Three Granby Memorial High Wrestlers Advance to State Open

Much has been made of the Granby Memorial High wrestling team’s small numbers, as it featured just six wrestlers at this year’s state Class S meet Saturday.

But what the Bears lacked in numbers, they more than made up for in quality.

Indeed, Granby Memorial placed  three out of its six wrestlers in the top six, which qualified them for the State Open, helping the Bears tie for 17th out of 37 teams. OSW won the title.

“I’m overjoyed with how the guys did,” Granby Memorial head coach Todd Crisostomo. “All year, we have been planning and practicing so we peaked at the end of the year. We wrestled the best we have all year [Saturday]. We hit our stride at an extremely tough meet yesterday.”

Leading the way was Zach Rivera, who was the sixth seed at 152, but finished third. In the quarterfinals, Rivera was losing 17-4 to a wrestler from Housantonic, but wound up winning the match in the third period via pin to advance to the semifinals.

“It’s awesome,” Crisostomo said. “It’s just great.”

Senior Jordyn Hurley, who was seeded fourth at 182, also placed third, defeating Stafford’s Skylar Lang the third time this year along the way.

Junior Nick Paolino continued his impressive season, meeting his third goal wrestling at 126. Having already captured 20 victories and winning the NCCC title, the final hurdle Paolino had to clear was placing (top 6) at the Class S meet.

Paolino, seeded eighth, placed sixth in what Crisostomo said was “a very tough weight class.”

“He wrestled above expectations,” Crisostomo said. “He lost to the eventual champion in the quarterfinals. He had a difficult road to take to get to sixth place.”

Overall, Crisostomo was thrilled with the result.

“I was proud of the guys, I was proud of their effort,” he said. “They got into the program, and into what we were teaching and believed in the coaching staff to get where we needed to be.”

Crisostomo praised all of his wrestlers, not just the ones who placed at the meet.

"They were there for their teammates," Crisostomo said. "You can't wrestle by yourself. ... Other teams want to know how we do it."

Crisostomo said that the performance will help the program in the long run, as better programs will take notice and want to schedule the Bears next year.

"Good teams want to wrestle against other good teams," Crisostomo said.

Class S Results at Haddam-Killingworth

1) OSW, 180.5; 2) Griswold, 162; 3) Terryville, 145.5; 4)
Nonnewaug, 126.5; 5) Haddamkillingworth, 125; 6) Oxford, 119; 7)
Derby, 116; 8) Killingly, 111.5; 9) Portland, 81.5; 10) Gilbert,
80; 11) Plainville, 79; 12) Thomaston, 71; 13) Canton, 66; 14)
Classical Magnet, 63; 15) Stafford, 57; 16) Holy Cross, 54.5;
17) Granby Memorial, and Somers 52; 19) Suffield, 49; 20) Seymour, 49; 21)
Morgan, 48; 22) Housatonic, 45; 23) East Catholic, 42; 24) East
Windsor, 35; 25) Old Lyme, 33.5; 26) Weston, 26; 27) Windsor
Locks, 24; 28) Rocky Hill, 20; 29) Plainfield, 20; 30) Career, 18;
31) Goodwin Tech, 14; 32) Parish Hill, 11; 33) East Granby, 9; 34)
Northwestern, 5; 35) St. Bernard, 4; 36) Nw Catholic, 4; 37)
O'brien Tech, 0.

126 Championship: Eric Manuel, OSW def. Dustin Falco, Griswold,
7-3 3rd Place: Sam Ferreira, Terryville def. Brandon Straborny,
Seymour, 8-5 5th Place: Brian Lister, Plainville def. Nick
Paolino, Granby, 9-1

152 Championship: Dalton Ahern, OSW def. John D'agostino,
Nonnewaug, 16-4 3rd Place: Zachary Rivera, Granby def. Ilya
Whittemore, Killingly, 4-3 5th Place: Grant Dziedzic, Gilbert def.
Mischa Hoffman, Plainville, 9-3

182 Championship: Steven Wingard, Housatonic def. Aaron Wing,
Griswold, 8-2 3rd Place: Jordyn Hurley, Granby def. Andrew
Pennacchio, Holy Cross, 1-0 5th Place: Skylar Lang, Canton def.
Fjoralb Cekici, Nonnewaug, pin 3:45

[Corrections: The original version of this article said that Granby Memorial wrestled in Class M, not Class S. In addition, this article was changed to correct the spelling of Crisostomo's name in several places. The Granbys Patch regrets the errors.]