By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – The Bristol Central Invitational is always a great gauge for every scholastic grappler to see where they’re at towards the midpoint of the season.
And this year’s event did not disappoint as several programs from all over the state hit the mats in Bristol.
This time around, East Hartford – ranked fourth in the state according to most recent Connecticut Wrestling Online’s top 10 poll – took the invite behind a strong 219.5 point showing.
New Milford, currently sixth in the poll, was the runner up with 166 points while Staples (141 points) was a bit behind for third place.
Bristol Eastern’s outstanding program collected 132 points while CCC challenger Avon (122.5) was nearly 10 points behind.
On the local front, Plainville (109 points) nabbed eight place and host Bristol Central (104.5) ended up in ninth.
Three grapplers from the Mum City made it all the way to the finals of the event.
At 157 pounds, Central’s Lincoln Archibald earned the win at 157 pounds.
The junior grappler battled Ian Karlin from the Pomperaug co-op for the title.
Needing just one period to decide the bout, Archibald took the pin-fall victory in just 1:35.
It was a big time win for the surging Archibald.
Bristol had two other grapplers earn runner-up awards.
At 106 pounds, Middletown’s Isaiah McDaniel picked up a technical fall decision against Eastern’s Yussuf Bah (16-1).
And in the 150 pound finals, Staples’Damian Rousseau pinned Central’s Aiden Lamarre in 1:04.
There were several third place matches and the locals won a couple of those.
The 138 match saw Eastern’s Gabriel White defeated Pomperaug’s Stephen Kovaleski via 8-4 decision for third place.
The other third place victory came at 215 pounds and that meant Eastern’s Rio Fernandez was in action.
Fernandez earned a pin-fall win towards the tail-end of the second period, earning the ‘W’ in 3:54 over New Milford’s Christopher Reiss.
In the other third place title bouts, Central’s Kaden Dragon (120 pounds) was pinned by Enfield’s Marlon Andino while at 132, Joseph Nick fell by 8-4 decision to New Milford’s Tyler Roussel.
Eastern also saw action in consolation matches as well.
Enfield’s Jacob Beiler (175) nabbed an 8-0 decision over Owen Broyles and at 190, Tim Mrachek from Berlin won over the Lancers’ Aidyn Davies – winning the match in 2:40 off a pin-fall triumph.
Finally, in fifth place matches, two Bristol wrestlers came away with wins.
Central’s Alex Lamarre (126 pounds) pinned New Milford’s Matthew Alfano in under a minute (58 seconds) and in a heavyweight entanglement, Eastern’s Nuon Sovannara was a fifth place victor as well.
Sovannara pinned Justin Johnny from Staples in 3:31 to make a top-five showing.
This week
Bristol Central is back to the CCC South grind on Wednesday, battling Berlin from the Jim Day Gymnasium on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
And then on Saturday, the Rams are back to Berlin to tackle the competition at the Art Powers Dual – starting at 9:30 a.m.
On the Bristol Eastern front, the squad is also on the road, battling Middletown on Wednesday evening at 6 p.m.
Bristol Central Wrestling Invitational
from Bristol
Team results – Champion: East Hartford 219½ points
Runner Up: New Milford 166
The Rest: 3. Staples 141, 4. Bristol Eastern 132, 5. Avon 122½, 6. Enfield 119, 7. Berlin 113, 8. Plainville 109, 9. Bristol Central 104½, 10. New Fairfield 97, 11. Guilford 93, 12. Hall and Middletown 81½, 14. Ledyard 78, 15. Pomperaug co-op 42, 16. Terryville/Thomaston 38, 17. Farmington 27, 18. Sheehan 21, 19. Wethersfield 3
Championship finals
106 pounds: Isaiah McDaniel (Middletown) tech fall Yussuf Bah (Bristol Eastern), 16-1 5:45
150 pounds: Damian Rousseau (Staples) pin Aiden Lamarre (Bristol Central), 1:04
157 pounds: Lincoln Archibald (Bristol Central) pin Ian Karlin (Pomperaug co-op), 1:35
Third place
120 pounds: Marlon Andino (Enfield) pin Kaden Dragon (Bristol Central), 3:33
132 pounds: Tyler Roussel (New Milford) dec. Joseph Niek (Bristol Central), 8-4
138 pounds: Gabriel White (Bristol Eastern) dec. Stephen Kovaleski (Pomperaug co-op), 9-6
175 pounds: Jacob Beiler (Enfield) dec. Owen Broyles (Bristol Eastern), 8-0
190 pounds: Tim Mrachek (Berlin) pin Aidyn Davies (Bristol Eastern), 2:40
215 pounds: Rio Fernandez (Bristol Eastern) pin Christopher Reiss (New Milford), 3:54
Fifth place
126 pounds: Alex Lamarre (Bristol Central) pin Matthew Alfano (New Milford), 0:58
285 pounds: Nuon Sovannara (Bristol Eastern) pin Justin Johnny (Staples), 3:31.
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