Minutemen Youth Wrestling

The Intermediate, Novice and Middle School Minutemen competed in the USAWCT State Qualifier on Sunday, February 20^th at Bristol Eastern High School.  The top four place finishers qualified for the State Tournament on Sunday, February 27^th at Hillhouse High School in New Haven.

In the Intermediate Division this started out well as JP Gorneault placed first in the 54 lb weight class and fellow teammate Christian Fischer placed 4^th.  Daniel Veleas placed second dropping a 4-3 decision in the final to Lee Mu’min-Walker from Canton.  Graeden Boyer placed 6^th in the 76 lb division and will be an alternate for the State Tournament.  Serge Duquette placed third at 81 lbs.  Elijah Watson placed 4^th at 65 lbs. 

In the Novice Division at 74 lbs two Minutemen faced off in the Consolation Finals as Joshua Veleas topped Nick Aborio 4-0 to finish in 3^rd and 4^th place.    Ryan Kolodziej placed fourth at the 92 lb class while Sahnserae Brownlee finished fifth at 97 lbs.   Niko Fusco finished in 3^rd place at 103 lbs., Michael Patterson topped Gabriel Schwartz to take first place in the 114 lb division,  Calvin Johnson placed third at 130 lbs. and Seth Pelletier finished first at 145 lbs.

Middle School Division started with Ronnie Watson finishing third with a pin against Tyler Burlinson fron New Fairfield.   Laura Cohen finished fourth at 110 lbs., Joseph Inturri dropped a heartbreaker in the semi-final and finished in fifth place.

Also competing on the day in Intermediate was Riley Hanson in the 58 lb division losing to eventual third place finisher George Rioseco from Ridgefield.  Nathan Orde drew a tough bracket at the 61 lb division.  Casey Fischer drew the top seed in her first match and Luke Mangiafico drew the third seed in the 68 lb weight division.  Both finished out of the medal round.  Novice Division included Andrew Martin at 70 lbs. In the Middle School Division Zachary Martin competed at 98 lbs and Jared Zima missed weight at 128 lbs and wrestled up at 136 lb. finishing just out of placing.

Coach Moss said, “We were in a tough qualifier with Danbury, Bethel, Bristol, New Fairfield and Ridgefield.  The team did well and we had a good group qualify for the State Tournament.  Last year we had one champion in Calvin Johnson who is wrestling in a new division this year but I think we have a few wrestlers that will be right in the hunt for a title this year.” He also added, “I just want to thank our coaches who worked with the team today and throughout the year.  They are Pete Veleas, Mark Mangiafico, Fred Orde, Phil Gorneault and Pete Hanson.”  Moss was the tournament director for the Qualifer and kept things moving along all day which didn’t allow him to coach during the tournament.