Stratford Wrestlers Duke it out at Ludlowe Invitational

On Saturday December 18th, the Stratford High School Wrestling team traveled to Fairfield Ludlowe High School to take part in the 2021 Fairfield Ludlowe Invitational Tournament.

Sixteen teams from around the state took part with several locals earning high marks in the early season festival.

In the 106 lb class, Stratford’s Nathan Marshall made his way to the quarter finals before being pinned by Jaden Ortiz of Bethel.

In the 126 lb Class, in a round of 16 wrestlers, Stratford’s Drew Spellman also reached the quarter finals by virtue of pinning Finnian Boeger at the 1:00 mark, an 8-6 win decision over James Cavallo of Fairfield Ludlowe, before falling to Luke Haskell of Brien McMahon at the 3:40 mark.

In the 138 lb class, Stratford’s Nathaniel Nagel, went all the way to the finals, in a round of 32 wrestlers, with an 18-3 tech win over Rylee Donahue of Norwalk High School, a 5-4 decision over Jace Korad of Branford High School, a pin over Nicholas Fontana of Weston High School at the 2:40 mark, before losing a 11-2 decision to Jack Cahill of Norwalk High School.

In the 145 lb class, in a round of 32 wrestlers, Stratford’s Joshua Kydes reached the quarter finals with a pin win over Elijah Dilulio of Stamford High School at the :20 second mark, a 9-2 decision win over Olaf Kasinski of Weston High School, a pin win over Ayce Xiong of Enfield High School at the 4:55 mark, before falling to Brayden McCourt of Jonathan Law High School by pin at the 4:30 mark.

Stratford sent a pair of wrestlers to the 160 lb class with a total of 32 wrestlers in the round.

Nicholas Collazo (Stratford) placed sixth overall with wins over Alexandria Gorman (New Haven) by virtue of a pin at the :49 second mark, a pin of Colin Rose, from Jonathan Law, at the :32 second mark, before falling to Tyson Xiong of Enfield High School.

Stratford’s Seamus MaCaughy reached the quarter finals in the 160 lb class with wins over Jayden Marshall in a pin at the 3:50 mark, a pin win over Colin Rose (Jonathan Law) at the 2:32 mark, before falling to Tyson Xiong (Enfield).

In the 170 lb class, a round of 32 wrestlers, Stratford’s Jahmari Figaro took sixth place with a pin win over Shakir Muhammed (New Haven) at the 3:19 mark, and a pin win over Jacob Beiler of Enfield High School at the :21 second mark, before falling to eventual first place winner Ben Vansteen out of the Brien McMahon High School.

In the 182 lb class, a round of 32 wrestlers, Stratford’s Jake Kzsywanos reached the finals with wins over Cole Snider of Branford High School with a pin win at the 5:58 mark, a pin win over Ryan Ginsburg of Norwalk High School at the 2:36 mark, a pin win over Nouri Sayegh of Weston High School at the 2:37 mark, before falling to Deicicchi (Seymour) in a close 5-3 decision.

In the 195 lb class, in a round of 32 wrestlers, Stratford’s James Duhancik placed third with wins over Brian Angulo of Bethel High School in a pin at the 1:24 mark, a pin of Matthew Cardona of Weston High School at the :12 second mark, a 9-5 decision loss in the semi-finals to Ryan Gilchrist (Norwalk), and a pin win over Mark Wrobel of Fairfield Ludlowe at the :53 second mark.

In the 220 lb class, Stratford’s Christopher Jeudy reached the quarter finals, in a round of 16 wrestlers, with wins over Kayden Rudd of Fairfield Ludlowe in a pin fashion at the :43 second mark, a pin of David Kamladze (Ludlowe) at the 1:00 mark, before a pin loss to Drew Schwartz of Branford High School at the 2:07 mark.

Also in the same 220 lb class was Stratford’s Aiden Snyder who placed fifth with wins over David Molina of Norwalk High School in a pin at the 2:27 mark, and a pin over Evan Dipietro of Enfield High School at the :30 second mark.

On the day Stratford took home with them two-second place finishes, one-third place finish, five-fourth place finishes, one-fifth place finish, and two-sixth place finishes.

Stratford placed fifth overall in the tournament team standings with 136.5 points.

Up next for Stratford, at New Milford, on Wednesday December 22nd, to go against the Green Wave at 6:00 pm.

Total tournament results went as follows:

Team results – 1. Branford 176, 2. Norwalk 170, 3. Brien McMahon 159, 4. Fairfield Ludlowe 152, 5. Stratford 136½, 6. Bethel 110, 7. Stamford 93, 8. Fairfield Prep 88, 9. Weston 80, 10. Enfield 65, 11. Westhill 45, 12. Harding 38, 13. Jonathan Law 33, 14. Seymour 32, 15. Shelton 19, 16. New Haven and Platt Tech 0

Championship matches

106 Samantha Yap (Stamford) pin Frank Bear (Stamford), 2:44
113 Jerry (Bethel) pin Calli Gilchrist (Brien McMahon), 1:26
120 John Schneider (Brien McMahon) pin Jake Elpi (Branford), 1:03
126 Dylan Sherman (Fairfield Ludlowe) pin Esther Ribeiro (Bethel), 1:48
132 Nick Fatone (Norwalk) forfeit over Brennan Scarpace (Branford)
138 Jack Cahill (Norwalk) dec. Nathaniel Nagel (Stratford), 11-2
145 Zavier Hernandez (Brien McMahon) pin Josh Berdon (Branford)
152 Alex Cardozo (Fairfield Prep) dec. Inderpreet Behal (Branford), 12-2
160 Patrick Zdunek (Branford) pin Thomas Martin (Weston), 0:17
170 Ben Vansteen (Brien McMahon) pin Brent Garcia (Norwalk), 1:23
182 Anthony Deicicchi (Seymour) dec. Jake Kszywanos (Stratford), 5-3
195 Ryan Gilchrist (Norwalk) pin Damian Puebla (Stamford), 1:52
220 Brendan Gilchrist (Norwalk) pin Chefren Spodnik (Harding), 0:44
285 Malachi Mercer-Robinson (Fairfield Prep) dec. Carlos Escobar (Westhill), 9-5

Consolation finals (third place)

106 Jayden Ortiz (Bethel) pin Nathan Marshall (Stratford), 1:30
113 Graham Ziperstein (Shelton) pin Owen Trotzer (Fairfield Ludlowe), 0:59
120 Dhruv Khanna (Westhill) dec. Aidan Shamas (Branford), 7-0
126 Luke Haskell (Brien McMahon) pin Drew Spellman (Stratford), 3:40
132 Ibrahim Kadri (Fairfield Ludlowe) pin Jaden Hollingsworth (Stamford), 2:48
138 Camilo Ham (Brien McMahon) pin Nicholas Fontana (Weston), 2:25
145 Brayden McCourt (Jonathan Law) pin Joshua Kydes (Stratford), 4:30
152 Ryan Moeller (Enfield) pin Grant Sattler (Brien McMahon), 0:54
160 Tyson Xiong (Enfield) pin Seamus Mccaughey (Stratford), 0:43
170 Theodore Zita (Weston) pin Jeffrey Hutzelmann (Fairfield Ludlowe), 4:59
182 Anthony Marini (Norwalk) pin Nouri Sayegh (Weston), 2:26
195 James Duhancik (Stratford) pin Mark Wrobel (Fairfield Ludlowe), 0:53
220 Drew Schwartz (Branford) pin Chris Jeudy (Stratford), 2:07
285 Endrit Brahimaj (Bethel) pin Sean Martin (Weston), 3:19