Ledyard’s Holeman wins State Open girls’ wrestling title at 132
NFA’s James (120) and Fitch’s Matthews (220) place second in Open boys’ wrestling tourney
New Haven — A day after teammate Tatianna Irizarry made history, Ledyard’s Linda Holeman added a little history of her own.
Holeman, a senior, captured her second CIAC State Open girls’ wrestling championship on
Saturday with an 11-1 win over top-seeded Esther Ribeiro of Bethel in the 132-pound final at the Floyd Little Athletic Center.
Less than 24 hours earlier, Irizarry become the first female wrestler in Connecticut history to win a match in the State Open boys’ tournament when she pinned Bristol Central’s Engher Disla Amonte just as the first period ended in their 106-pound consolation round match. The freshmen, who placed third a week earlier in the Class M tournament, would be eliminated in the next round of consolation matches.
As for Holeman, it was a fitting end to a great career. She won the 126-pound state title as a freshman in 2020, didn’t wrestle in 2021 when the tournament was called off due to COVID, then dropped a 1-0 heartbreaker to Amity’s Camryn Brown in the 2022 132-pound final last year.
Holeman went 3-0 in this year’s Open as the No. 2 seed, earning a pin in the quarterfinals and winning by technical fall in the semis.
Holeman was one of three local wrestlers to reach the finals in the girls’ tournament, but the lone winner. Montville’s Karla Flores was pinned by No. 1 Samantha Yap of Stamford in 1:54 of their 107 final and Old Lyme’s Hoshena Gemme was pinned by top-seeded Calli Gilchrist of McMahon in 5;33 of their 114 final.
In the boys’ State Open tournament, two local wrestlers reached the championship round but both fell to top-seeded wrestlers. Fitch’s Naszier Matthews was pinned by Stratford’s James Duhancik in 5:16 of their 220 final and Norwich Free Academy’s Jaiden James lost New Fairfield’s Joe Mahoney by technical fall (19-4) in the 120 final.
Five other local wrestlers earned medals. Montville’s James Linder Jr. (138), East Lyme/Norwich Tech’s Lincoln Carlson (160) and EL/NT’s Brayden Soleau (182) each paced third while NFA’s Thomas Brunelli (152) and Lyman Memorial/Windham Tech’s Cameron Sammarco (170) each placed sixth.
The Eastern Connecticut Conference did have a pair of State Open champions as Killingly’s Kaden Ware beat Xavier’s Kyle Levesque 4-0 in the 132 final and teammate Jack Richardson decisioned Newtown’s Luca Manfredi 6-1 in the 152 title match.
Xavier easily won the team championship with 175.5 points while New Fairfield edged Newtown for second, 121.5-120.
Gymnastics
• NFA finished third in the CIAC Class LL championship meet at Law High School in Milford. The Wildcats finished with 132.425 points. Southington won the title with 135.75 and Staples was second with 133.8.
Trinity Ambruso had a season best 37.675 in the all-around and was NFA’s top point scorer in each individual event with a 9.2 on vault, 9.4 on bars, 9.675 on beam and 9.4 on bards. Allison Wojnar, who finished with a 33.025 in the allaround, scored an 8.975 in the floor exercise while Sarah Fedeli finished with a 32.075 all-around total that included an 8.45 on bars.
• Stonington edged ECC rival Killingly and finished third in the Class S championship meet. The Bears finished with 130.325 points with Killingly close behind with 129.725 points. Hand won the meet with 143.075 poitns and Oxford wass second with 131.750.
Lydia Laskey was Stonington’s top scorer in three events: bars (8.55), beam (9.35) and floor (9.0) while Mary Lord led the Bears with her 8.625 total on vault. Laskey’s score on the beam was the second highest in the meet behind Law’s Natalie Morrell (9.425).
Hockey
• Guilford beat the Eastern CT Eagles 5-4 on Senior Night. Owen Pazzaglia scored twice, Gavin Casagrande and Nick Rembish had goals and Cam McCollum made 26 saves for the Eagles (5-13).
Woodstock Academy beat the Eagles 6-2 on Friday night. Owen Pazzaglia and Drew Sager scored, Zack Pazzaglia had an assist and Cam McCollum had 28 saves for the Eagles.