Sports: Fitch’s Jarod Kosman wins New England wrestling championship
Fitch 113-pounder finishes senior year with 48-0 record
Providence — Fitch High School's Jarod Kosman ended his wrestling career at the top of another podium, capturing the 113-pound title at the New England Championship wrestling tournament on Saturday night at the Providence Career and Technical Center.
Kosman, who won his first State Open title a week earlier, outlasted Kyle Randall of Newtown North (Mass.) 10-7 in the final to complete a 4-0 weekend and end his season with a perfect 48-0 record.
He defeated Travis Nugent of Masconomet (Mass.) 9-2 in the second round on Friday, then beat Alden Shields of Kennebunk (Maine) by technical fall (17-2, 4:00) in the quarterfinals and Maximilian Leete of Danvers (Mass.) 7-1 in the semifinals.
Kosman, a four-time Eastern Connecticut Conference champion, was the only local wrestler to reach the championship round. His teammate, senior Dakota Grover (220) reached the semifinals before losing to Andrew Marshall of Lincoln-Sudbury (Mass.) 7-4. He wound up in fourth place, losing to Nick Johnson of Milton (Mass.) by pin (2:07) in the consolation final.
They helped Fitch to a ninth-place finish in the team standings with 46.5 points, third among Connecticut teams behind State Open champion Danbury, which finished third with 75 points, and Southington, which was eighth with 47.5. Ponaganset (R.I.) won the team championship with 83 points, three better than Mt. Anthony (Vt.).
The only other local place-winner was New London junior Jacob Commander (195), who was beaten 4-3 by Tyler Riggs of Ponaganset in the consolation final to finish fourth. Commander, who lost in the second round on Friday, won four straight matches to reach the consolation final, including a first period pin (1:40) of Travis Manick of Methuen (Mass.) in consolation semifinals.
Montville's Noah Caskey (132), a State Open champion, suffered his first two losses of the season and did not place. He dropped a 7-1 decision to eventual runnerup Ramazan Attasauov of Wayland (Mass.) in Saturday's quarterfinals, then was eliminated by Maloney's Demetre Carnot 5-3 in the consolation quarterfinals.
In addition to Kosman, five other Connecticut wrestlers won New England titles: Danbury's Ryan Jack (120), New Milford's Mel Ortiz (126), Foran's Ryan Luth (152), Southington's Paul Calo (170) and Hand's Michael Burchell (285). Ortiz defeated New Canaan's Justin Mastroianni 12-10 in the only all-Connecticut final.