Post by atlantaal on Mar 6, 2020 10:06:40 GMT -5
I don’t have a subscription to Floarena so I’ll post my own here, with a rather RI-centric perspective. When I list the record of a RI wrestler against other state participants in the New England tournament I’ll refer to their place in their State open unless otherwise noted (letter classes for CT, 1-3 for MA).
106 – Always hard to call since it tends to be dominated by young wrestlers without as much NE exposure. We have two very good candidates in senior Dias and NHSCA middle school AA Jacob Joyce, but there are many other good young talents especially in CT and MA. Ct runner-up Longo beat MA champ & NE placer Zachary Soda and has a technical fall over Dias; and CT champ Brault is even better. There’s also one of the several Frost brothers of Bony Eagle, ME – I believe this one is Caden – and the bracket will be tough to place in. Joyce has all of these guys on his side of the bracket except Brault (add in Linder CT 3), and Dias has tough frosh Ware of Killingly and MA Glynn to even advance. Getting a 5 or 6 by either RI entrant will be a feat.
113 – Gillis also has senior and NE experience and is an NHSCA AA and Myers is one of those classic Coventry up-and-comers. But there’s always a but. . . in this case the CT entrants. Gillis has the winner of the Camerons his first match (MA 2 and NE placer Soda against Frost No. 2) and if he makes it past them to the semifinals he faces top-ranked CT champ and NE 3rd Rapuano of Xavier. Myers likely has CT 2nd and NE placer O’dell of Danbury who beat him 6-4 in the Danbury tourney (but who lost to Gillis at Sanford) and if he advances to the quarters there’s MA champ/NE placer Kinney of Chelmsford. Sheesh. Probably difficult to place here but Gillis has done it before and should again.
120- Yeah, it’s NE champs and NHSCA AA’s Fry and Hunter Adrian in the semis and yeah, it’s not fair but that’s life in the big leagues of the New England championships. Fry has faced Adrian at least three times that I know of and has lost each time in excruciatingly close matches, twice in overtime, once in the 2018 NE finals. I will note that Fry placed in a national tournament in which Adrian was entered but failed to place. I’ll fearlessly go on record as saying the winner of this match is NE champ for 2020. Cook and Reigosa also have formidable opposition on their side of the bracket including MA 3 Darling but they don’t have Adrian or Fry so, they could advance. RI gets at least one place-winner in this class, maybe more.
126 – Yeah, it’s NE champ and NHSCA AA Fallon against NE runner-up and NHSCA AA Leete in the QUARTER-FINALS but that’s, uh, that’s just ridiculous. Leete has been unchallenged in MA and NE this season and Fallon is Fallon so the winner here is the favorite, but not a complete lock for champ with guys like CT champ Shabazz (who majored Passanante) and the final Frost brother in the other bracket. Mike Joyce who placed at the Eastern States this season is probably one of the top 6-8 wrestlers in NE at 126 and is due to place in the tourney. He has to get by the aforementioned wrestlers and VT 4X champ Verge but this is one of those weightclasses where we could have two from RI in the top 4.
132 – I don’t believe there is anyone in NE better than Mason Clarke at 132. He has beaten all comers, including CT champ Finn twice, and while I was worried about NE placer Curtis and Garry of MA both were upset in the State Open. Mason likely has Garry his first match and ME veteran Cote and has to face Finn again in the semis. Reilly would face MA champ Bogle if he makes the quarters and Curtis lurks in Lowman’s path to the quarters as well. We could well have an RI NE champ and another placer.
138 – I’ll just say it: there’s Ryan Jack of Danbury and there’s everyone else. The NHSCA champ is probably the best wrestler in NE and goes for his third title with a full ride awaiting to NC State where his brother was a 3X NCAA AA. Of course, there are other wrestlers including CT 2 Nichols of Bristol Eastern, MA 2X NE placer Mike Glynn and 4X VT champ and NE placer Keegan Coon of Mt. Anthony, all on Lynch’s side of the bracket. Lynch by the way was teched by Jack and lost to Nichols in tournaments (Nichols also majored Remolina), but he and Hood and Remolina can test themselves against actual humans. This will be a tough weight class for RI to get a place. I do expect an all CT final, although Nichols and Glynn/Coon will be interesting.
145 – Kyle Merritt can beat anyone at this weight and may well do that. It’s his fourth NE tournament and while he hasn’t placed yet he’s always been a contender and as the Lowell champ this year is about as good as anyone in the class. He’s already beaten MA 1 Miller but has CT 1 Lunt of Xavier on his side in the semis. Note: Lunt lost to a NY wrestler in the Eastern States who Miller beat the next round. Zarella could have a good run to the quarters with CT 3 Pera (4th to Miller at the NJ Sam Cali tourney) a major obstacle. I’m picking Kyle to win it.
152 – Faria is obviously a main contender here finishing third last season, but defending champ Tyler Sung of New Canaan returned to action from a knee injury in mid-February and easily won the CT LL and Open Tourneys over NE place-winner Shaughnessy, who Aidan could face in the quarterfinals. He lost 5-0 to Sung in last year NE semis but beat Shaughnessy.9-3 in the con semis. Bonnano won two matches at NE last year at this weight and should do better this year. If he makes the semis he’ll likely face the Sung-Herbert winner. I expect Faria to make the finals against Sung, who may not be at his best although he’s still a 3X NE placer, and Bonnano with a good chance to place as well.
160 – This bracket seems set up well for Nick Fine to make his first NE final and hopefully championship. MA champ and 2X NE placer (and MA 2nd ranked P4P) Brevin Cassalla is in the opposite bracket along with ME 1 & NE placer Noah Hernandez (who beat Matarese 3-1 at Sanford). Fine has already decisively beaten two of the wrestlers in his quarters group (and Faria at 160 beat another) and likely has the winner between champs Frost (VT) and Tsiranidies (CT). Matarese has Cassella in his quarters group but could well battle back for a place.
170 – It would be something if James Dougherty gets to follow his brother Ben on the 170 lb. NE podium this year, since he’s opposite the bracket that contains the unbeaten Mazur, CT 1 & NE place-winner, and the unbeatable Gora, NH 1 & 2X NHSCA AA (well, he did default at Lowell after missing an entire season). There’s no easy road of course, but Dougherty doesn’t have MA champ Giaropoulos until the semis. Still, it would be a feat to improve upon his 7th place finish at Lowell. Shaw has had a lot of tournament experience against good New England competition this season with some success, winning some and placing in others, but he probably has MA super frosh Cordio his first match and is in Gora’s quarters. This is a tough class for an RI wrestler to take a place.
182 – I think this is Cory Grifka’s tournament to lose. I could probably phrase that better. Yet he was runner-up at this weight last NE tourney, the guy that beat him, LiCastri, has gone up a weighclass, and former champ Wilkins of VT decided not to go down at weight (more on that later). There’s no cakewalk in this tourney certainly, and he has the formidable McLaughlin of NH in the quarters who finished 6th last year but didn’t face him in the tourney. And then there’s James Danis of Essex, VT. Who? Well, remember that Samson Wilkins guy from Mt. Anthony: 4X VT champ, NE champ and 2X placer, NHSCS AA? Well after two years at 195 and maybe because of defaulting to LiCastri in an early season tournament he cut down to 182 in the middle of the season. Then he lost a match to Danis in the MAU Duals, his first loss to a Vermont wrestler in, like, the 21st Century. For good measure Danis also won Lowell over McLaughlin and MA 4 Langlois, though he lost to McLaughlin at the Cumberland tourney. So there’s competition, but assuming Grifka tops McLaughlin in the quarters I expect he goes to the finals and wins. Feliz has competed well this season and placed 8th at Lowell, where he lost to MA 4 Langlois and CT 4 Summers (who he faces in his first match) so probably needs another season to place in the New Englands.
195 – Here we have the 3-headed monster of the aforementioned Messrs. Wilkins and LiCastri, as well as the equally dangerous Connor Maslanek of NH who beat LiCastri in an off-season tournament, and beat Wilkins (and McLaughlin) in finishing 3rd last year. Well, 4 heads if you add in MA champ Darby McLaughlin, runner-up to Wilkins at Lowell (1-0) and LiCastri in the Eastern States (by major decision). So not a lot of room for Marchione in top four, except that all these contenders other than Maslanek are in the opposite bracket, with NE champs Wilkins and LiCastri scheduled to meet in the quarters. I know, shocking! This is Nate’s second NE tourney and he won two matches last season, losing to McLaughlin and Wilkins. Here is he can beat Malslanek he can make the finals against whomever remains of the 3 heads. Ed Wild has a tough NH wrestler early to get to possibly McLaughlin and the LiCastri-Wilkins winner so he’ll probably have to battle back through the consolations and battle hard.
220 – Maybe a two-headed monster here with Beau Dillon of Salem, NH, 2019 195 champ, and Jeff Worster of Oxford Hills, ME, the 2019 220 5th place. So big obstacles to a finals appearance for Cam Bailey, but this is his third NE tournament and he has won a total of 5 matches in the two previous without placing, so I think he’s due. There are severa relatively new but tough guys from MA and CT, but Cam has placed in the States 4 X, the unusual 4-3-2-1 finish, and has faced a lot of New England big men over the years. If he gets by CT champ Gins in the quarters he gets the winner of Worster or NH 2 Ostrom (who pinned him at Concord) in the semis. Even if he doesn’t make the finals he’s a strong threat to place. Totora probably needs another to be a firm threat in this environment.
285 – I really can’t figure this class out. No returning place-winners since a couple of returnees didn’t compete this season that I knew of. The MA and CT heavyweight classes are very deep, with the CT guys beating each other all year, with guys who finished lower in States placing higher in prestigious tournaments in NY and NJ, while the MA bear other except for MA champ Antonio Ramos who was top-ranked all year, though he was schooled by Matt Weiner of CT in an early January tournament. Guarcas beat Ramos in the Lowell final and like Bailey will be in his third NE tourney without having yet placing. It will be Betancur’s second, and he didn’t look bad last year despite not winning a match (one default). I honestly think that either RI wrestler could beat any of the other heavys in attendance on Saturday and Sunday. But neither have beneficial seeding positions. Adolpho probably has CT 2 Weiner who beat the 2X CT Open champ Houston in the State Open (lost to him by same 5-1 score in State Open), and had beaten Betancur in the 2018 NE Middle School finals. Coming out of that bracket he may the ME champ and then either VT 1 or MA 2 in the semis. In the lower bracket Guarcas has CT 4 Agosto of Danbury to advance, then another meeting with Ramos, and other battles to probably face CT 1 Houston in the semis. Both RI titlists are unlikely to survive all challenges to the finals, but both can and should place this year.
So those are my predictions and views. If any of this comes close to actuality happening,, well, you saw it here. And if I’m way, way off it’s because I don’t have a Flo subscription. If you know of any other significant head-to-head matches I’ve missed PLEASE post them here. Good luck RI wrestlers and to all competitors.
106 – Always hard to call since it tends to be dominated by young wrestlers without as much NE exposure. We have two very good candidates in senior Dias and NHSCA middle school AA Jacob Joyce, but there are many other good young talents especially in CT and MA. Ct runner-up Longo beat MA champ & NE placer Zachary Soda and has a technical fall over Dias; and CT champ Brault is even better. There’s also one of the several Frost brothers of Bony Eagle, ME – I believe this one is Caden – and the bracket will be tough to place in. Joyce has all of these guys on his side of the bracket except Brault (add in Linder CT 3), and Dias has tough frosh Ware of Killingly and MA Glynn to even advance. Getting a 5 or 6 by either RI entrant will be a feat.
113 – Gillis also has senior and NE experience and is an NHSCA AA and Myers is one of those classic Coventry up-and-comers. But there’s always a but. . . in this case the CT entrants. Gillis has the winner of the Camerons his first match (MA 2 and NE placer Soda against Frost No. 2) and if he makes it past them to the semifinals he faces top-ranked CT champ and NE 3rd Rapuano of Xavier. Myers likely has CT 2nd and NE placer O’dell of Danbury who beat him 6-4 in the Danbury tourney (but who lost to Gillis at Sanford) and if he advances to the quarters there’s MA champ/NE placer Kinney of Chelmsford. Sheesh. Probably difficult to place here but Gillis has done it before and should again.
120- Yeah, it’s NE champs and NHSCA AA’s Fry and Hunter Adrian in the semis and yeah, it’s not fair but that’s life in the big leagues of the New England championships. Fry has faced Adrian at least three times that I know of and has lost each time in excruciatingly close matches, twice in overtime, once in the 2018 NE finals. I will note that Fry placed in a national tournament in which Adrian was entered but failed to place. I’ll fearlessly go on record as saying the winner of this match is NE champ for 2020. Cook and Reigosa also have formidable opposition on their side of the bracket including MA 3 Darling but they don’t have Adrian or Fry so, they could advance. RI gets at least one place-winner in this class, maybe more.
126 – Yeah, it’s NE champ and NHSCA AA Fallon against NE runner-up and NHSCA AA Leete in the QUARTER-FINALS but that’s, uh, that’s just ridiculous. Leete has been unchallenged in MA and NE this season and Fallon is Fallon so the winner here is the favorite, but not a complete lock for champ with guys like CT champ Shabazz (who majored Passanante) and the final Frost brother in the other bracket. Mike Joyce who placed at the Eastern States this season is probably one of the top 6-8 wrestlers in NE at 126 and is due to place in the tourney. He has to get by the aforementioned wrestlers and VT 4X champ Verge but this is one of those weightclasses where we could have two from RI in the top 4.
132 – I don’t believe there is anyone in NE better than Mason Clarke at 132. He has beaten all comers, including CT champ Finn twice, and while I was worried about NE placer Curtis and Garry of MA both were upset in the State Open. Mason likely has Garry his first match and ME veteran Cote and has to face Finn again in the semis. Reilly would face MA champ Bogle if he makes the quarters and Curtis lurks in Lowman’s path to the quarters as well. We could well have an RI NE champ and another placer.
138 – I’ll just say it: there’s Ryan Jack of Danbury and there’s everyone else. The NHSCA champ is probably the best wrestler in NE and goes for his third title with a full ride awaiting to NC State where his brother was a 3X NCAA AA. Of course, there are other wrestlers including CT 2 Nichols of Bristol Eastern, MA 2X NE placer Mike Glynn and 4X VT champ and NE placer Keegan Coon of Mt. Anthony, all on Lynch’s side of the bracket. Lynch by the way was teched by Jack and lost to Nichols in tournaments (Nichols also majored Remolina), but he and Hood and Remolina can test themselves against actual humans. This will be a tough weight class for RI to get a place. I do expect an all CT final, although Nichols and Glynn/Coon will be interesting.
145 – Kyle Merritt can beat anyone at this weight and may well do that. It’s his fourth NE tournament and while he hasn’t placed yet he’s always been a contender and as the Lowell champ this year is about as good as anyone in the class. He’s already beaten MA 1 Miller but has CT 1 Lunt of Xavier on his side in the semis. Note: Lunt lost to a NY wrestler in the Eastern States who Miller beat the next round. Zarella could have a good run to the quarters with CT 3 Pera (4th to Miller at the NJ Sam Cali tourney) a major obstacle. I’m picking Kyle to win it.
152 – Faria is obviously a main contender here finishing third last season, but defending champ Tyler Sung of New Canaan returned to action from a knee injury in mid-February and easily won the CT LL and Open Tourneys over NE place-winner Shaughnessy, who Aidan could face in the quarterfinals. He lost 5-0 to Sung in last year NE semis but beat Shaughnessy.9-3 in the con semis. Bonnano won two matches at NE last year at this weight and should do better this year. If he makes the semis he’ll likely face the Sung-Herbert winner. I expect Faria to make the finals against Sung, who may not be at his best although he’s still a 3X NE placer, and Bonnano with a good chance to place as well.
160 – This bracket seems set up well for Nick Fine to make his first NE final and hopefully championship. MA champ and 2X NE placer (and MA 2nd ranked P4P) Brevin Cassalla is in the opposite bracket along with ME 1 & NE placer Noah Hernandez (who beat Matarese 3-1 at Sanford). Fine has already decisively beaten two of the wrestlers in his quarters group (and Faria at 160 beat another) and likely has the winner between champs Frost (VT) and Tsiranidies (CT). Matarese has Cassella in his quarters group but could well battle back for a place.
170 – It would be something if James Dougherty gets to follow his brother Ben on the 170 lb. NE podium this year, since he’s opposite the bracket that contains the unbeaten Mazur, CT 1 & NE place-winner, and the unbeatable Gora, NH 1 & 2X NHSCA AA (well, he did default at Lowell after missing an entire season). There’s no easy road of course, but Dougherty doesn’t have MA champ Giaropoulos until the semis. Still, it would be a feat to improve upon his 7th place finish at Lowell. Shaw has had a lot of tournament experience against good New England competition this season with some success, winning some and placing in others, but he probably has MA super frosh Cordio his first match and is in Gora’s quarters. This is a tough class for an RI wrestler to take a place.
182 – I think this is Cory Grifka’s tournament to lose. I could probably phrase that better. Yet he was runner-up at this weight last NE tourney, the guy that beat him, LiCastri, has gone up a weighclass, and former champ Wilkins of VT decided not to go down at weight (more on that later). There’s no cakewalk in this tourney certainly, and he has the formidable McLaughlin of NH in the quarters who finished 6th last year but didn’t face him in the tourney. And then there’s James Danis of Essex, VT. Who? Well, remember that Samson Wilkins guy from Mt. Anthony: 4X VT champ, NE champ and 2X placer, NHSCS AA? Well after two years at 195 and maybe because of defaulting to LiCastri in an early season tournament he cut down to 182 in the middle of the season. Then he lost a match to Danis in the MAU Duals, his first loss to a Vermont wrestler in, like, the 21st Century. For good measure Danis also won Lowell over McLaughlin and MA 4 Langlois, though he lost to McLaughlin at the Cumberland tourney. So there’s competition, but assuming Grifka tops McLaughlin in the quarters I expect he goes to the finals and wins. Feliz has competed well this season and placed 8th at Lowell, where he lost to MA 4 Langlois and CT 4 Summers (who he faces in his first match) so probably needs another season to place in the New Englands.
195 – Here we have the 3-headed monster of the aforementioned Messrs. Wilkins and LiCastri, as well as the equally dangerous Connor Maslanek of NH who beat LiCastri in an off-season tournament, and beat Wilkins (and McLaughlin) in finishing 3rd last year. Well, 4 heads if you add in MA champ Darby McLaughlin, runner-up to Wilkins at Lowell (1-0) and LiCastri in the Eastern States (by major decision). So not a lot of room for Marchione in top four, except that all these contenders other than Maslanek are in the opposite bracket, with NE champs Wilkins and LiCastri scheduled to meet in the quarters. I know, shocking! This is Nate’s second NE tourney and he won two matches last season, losing to McLaughlin and Wilkins. Here is he can beat Malslanek he can make the finals against whomever remains of the 3 heads. Ed Wild has a tough NH wrestler early to get to possibly McLaughlin and the LiCastri-Wilkins winner so he’ll probably have to battle back through the consolations and battle hard.
220 – Maybe a two-headed monster here with Beau Dillon of Salem, NH, 2019 195 champ, and Jeff Worster of Oxford Hills, ME, the 2019 220 5th place. So big obstacles to a finals appearance for Cam Bailey, but this is his third NE tournament and he has won a total of 5 matches in the two previous without placing, so I think he’s due. There are severa relatively new but tough guys from MA and CT, but Cam has placed in the States 4 X, the unusual 4-3-2-1 finish, and has faced a lot of New England big men over the years. If he gets by CT champ Gins in the quarters he gets the winner of Worster or NH 2 Ostrom (who pinned him at Concord) in the semis. Even if he doesn’t make the finals he’s a strong threat to place. Totora probably needs another to be a firm threat in this environment.
285 – I really can’t figure this class out. No returning place-winners since a couple of returnees didn’t compete this season that I knew of. The MA and CT heavyweight classes are very deep, with the CT guys beating each other all year, with guys who finished lower in States placing higher in prestigious tournaments in NY and NJ, while the MA bear other except for MA champ Antonio Ramos who was top-ranked all year, though he was schooled by Matt Weiner of CT in an early January tournament. Guarcas beat Ramos in the Lowell final and like Bailey will be in his third NE tourney without having yet placing. It will be Betancur’s second, and he didn’t look bad last year despite not winning a match (one default). I honestly think that either RI wrestler could beat any of the other heavys in attendance on Saturday and Sunday. But neither have beneficial seeding positions. Adolpho probably has CT 2 Weiner who beat the 2X CT Open champ Houston in the State Open (lost to him by same 5-1 score in State Open), and had beaten Betancur in the 2018 NE Middle School finals. Coming out of that bracket he may the ME champ and then either VT 1 or MA 2 in the semis. In the lower bracket Guarcas has CT 4 Agosto of Danbury to advance, then another meeting with Ramos, and other battles to probably face CT 1 Houston in the semis. Both RI titlists are unlikely to survive all challenges to the finals, but both can and should place this year.
So those are my predictions and views. If any of this comes close to actuality happening,, well, you saw it here. And if I’m way, way off it’s because I don’t have a Flo subscription. If you know of any other significant head-to-head matches I’ve missed PLEASE post them here. Good luck RI wrestlers and to all competitors.
