St. Bernard’s Torres, Fitch’s Brookhart win state fencing titles
Coast Guard wins NE Div.III wrestling crown
— St. Bernard senior Gianni Torres and Fitch senior Elaina Brookhart of Fitch won state titles on Saturday at the Connecticut High School Fencing Association individual tournament at Amity High School.
Torres, who plans to fence next season at Wagner College, won the boys' epee title and has medaled in each competition in his four years with the Saints. Aidan Dupont of Waterford also medaled, finishing sixth.
Brookhart won the girls' epee title, a division where Eastern Connecticut
Conference fencers took the top three spots. Maple Siu of Waterford was second teammate Hazel Siu was third. In girls' foil, Zhuning Gao of St. Bernard finished second and Waterford's Tenzen Kiyjong was sixth.
Also finishing in the top 20 in boys' epee were Reece Johnson of Fitch (ninth), Charles Morgan of Waterford (11th), Kaden Lovdahl of St. Bernard (12th), Luke Bergman of East Lyme (14th), David Nelson of Ledyard (17th) and Thomas Lawton of NFA (18th).
Making the top 20 in boys' foil were Caleb Haylon of East Lyme (10th), Nathen Reith of East Lyme (13th), Ezequiel Torres of NFA (14th) and New London's Andrew Mendez (18th) and Ernsly Joseph (19th).
Also finishing in the top 20 in girls' foil were Abigail Rodes of East Lyme (10th), Isabela Haque of Waterford (12th), Jayla Taylor of New London (17th) and Marlena Downing of NFA (20th).
Making the top 20 in girls' epee were Devyn Pelillo of Griswold (eighth), Kalia Homme of Griswold (11th), Klaire Gieleghem of Ledyard (12th) and Tejal Chaudhari of East Lyme (20th).
College wrestling
• Coast Guard won the NCAA Division III Northeast Regional Championship with a score of 193.5, beating second-place Johnson & Wales by four points.
They had scorers in all 10 weight classes with six finalists and four champions.
The four champions were Chase Randall (133 pounds), Nate Fitt (149), Coy Spooner (197), and Carl DiGiorgio (285).
Randall went 4-0 in the tournament and defeated Gabriel Leo-Esparolini of JWU by major decision in the finals.
Fitt was 5-0 and won his finals matchup by major decision over Zach Soda of New England College. Spooner went 4-0 and won his finals matchup vs. Dylan Harr of JWU in dominating fashion. DiGiorgio went 4-0 in the tournament and defeated Reid Garrison of USMMA in the finals by major decision.
The other finalists for the Bears were Steven Rochard (165) and Joe Chapman (174).
After the championship, head coach Kevin Bratland was named the Regional Head Coach of the Year. The entire staff was honored with the Northeast Regional Coaching Staff of the Year award.
Randall, Fitt, Rochard, Chapman, Spooner and DiGiorgio will represent the team at the NCAA Division III championships starting on Friday March 15th at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.