Surging Conard Wrestlers Defeat Hall

wrestling coach Chris Glowacki knows what happened in January, but he’s not talking. More important, Lucas Muntz knows. But he does his talking on the mat.

What Glowacki can safely say is Conard is on a total tear. The team has won nine of its last 10 matches, including a 49-20 victory Wednesday at – the same gym where Muntz’s previously unbeaten season ended Jan. 15.

One point separated Muntz and Plainville’s Matthew Tanner in the 145-pound final at the Greater Hartford Open.

“Lucas will beat Tanner the second time around, I know it,” Glowacki said. “He’s ready. Lucas knows the mistake he made, and he won’t make that mistake again.”

Muntz came into that match as the top-rated 145-pounder in the state. Whatever Muntz did, or didn’t do, in a 4-3 loss is not an item for discussion.

“I can’t tell you that,” Glowacki said and smiled.

As coach of the second-winningest wrestling program in the state, Glowacki is not the type to share trade secrets. With 213 of Conard’s 706 victories on his watch, Glowacki is closing in on legendary coach George Beaudry, who was 235-30-2 in 1969-86 – including six of Conard’s nine unbeaten and untied seasons.

“It’s nice and everything else, but you really don’t even think about [the 200-win plateau] until somebody says something like, ‘You know, you’re really close,’” Glowacki said. “It was a nice feat. But coaches before me like Coach Beaudry, I wish I had his winning percentage. Coach [Robert] McKee also. These guys came before me. All I am is just the guy holding the torch.”

Glowacki is also the guy whose team has hurtled from a so-so .500 outfit to 18-10 this season. A CCC West tournament title is up for grabs Saturday at Farmington and a top-five finish at Class L (Bristol Eastern) Feb. 18-19 is the team’s bull’s-eye, Glowacki said.

“We’re a very, very young team but we think we have the team to do it. We’re hitting our peak, our stride right now,” Glowacki said. “With these kids, I don’t know. Early in the season, we were 8-10 or 9-10. We were a .500 team. But now we are just really pouring it on.”

Muntz (29-2, 23 pins), 140-pounder Johnny Bello (30-1, 23) and 171-pounder Dainius Lancinskas (30-1, 19) are state title contenders, Glowacki said.

“The sky’s the limit with those guys. I feel that each one of them could win a state championship,” Glowacki said. “I feel each one of them could go far in the Open. I feel that we are going to be sending at least two wrestlers to the New Englands [March 4-5 in New Haven]. At least two.”

Muntz, who won 41 times last season, caught his second loss when he moved up in weight to challenge Farmington standout Tyler Strauss. Lancinskas’ lone blemish was merely a bad day, Glowacki said. Bello’s setback was to South Windsor’s Casey Mitchell, the defending LL champion and Open runner-up.

“I think we turn that match around [at the Open], too,” Glowacki said.

Adam Bender (125 pounds) and Kevin Fisher (215) – captains with Lancinskas – and Ricky Cotton (189) are also among Conard’s postseason hopefuls.

“They’ve got incredible heart,” Glowacki said. “You might not see a great record. We didn’t have the record of some of the great teams of the past. But these kids work as hard as any team I’ve coached in the room.”

Against Hall, Muntz, Bello, Lancinskas, Bender, James Scheibel, Peter Bosco and Sam Mendall had pins.

 “It’s not just one person,” Glowacki said. “[The younger wrestlers] see the good things that are happening to Jonny and with Lucas, with Dainius, Ricky, Kevin Fisher, Michael Fisher. They want to emulate them. They want to be like them so they’re going to work just as hard as they can.”

• Conard 49, Hall 20 (Feb. 9) – 119: Dylan Meridith (H) dec. Jared Graveley, 5-2; 125: Adam Bender (C) pin Andrew Miller, 1:43; 130: James Scheibel (C) pin Alan Currier, 4:34; 135: Cameron Toper (H) dec. Dan Hussain, 12-2; 140: Johnny Bello (C) pin Thien Dang, 2:42; 145: Lucas Muntz (C) pin Dan Little, 5:59; 152: Peter Bosco (C) pin Alex Stott, 4:33; 160: Artin Ghokasiyan (H) dec. Alex Jojin, 11-1; 171: Dainius Lancinskas (C) pin Joe Farrah, 2:39; 189: Ricky Cotton (C) dec. Alex Einhorn, 11-0; 215: K. Fisher (C) dec. Cole Souza, 4-0; heavyweight: Tobias Lichtenstein (H) dec. M. Fisher (C), 6-3; 103: Hunter Roberts (H) pin Thomy Padilla, 3:03; 112: Sam Mendall (C) pin Mikhail Khaimov, 1:24. Records: Conard 18-10, 4-2 CCC West; Hall 5-11, 1-5.

Signing ceremonies at Conard, Hall

Jon Esposito, who rushed for 4,570 yards in his Conard career, was sent to the principal’s office Friday.

Esposito, who announced his intention to enroll at Princeton last week, signed his letter of intent during a ceremony. The Tigers beat out Colgate, Wesleyan and Trinity.

Earlier this week at Hall, soccer players Emily Babcock (Providence) and Megan O’Brien (Fairfield) and lineman Kyle Bryan (Central Connecticut) also were honored during signing ceremonies.

NWC Hall of Fame

Victor Cruse, the first athlete to be named All-State (football), and Tom Bisson, who scored more than 1,000 points before the high school three-point field goal, are among five standouts who will be inducted into the NWC Alumni Hall of Fame March 26.

Maura Rodgers (Class of ’89), NWC’s second-leading girls basketball career scorer, and the 1987-88 Class M girls basketball champions will also be honored.

Cruse (1967), who also played basketball and baseball, was inducted into the Eastern Connecticut State Hall of Fame in 1990. Bisson (’78), also a standout in baseball, was a two-time All-Stater.

Three-sport standouts and All-State picks Ned Guillet (’69) and Susan Rodgers (’84), Maura’s sister, round out NWC’s seventh Hall of Fame class. For reservations, contact Jane Leary (jleary@nwcath.org; 860-236-4221, ext. 131).