Post by atlantaal on Feb 27, 2018 19:45:00 GMT -5
Well, let's put in the results and brackets for all to see, from Trackwrestling:
www.trackwrestling.com/tw/predefinedtournaments/MainFrame.jsp?newSession=false&loadBalanced=true&sport=wrestling&TIM=1519771411945&pageName=&ie=false&frameSize=610
Some thoughts on the just-completed state championships. . .
* Wasn't it fun? Five teams with legitimate chances to be first-through-third, nearly to the end. It wasn't until early-middle Saturday afternoon that
Ponaganset could pull ahead for good.
* Congratulations to Ponaganset for their first state wrestling championship, and well earned! They did it as a team, with some guys wrestling up for team
balance. This resulted in some previous place-winners (Villanova, Macumber) not placing in this year's tourney while still scoring valuable team point
above their weightclass, and allowed seniors Andrews and Frenette to get another another shot at States and New Englands. How's this for progress? Looking
back at the 2015 championship when these seniors were freshmen Pona finished in 27th place (out of 34 teams) with 19 points. Back then they didn't have
Andrews or McGill but each year they got better: moved up to 19th of 36 in 2016 with 59 points, and runner-up to Cumberland last year with 187.5
points. A great job by Coach Joyce, all his coaches and wrestlers. Good luck in the the New England Championships.
* The teams at the top 5 weren't much of a surprise but the order might be. Hendricken surprised me a little as their team balance worked well in the state-
wide tournament. Their big 4 had to make finals, and did, with a few other placers and several non-placing seniors scoring valuable points. Congrats to
them. And also to Cumberland finishing third with an overtime pin in the next-to-last match. Now that's dramatic! Coventry arguably deserved better, but
didn't get place-winners other than its star wrestlers. Chariho's stars did well too but the holes in their line-up dropped them below the other four
contenders. Nevertheless each of these teams can make some noise in the New England championships if their stars get hot. I would expect a couple of RI
teams in the top 10 and hopefully all 5 in the top 20. We'll see in a few days.
* Congratulations to 4-time finalists and 2-time champs Seth Brown and Dylan DiSano. Brown has a good chance to be a four-time New England place-winner from
RI. I'm pretty sure you can count those on your fingers, and I don't think you need the other hand. DiSano is a top contender in N.E.'s at 138 after a
runner-up finish in 2016.
* Congratulations to 3-time State champ and 2-time NE placer Devin Rivet. A good shot at another N.E. placing/finals/championship this weekend.
* Welcome back to the finals 2015 champs Cam Nappi and Cole McGill and 2015 runner-up Noah Young! McGill got another title after losing to Teves last year
at 152. Nappi, who battled injuries the previous two seasons fell to the indomitable Brown. Brown's teammate Young, who has had to wrestle up the
last two season's due to State champs Caltagirone and Brown, fell to McGill, who was arguably also wrestling up. It was Young that Nappi beat in 2015 at
106. Time flies, then loops around.
* Yay, we get Clarke, Merritt and Fine for two more years (with a third for Fine)! Hopefully we'll see more head-to-head matches like we got on Saturday over
the next two seasons.
* Congratulations to the greatest coach in RI wrestling history, Steve Gordon! Fifty years, over 500 wins, and five state championships. We'll miss you, and
the sport of wrestling in RI has a big void to fill.
* And come back soon Andrew Fallon. We'll miss you this weekend.
www.trackwrestling.com/tw/predefinedtournaments/MainFrame.jsp?newSession=false&loadBalanced=true&sport=wrestling&TIM=1519771411945&pageName=&ie=false&frameSize=610
Some thoughts on the just-completed state championships. . .
* Wasn't it fun? Five teams with legitimate chances to be first-through-third, nearly to the end. It wasn't until early-middle Saturday afternoon that
Ponaganset could pull ahead for good.
* Congratulations to Ponaganset for their first state wrestling championship, and well earned! They did it as a team, with some guys wrestling up for team
balance. This resulted in some previous place-winners (Villanova, Macumber) not placing in this year's tourney while still scoring valuable team point
above their weightclass, and allowed seniors Andrews and Frenette to get another another shot at States and New Englands. How's this for progress? Looking
back at the 2015 championship when these seniors were freshmen Pona finished in 27th place (out of 34 teams) with 19 points. Back then they didn't have
Andrews or McGill but each year they got better: moved up to 19th of 36 in 2016 with 59 points, and runner-up to Cumberland last year with 187.5
points. A great job by Coach Joyce, all his coaches and wrestlers. Good luck in the the New England Championships.
* The teams at the top 5 weren't much of a surprise but the order might be. Hendricken surprised me a little as their team balance worked well in the state-
wide tournament. Their big 4 had to make finals, and did, with a few other placers and several non-placing seniors scoring valuable points. Congrats to
them. And also to Cumberland finishing third with an overtime pin in the next-to-last match. Now that's dramatic! Coventry arguably deserved better, but
didn't get place-winners other than its star wrestlers. Chariho's stars did well too but the holes in their line-up dropped them below the other four
contenders. Nevertheless each of these teams can make some noise in the New England championships if their stars get hot. I would expect a couple of RI
teams in the top 10 and hopefully all 5 in the top 20. We'll see in a few days.
* Congratulations to 4-time finalists and 2-time champs Seth Brown and Dylan DiSano. Brown has a good chance to be a four-time New England place-winner from
RI. I'm pretty sure you can count those on your fingers, and I don't think you need the other hand. DiSano is a top contender in N.E.'s at 138 after a
runner-up finish in 2016.
* Congratulations to 3-time State champ and 2-time NE placer Devin Rivet. A good shot at another N.E. placing/finals/championship this weekend.
* Welcome back to the finals 2015 champs Cam Nappi and Cole McGill and 2015 runner-up Noah Young! McGill got another title after losing to Teves last year
at 152. Nappi, who battled injuries the previous two seasons fell to the indomitable Brown. Brown's teammate Young, who has had to wrestle up the
last two season's due to State champs Caltagirone and Brown, fell to McGill, who was arguably also wrestling up. It was Young that Nappi beat in 2015 at
106. Time flies, then loops around.
* Yay, we get Clarke, Merritt and Fine for two more years (with a third for Fine)! Hopefully we'll see more head-to-head matches like we got on Saturday over
the next two seasons.
* Congratulations to the greatest coach in RI wrestling history, Steve Gordon! Fifty years, over 500 wins, and five state championships. We'll miss you, and
the sport of wrestling in RI has a big void to fill.
* And come back soon Andrew Fallon. We'll miss you this weekend.