By Michael Letendre

When former Bristol Eastern wrestling coach Bryant Lishness left the scholastic ranks, how long would it be before the talented mentor resurfaced?

Well, the time between his gigs isn’t even worth a mention.

Lishness has served as the Director of the Gladiators for over 20 years, and it’s been a while since the outstanding wrestling guru was coaching young grapplers regularly on the mats.  

However, Lishness has come full circle and is back with the Gladiators – doing exactly what he should be doing: teaching youths the outstanding sport of wrestling.

“I tried to stay away,” said Lishness. “We’ve had great coaches in place in Jason Rodriguez, James Martin, Jay Motta, Kevin Dragon and Jeremy DelValle. Coming off of the Covid shutdown of wrestling last year, I just needed to help in any way I could to get the program moving again. Wrestling across Connecticut took a hit. Numbers are down everywhere. There are more co-ops on the high school level. Teams aren’t able to fill line-ups. There’s actually rumblings that they may reduce the number of weight classes back to thirteen.”

“It’s a real problem.”

Lishness returned to the Gladiators officially in the fall to run the yearly in-house program.

Forty new wrestlers joined the Gladiators’ outstanding team, several of which stayed on for the travel season.

And Lishness didn’t come alone.  

Coach John Benoit, a longtime member of the Eastern wrestling program, is back in the mix. 

His experience in the sport is vast and is another tremendous asset to the Gladiators’ program.

And on certain occasions, veterans of scholastic wrestling will also make appearances at the Bristol Boys & Girls Club for the Gladiators.

“It’s an all-hands-on deck kind of thing right now,” said Lishness. “John Benoit has been a regular in the room. Alumni have been coming back to help in any way they can. Former Gladiator coaches, like Phil Soucy, Tony Piazza and Jay Gedney stop by at least once a week.”

“Dave Thompson has officiated for free for one of our duels as did Tony Piazza.”  

Last week, Mason Lishness and Trent Thompson were helping out, returning to their Gladiator roots after standout scholastic careers.

“Gladiator alumni, who are competing in college, have assisted with practices when they have been home,” said Lishness. “Our best practices are when we have Mason Lishness, Trent Thompson, Tommy Nichols, and Aaron Morocho in the room. The kids look up to them and the room just runs at a different pace.”

According to Lishness, the Gladiators currently have forty-seven kids on their roster, training four days a week, and competing in dual meets against surrounding towns and in USA Wrestling Tournaments on Sundays.  

And the program is still taking on new grapplers.

If anyone is interested in joining the Gladiators outstanding program, contact Steve Beecher at the Bristol Boys and Girls Club at (860) 583-4734.  

Hitting the Mats

Here are results from the Gladiators last two meets:

Night Hawk Classic (Newtown) Results:

from Newtown

First Place

Kody Dragon

Alex Lammare

Logan Shamper

Second Place

Jakob Soyka 

Samuel Roos 

Brody Kesl 

Third Place

Ethan Rodriguez

Aidyn Davies 

Logan Bacote

Wesley Bacon 

Kaden Dragon

Fourth Place

Mason Bacote

Simsbury Beginners’ Tournament

First place

Chase McGrane

Rylin Garcia 

Jeremiah Floyd 

Charlie Osborne

Gavin Martin

Van Elyosius

Second Place

Isaac Morocho

Eli Daniel

Evan Napp 

Caleb Nass 

Third Place

Darien Fournier

Finn Gaughan

Logan Segui

Logan Williams 

Fourth Place

Stro Stahowski 

Aidan Dubois