jonathan Hernandez (Windham); 8. Kaden Moore (Lyman Memorial/Windham Tech).
113: 1. Ian Cathell (Killingly), 29-7; 2. Delmazio Despard (Windham); Josiah Estriplet (Ledyard); 4. Brock Nowakowski (NFA); 5. Karla Flores (Montville); 6. Gianno Pearson (East Lyme/Norwich Tech); 7. Jacob Brownson (Bacon Academy); 8. Carter Murawski (Putnam).
120: 1. Jaiden James (NFA), 23-1; 2. Hunter Sanchez (LM/WT); 3. Andy Martinez-Soliz (New London); 4. Gabriel Garcia (Windham); 5. Brody Ruest (Waterford); 6. Lukas McKusick (EL/NT); 7. Cody Comeau (G/W); 8. Jaxsun Smith (Killingly).
126: 1. Brady Zadora (Killingly), 35-1; 2. Chase Plourde (LM/WT); 3. Edward Lavoie (NFA); 4. Oscar Mendoza-Soto (Windham); 5. Wyatt Nowakowski (Bacon); 6. Titus Olson (Waterford); 7. Christian Hall (Montville); 8. Linda Holeman (Ledyard).
132: 1. Kaden Ware (Killingly), 37-0; 2. Nehemiah Czelusniak (LM/WT); 3. E.J. Jenkins (Windham); 4. Jackson Sorel (NFA); 5. Luca Ursini (Fitch); 6. Ethan Sweet (G/W); 7. Jacques Borja (EL/NT); 8. Jairo Ruiz (New London).
138: 1. James Linder Jr. (Montville), 28-1; 2. Ryan Taggart (Ledyard); 3. Amani Samuel (Killingly); 4. Anthony Caisse (EL/NT); 5. Shad Stewart (Fitch); 6. Anthony Cosentino (Putnam); 7. Jayden Veilleux (LM/WT); 8. Dugan Marsh (NFA).
145: 1. Jesse Costley (G/W), 24-1; 2. Lucas Gannotti (Waterford); 3. Luke Chapman (Montville); 4. J.J. Morse (EL/NT); 5. Giovanni Sanchez-Ruelas (Killingly); 6. Gabriel Mahon (Bacon); 7. Naim Wallace (NFA); 8. Lance Stewart (Fitch).
152: 1. Thomas Brunelli (NFA), 28-6; 2. Alex Potapsky (Killingly); 3. Christian Ortiz (New London); 4. Emmanuel Sanchez (Windham); 5. Rylee Kenny (G/W); 6. Ben Broderick (LM/WT); 7. Javier Gonzalez (Waterford); 8. William Klinefelter (Montville).
160: 1. Jack Richardson (Killingly), 37-0; 2. Lincoln Carlson (EL/WT); 3. Carson Brown (Bacon); 4. Aaron Palacios-Mendoza (Windham); 5. Russell Stewart (G/W); 6. Braxon Swanbeck (Ledyard); 7. Kanye Nance (New London); 8. Denali Doran (NFA).
170: 1. Cameron Sammarco (LM/WT), 31-1; 2. Cooper Light (Stonington); 3. Devon Powers (Waterford); 4. Dante Colella (Bacon); 5. Sebastian Rodriguez (Windham); 6. Liam Gervais (G/W); 7. Kevin Filewich (EL/NT); 8. Jared Hansen (Killingly).
182: 1. Brayden Soleau (EL/NT), 34-1; 2. Zaire Wallace (NFA); 3. Zachary Ruest (Waterford); 4. Asael Garcia-Rodriguez (Windham); 5. Zachary Rebello (LM/WT); 6. Michael Capalbo (G/W); 7. Jonah Brownson (Bacon); 8. Ryan Barretta (Killingly).
195: 1. Malachi Fowler (Windham), 33-0; 2. Lucas Benoit (Putnam); 3. Jonathan Harms (EL/NT); 4. Vicent Gauvin (LM/WT); 5. Wyatt Crawford (Ledyard); 6. Owen Turner (Killingly); 7. Braeden Sollima (Waterford); 8. Dylan Beebe (Fitch).
220: 1. Yael Garcia-Rodriguez (Windham), 30-1; 2. Kaiden Smith (New London); 3. Jackson Hart (EL/NT); 4. Devin Exarhoulias (Killingly); 5. Brenden Vine (NFA); 6. Matt Tebbets (Ledyard); 7. Taylor Jones (Waterford); 8. Michael Ellis (Putnam).
285: 1. Naszier Matthews (Fitch), 26-4; 2. Jaycee Diaz (Windham); 3. Henry Liriano-Santana (New London); 4. Timothy Breault (LM/WT); 5. Jayven Williams (Montville); 6. Aidan Schlimgen (Ledyard); 7. Jackson Lin (EL/NT); 8. Anthony Oates (Killingly).
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