By MICHAEL LETENDRE
STAFF WRITER
BRISTOL – The Bristol Eastern wrestling team made a second place finish at the Bristol Central Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 3.
The Lancers, scoring 220 points at the event, were only bested by state power New Milford.
It was the 33rd annual tournament held by the Rams and the Green Wave had six individual champions and saw several wrestlers win medals in the top six in all 14 weight classes New Milford also set a new meet record for points scored at the event with 311 – shattering the old tournament record of 276 points set by Bristol Central in 1998.
The Lancers didn’t have any individual champions but Eastern had grapplers place in the top six throughout the event.
At 98 pounds, Jordan Champagne was the runner-up at the event while Bryce Beebe nabbed third place.
Noah Corliss took sixth in the fifth place match of 106 while Zach Monge also tallied sixth in the 120 weight class.
Josh Wilson took second in the 126 event while at 132, Jeremy Meccariello was injured during the fifth place encounter but still earned sixth place.
Freshman Mikey Barrett won the fifth place match at 138, pinning Sam Lohner of Farmington in 4:47. In the championship bout of 145, Zac Thompson lost by 5-0 decision to New Milford’s Brian Rojas.
Jozef Hermann won the fifth place match at 152 with a pin fall victory over Jack St. Onge of Avon in 3:56; and in the fifth place bout at 160, Greg Lozier fell by just a 6-5 decision.
In the weight classes of 170, 182, and 285 pounds, Eastern took third place in each tough bout.
At 170, Zac Marquis pinned New Fairfield’s Justin Garden in 3:19 while at 182, Stephen Goodrich defeated New Fairfield’s Andrew Vitrit via forfeit.
In the heavyweight class, Sal Paparello defeated another grappler from New Milford.
This time around, Paparello pinned Austin Blum in just 1:57.
Bristol Central Invitational
from Bristol Central High School
Team results — 1. New Milford 311, 2. Bristol Eastern 220, 3. Ledyard 171½, 4. Avon 168½, 5. Farmington and New Fairfield 152, 7. Mohonasen, N.Y., 141, 8. Middletown 134, 9. Terryville 126, 10. Plainville 82, 11. Jonathan Law 48, 12. Tolland 29, 13. Fermi 22, 14. Vinal Tech 6 Individual results
98 pounds: Final — Kaely Quijano (Avon) dec. Jordon Champagne (Bristol Eastern), 7-2; 3. Bryce Beebe (Bristol Eastern)
106: Final — Shiva Bhoge (Mohonasen) dec. Anthony Tripodi (Avon), 8-2; 3. Colin Lindner (New Milford ) dec. Bo Nguyen (Ledyard), 6-5; 5. Trevor Lucia (Enrico Fermi) pin Noah Corliss (Bristol Eastern) 2:43
120: Final — Kyle Lindner (New Milford ) pin Joe Miano (Farmington) 2:22; 3. Derek Schultz (Ledyarddec. Noah Sylvester (Middletown) 8-2; 5. James Marx (Mohonasen) dec. Zach Monge (Bristol Eastern) 6-2 Josh Wilson took second in the 126 event while at 132, Jeremy Meccariello was injured during the fifth place encounter but still earned sixth place.
126: Final — Ryan Angers (Tolland) dec. Josh Wilson (Bristol Eastern) 11-3; 3. Charles
132: Final — Elliott Wilion (Terryville) dec. Sam Lindgren (Plainville ) 8-0; 3. Tyler Schultz (New Milford ) dec. Sean Berg (Jonathan Law) 13-2; 5. Ben Reilly (New Fairfield) injury default over Jeremy Meccariello (Bristol Eastern)
138: Final — Brian Rojas (New Milford ) dec. Jordan Baker (Middletown) 4-2; 3. Shane Fors (Ledyard) dec. Kyle Gardner (Mohonasen) 5-1; 5. Mikey Barrett (Bristol Eastern) pin Sam Lohner (Farmington) 4:47
145: Final — Zach Arnold (New Milford ) dec. Zac Thompson (Bristol Eastern) 5-0; 3. Alan Mashkovich (Farmington) pin Josh Rahal (Ledyard) 4:57; 5. Tyler Cerlich (New Fairfield) dec. Tom Gatti (Middletown) 6-3
152: Final — Brett Leonard (New Milford ) dec. George Andrews (Terryville) 6-5; 3. Tyler Burlinson (New Fairfield) forfeit over Anthony Padula (Mohonasen) ; 5. Jozef Hermann (Bristol Eastern) pin Jack St.Onge (Avon) 3:56
160: Final — John Ceconi (New Milford ) dec. Jon Oliveira (Plainville ) 5-4; 3. Jamie Dlugolecki (Avon) dec. Dakota Grover (Ledyard) 7-2; 5. Muhamed Kuruca (Middletown) dec. Greg Lozier (Bristol Eastern) 6-5
170: Final — Tyler Bergeron (Terryville) dec. Max German (Jonathan Law) 5-1; 3. Zac Marquis (Bristol Eastern) pin Justin Garden (New Fairfield) 3:19; 5. Jorge Arcuri (New Milford ) dec. Peter Bowser (Farmington) 6-4
182: Final — Joseph Galusha (Mohonasen) dec. Danny Contino (Ledyard) 5-2; 3. Stephen Goodrich (Bristol Eastern) forfeit over Andrew Vitrit (New Fairfield) ; 5. Turner Ellis (New Milford ) dec. Sam Grabowski-Clark (Farmington) 4-3
285: Final — Vin Stevens (Farmington) dec. Gino Bonalumi (Avon), 1-0; 3. Sal Paparello (Bristol Eastern) pin Austin Blum (New Fairfield), 1:57; 5. Jason Hume (Terryville) forfeit over Jomar Orejuela (New Milford).
