Anyone know what the recommendations are? Any chance of a wrestling season this year? https://ctwrestling.com/2020/10/ciac-committees-still-reviewing-recommendations-for-scholastic-wrestling/3479/

My thoughts on the Class L tournament and Class L overall (sorry, wall of text coming). This year’s tournament was extremely exciting with the champion decided during the final rounds wrestling. Couldn’t say it any better than Gerry deSimas at Connecticut Wrestling Online, so I’ll just link his article. I encourage everyone to read it. Mr. deSimas is a huge benefit for the Connecticut wrestling community. Connecticut wrestling wouldn’t be where it is today without his efforts. I hope he doesn’t mind me linking his website. https://ctwrestling.com/2020/02/no-4-xavier-rallies-to-beat-no-2-simsbury-for-class-l-championship/3094/ I wrote a piece last year on sportsmanship, and I echo those again this year. Sportsmanship was on display, even when there were some heartbreaking losses (138, 285), the defeated wrestler I thought showed class and grace. Wrestling is a violent sport, learning to keep control is a lesson beyond the years of these young people. It is a skill that will benefit them throughout their lives. Be proud. The coaches, parents and fans were all cheering for their guy and, even when the ref missed a call, I didn’t hear (too much) negative reaction. Coaches pulled refs aside and had, what appeared to be, constructive conversations to understand calls. Compliments to the refs and coaches for displaying calm and coolness under intense pressure. I have nothing but respect for officials, it is a thankless job. Simsbury, what can you say? Two years, and 3 points separates you from back to back championships from back to back runner-ups. Xavier wrestled inspired and pulled it out by the narrowest of margins. Bristol Eastern runs an excellent tournament. The wrestling progressed well and orderly. And while it did extend the tournament and extra hour or so, I think it should be mandatory that the finals are run solo (not with the 3rd and 5th place matches). It really added to the drama of the team score and the fans were really into it. There were some amazing finals and I for one am glad I wasn’t distracted with other matches going on. Good call. My only suggestion is to wash the mats at least once or twice during the tournament, especially before the finals to ensure no dust on the mats effects the match. Just the optics of seeing mats get cleaned is positive. (continued in another post)

Second year doing the Class L rankings. Overall, results fairly consistent with the prior year. I am happy with that as I was much more distracted this year with work, life and other commitments. I successfully called 12 of 14 champs (86%), 21 of 28 finalists (75%) and 68 of 84 placers (81%). These numbers were about the same as last year. I missed one champ completely. Josh Foote of Amity (220 pound junior). I didn’t have him ranked at all and to embarrass me further, he decided to win the whole thing. Congrats to a very talented wrestler and if my complete lack of respect for you motivated you at all, I’m glad. He’s got another year, so I won’t miss you next year. My other champion missed was Khalil Bourjelli, the super talented freshman from New Milford. I had him 2nd, so not a big miss and as was mentioned throughout the year, 138 pound was a crazy group with three very worthy athletes vying for a single championship. Bourjelli’s pin in the third was spectacular. My best weight was 113 pounds, where I correctly picked the champ, the runner-up and all six placers (although a bit out of order). 10 of the 14 weights I accurately predicted 5 of 6 and three weight classes I got 4 out of 6 for a total of 68 of 84 placers. Good for 2nd place behind class M in the rankings challenge. Kudos to the Class M ranker for those impressive results. But also commendations to the Class LL and S rankers as well as all of us were very close (diffference between 1st and 4th was 3 picks). Lots of fun, so thanks to @scott for suggesting it. A big thanks to everyone for their help this year. Updating me on results, weights and thoughts on the class. A big shout-out to @oscar1bad, @Innocent Bystander, @sweep ! (best name on the sight), @Matratohboy, and many others for their input. I love it, especially when you call me an idiot (which I am sometimes), I love the passion for the sport. This year especially had a lot of heated debate on the heavyweight class which I am partial to. But warning @sweep the leg!, be careful who you call chubby, these big boys can scrap! Class L was a great tournament (again, by far the closest tournament of the 4 classes). Congrats to Xavier, Simsbury and New Milford for their top three finishes. Congrats to all the Champs and placers, your hard work paid off with the hardware. Your name is written in the books forever more. I’ll add some additional thoughts on the Class L tournament, Xavier/Simsbury, sportsmanship, referees and other thoughts in another post. Still working on that.

I will covering class L again this year. Looking forward to a great year. I probably won't start updating the pre-season rankings until after the 2 pound allowance kicks in at the end of December. So look for updates around December 30th (after that weekends tournaments). I'll do a big update then and then tweak it as the weeks go by. I generally update rankings once a week after that, usually Monday/Tuesday. I don't generally update rankings for the mid-week duals. A ton of really good returning wrestlers this year, led by some really great returning Class L champs: Michael Rapuano - 106lbs - Xavier Ty Finn - 120lbs - Simsbury John Mairano - 126lbs - Simsbury Tommy Nichols - 132lbs - Bristol Eastern Tyler Sung - 145lbs - New Canaan I'm hoping some of these kids move around a bit to face each other during the season/during the tournament. Who wouldn't want to see a Mairano v. Nichols match, or maybe even a Nichols v. Sung match. I have no idea where weights will settle out, so any intel is always appreciated. Last year I got a ton of great feedback which really helped the rankings. So please feel free to share your knowledge My top 5 teams 1. Simsbury 2. Xavier 3. Bristol Central 4. Bristol Eastern 5. Wethersfield Simsbury will be tough to beat, even losing Sam Bergin, they have two returning champs and seven returning placers. Nine returning is pretty amazing. We all wish Sam good luck and make CT proud wherever you wrestle next. Once a CT wrestler, always a CT wrestler. New Canaan also has a big loss as Justin Mastroianni transfers to Greens Farms Academy. Hard to complain about that, a great group of wrestlers which I'm sure will really be a great fit for Justin. Good luck and we're all cheering for you to dominate the NEPSAC this year. {Con't in another post}

I just wanted to leave a quick comment, that the sportsmanship at the Class L tournament was the best I've ever seen at a major tournament. Countless hugs, pats on the back and a generally great attitude by both the winning wrestlers and the defeated. I think I only saw one thrown headgear over the two days. Even after some very heated contests, wrestlers were helping each other up off the mat. The winning wrestlers genuinely shook hands with the defeated (not that weak, limp wristed, your not worth my time dead fish handshake I've seen so much of). Respecting your opponent, even after a dominant win, makes you look so much more like a man (or a woman)! Very little arguing with the officials, and even then it was mostly respectful. And there were some bad calls, always are, but the coaches respectfully asked to speak with the ref and share their point of view. And the refs obliged, again, respectfully. Well done refs, not making this a pissing contest between you and the coach and seeing every comment as a challenge to your manhood. My kudos to the coaches, parents and especially the kids for raising their social game here. I bring this up in part as my wife, who is not the biggest fan of the sport, commented on how much she noticed the great attitudes of the wrestlers this year. Made an exciting tournament that much better. Thanks again!

So, my first year doing the Class L rankings. Overall I'm going to toot my own horn a bit here. I successfully called 12 of 14 champs (86%), 23 of 28 finalists (82%), and 65 of 84 placers (77%). Pretty good if I do say so myself. My biggest misses were the finalists (and ultimately runner-ups) at 182 from Maloney and 195 from New Canaan. Two obviously talented unranked wrestlers showing me up by making the finals. I hope my lack of respect for you two inspired you to the finals (LOL). Of my 3 other finalist misses, a 3rd ranked wrestler beat a 2nd ranked wrestler to make the finals, so fairly minor upsets (@132, 138 and 170). My best weights were 106 and 120 where I successfully picked the champ, both finalists and all 6 placers (although a bit out of order, close though). My worst weight was easily 195, were I missed the Champ (ranked #2), the runner-up (unranked as previously noted) and two other unranked athletes (4th & 5th place) making the podium. I'll try to do better next year. Thanks to everyone for their help this year. Updating me on results, weights and thoughts on the class. Class L was a great tournament (by far the closest tournament of the 4 classes). Congrats again to Bristol Eastern, Simsbury and Xavier for their top three finishes. Congrats to all the Champs and placers, your hard work paid off with the hardware. Your name is written in the books forever more.

Based on the final rankings (1st - 16pts, 2nd - 12pts, 3rd - 9pts, 4th - 7pts, 5th - 5pts, 6th - 3pts) Team Ranked Points 1 Bristol Eastern 10 94 2 Simsbury 10 94 3 Middletown 7 79 4 Xavier 7 75 5 New Canaan 4 60 6 Wethersfield 5 40 Should be a great tournament between Bristol and Simsbury for the top spot and Middletown and Xavier battling for 3rd. I think New Canaan has 5th pretty well locked up and Wethersfield coming in next at 6th.

Final rankings before the Class L Tournament. Let me know where I've screwed up. At 126, I moved Peter Coniglio from New Milford down below Mairano and Shabazz. While I hate to move someone for other than a loss, just looking at their body of work, I just feel Mairano and Shabazz are both wrestling at a higher level than Coniglio. Sorry Peter, prove me wrong! After the Class L tournament, I will do a post-mortem, see how I did. I feel pretty good about my top spot at almost every weight. Probably most doubtful of my top pick is at 195 (Dube and Guilfoyle I think could both possibly win it) and at 285 (Salami could win it). I think Class L is as tough as I've seen it in the five years I've been following CT wrestling. Should be a great tournament. Good luck to everyone and especially thanks to all those who commented an contributed to make this sight better. Thanks!

Rankings updated with results through last weekend. One more week of regular season (duals mid-week and conference tournaments this weekend). I will update one more time, early next week and then not again until the post-season is completed. As always, let me know what I missed. Based on the rankings, this is my prediction for class L tournament: Wrestlers Team Ranked Points 1 Bristol Eastern 12 102 2 Simsbury 10 85 3 Xavier 7 75 4 Middletown 7 74 5 New Canaan 4 60

Rankings are updated (including Cooper Nodden over Alec Arnold @170). Lots of changes, let me know what I missed. As for team standings, based on the ranking: Team Ranked Points 1 Bristol Eastern 12 109 2 Middletown 7 82 3 Xavier 7 79 4 Simsbury 8 71 5 Wethersfield 6 67 6 New Canaan 4 60

And who isn't this year (half the state open #1's are from class L). The Colter Abely Classic this weekend will feature up to 31 wrestlers ranked in the top 6 in class L. Class L teams expected to attend are Simsbury, Bristol Eastern, Xavier, Fitch, Pomperaug and Cheshire. 106 should be a gauntlet with 4 of the top 6 in attendance, including #1 Rapuano (Xavier) vs. #2 Thompson (Eastern). Other thick brackets include 132# (#2, 3 & 4); 145# (2, 3 & 5); 160# (2, 3 & 5). Almost every bracket has at least two ranked wrestlers. Should be fun. So get yourself down to Mercy HS in Middletown and enjoy some great wrestling this weekend (please verify time and location as I am not certain on either).

Updated for action through last weekend. Still a lot of weight changes. I think I captured them, but please let me know what i missed. Projected class L results based on the current rankings: Team Ranked Points Simsbury 11 106 Bristol Eastern 9 89 Xavier 7 75 Middletown 6 73 Wethersfield 6 68 New Canaan 5 63

Based on the current rankings, the projected Class L tournament looks to be a dog fight between Simsbury and Bristol Eastern for the top spot with four good teams battling for 3rd. Middletown is looking tough this year. Team Ranked Points 1 Simsbury 11 102 2 Bristol Eastern 9 96 3 Xavier 7 73 4 Wethersfield 7 68 5 Middletown 6 65 6 New Canaan 4 60

I will be helping with the Class L rankings this year. I have updated the rankings as I see them as of the first week (through the weekend). Fortunately, all Class L schools wrestled in a tournament this weekend (most notably the Battle at Wethersfield (Simsbury, Maloney, Daniel Hand, Middletown, New Milford, and Wethersfield). I pretty strictly used weights wrestled at the last weekends tournaments for the placing the kids in the rankings. I know the 2 pound allowance kicks in next week and some will move around after that, but I generally find that tournament weights are more indicative of where the kids will wrestle in the post season than dual meet weights (where coaches often move kids around based on matchups to try to win the dual). A couple of guys did not wrestle this weekend and I know their weights will be higher (Max Commander at 132, his prior year weight, I'm sure he's higher this year). Any weight insights are appreciated and I will try to take them into consideration. Now, tell me where i screwed up :). I'll try to do better each week. Expect updates each Monday (Tuesday at the latest). Thanks for any feedback.

Class L got a bit harder with New London (up from Class M in prior year) and Simsbury (down from LL in prior year) joining Class L with several state open placers moving into class L including T. Finn 2nd @ 106 (Simsbury), N. Powell-Keyton 4th @ 106 (New London), and J. Commander 3rd @ 195 (New London). Overall, Class L added 5 teams (Simsbury, New London, Rham, Cheshire, Bunnell) and lost 3 teams (Amity, Hall, Masuk), so a net increase in teams by 2 in class L. Class LL added 2 teams (Amity & Hall) and lost 2 teams (Simsbury and Cheshire). No net change in the number of schools. Class M and S had many changes, most significant was Ledyard to Class M from Class S. Suffield and Windsor Locks look to be a coop this year and move to Class M. Overall, Class M looks to pick up one net school with 4 schools transferring in (Ledyard, Masuk, Goodwin Tech, Suffield/Windsor Locks) and 3 schools out (New London, Rham, Bunnell). Class S seems to be losing 4 schools (Ledyard, Suffield, Windsor Locks, Goodwin Tech) and not adding any. H. Adams from Suffield placed 6th @ 145 pounds at the Ct Open last year, so he will make some noise in class M. Did I miss anything? Thoughts anyone? Seems like Class L & M are more competitive and Class LL & S less so. All divisions are posted at the link below and are subject to change. http://ciacsports.com/site/?page_id=976

Both the ECC and FCIAC tournaments will be on FloArena (https://arena.flowrestling.org/) The CCC tournament will be on Trackwrestling (http://www.trackwrestling.com/tw/predefinedtournaments/MainFrame.jsp?newSession=false&sport=wrestling&TIM=1518198872926&pageName=&ie=false&frameSize=947) Brackets are already up for the ECC and CCC. FCIAC brackets I sure will be up soon. Nice to see the CCC doing a tournament after many years of not. Lots of quality wrestlers will be there. Anyone know if the SWC or SCC seeding/brackets are online?

Didn't see you list one yet, but some options include: Bristol Eastern (#2) v. Middletown (#14) Fairfield Warde (#4) v. Wilton (#11) Ledyard (#15) v. Killingly (#16) <---- my personal choice, two rising teams with some potentially juicy matchups.

Keep up the good work, love the site and look forward to your new ideas http://www.myrecordjournal.com/sports/meridensports/9974577-154/wrestling-maloney-grad-grabs-a-foothold-with-rankings-based-web-site.html

Is there a minimum number of matches a student must have to wrestle at the state class tournaments? I ask as several kids on the ranked list do not appear to have any match results for the year. I know some are dealing with injuries, but can they come back for the state class tournament with no record?