Post by atlantaal on Apr 3, 2022 21:42:59 GMT -5
Following shortly after a great showing in the New England Championships Rhode Island wrestlers had another fine accomplishment at the NHSCA Wrestling Championships in Virginia Beach last weekend, which groups the contestants by their high school class. There were seven RI grapplers who earned All America finishes led by one champion, Adolfo Betancur who won the Senior division at 285 lbs. He had an impressive run through the weightclass, was the only heavyweight to pin in either the quarterfinals or semifinals, and claimed the title with a 3-1 decision over Jamier Ferere of High Point, North Carolina. This is the third time in a row that RI has had an NHSCA wrestling champion, following Nick Fine at Senior 170 last year and Joziah Fry at Junior 106 in 2019 (there were no NHSCA championships in 2020). Two other RI seniors to place were Michael Jarrell, fourth at 220, and Maurice Cooper who finished seventh at 145 lbs.
There weren’t any placers from Rhode Island in the Junior Division – surprising given the amount of talent that will be returning next year from that class - but two RI sophomores placed fifth: Gabriel Bouyssou at 138 and Spencer Fine at 170. Gabe was seeded second but lost in the round of 16, then came back through the consi’s to finish 5th. Spencer made it all the way to the semis before his first loss, then dropped the consi-semis and wound up fifth. There were two frosh place-winners as well, with Benjamin Wilcox of Woonsocket and Michael DiOrio of LaSalle finishing 6th and 7th respectively at 195 lbs. Interesting since DiOrio beat Wilcox just weeks earlier at RI States. They didn’t face each other nor have any common opponents despite the small weightclass (12 entries, 4 from NE). There were other noteworthy performances by RI grapplers who weren’t placers. Justin Hood had a sensational tournament, going 6-2 while losing 5-3 in the blood round to the 8th place finisher. Hayden Myers went 5-2 as a junior 126.
New England wrestlers as a whole did exceedingly well, particularly in the Senior Division. NE had 15 All Americas there: 4 from MA, 5 from CT, 3 RI, and one each from ME, NH and VT. That’s 14.4% of the total Senior AA’s, presenting the New England collective as one of the top wrestling “states” at the NHSCA Championships. Other NE champions were Senior William Ebert of CT at 160, Junior Tyler Knox of MA at 120, and freshman Jude Correa of NH at 182. Of particular note I think was the success of New England wrestlers at the heaviest weightclass, 285 pounds. There were five AA’s between the four grade divisions, including Senior champ Adolfo and frosh runner-up Thomas Brown of MA. Out of six place-winners in the recent NEs at 285 four of them became NHSCA AA’s (the other two weren’t entered) and junior Dominic Silvia of MA placed third (he lost in the blood round at New Englands). That’s a strong national showing by New England wrestlers at a weight that quite frankly we don’t have a lot of competitors compared to the big wrestling states.
I don’t think RI had any entries in the Girls Division, so there were no placewinners. There were two Girls champs from New England: Skylar Kattendof of NH at 136 lbs. and Ella Nichols of CT, a 3-time NHSCA All American. In the Middle School Division there were three AA’s from Rhode Island: Joseph Joyce was third at 127 lbs., Apollo Bellini third at 80 lbs., and Colby Vital was sixth at 135. All-in-all a terrific showing by RI wrestlers and by New England as a whole.
So congratulations to all the wrestlers who competed, and special congratulations to all the coaches and the parents who supported them and made this possible. It appears that Rhode Island has a level of coaching that can compete on the national level. Below is the link to the brackets and results on Floarena:
arena.flowrestling.org/event/f3438a78-ceef-492c-b2e1-fbe5129b4c60
There weren’t any placers from Rhode Island in the Junior Division – surprising given the amount of talent that will be returning next year from that class - but two RI sophomores placed fifth: Gabriel Bouyssou at 138 and Spencer Fine at 170. Gabe was seeded second but lost in the round of 16, then came back through the consi’s to finish 5th. Spencer made it all the way to the semis before his first loss, then dropped the consi-semis and wound up fifth. There were two frosh place-winners as well, with Benjamin Wilcox of Woonsocket and Michael DiOrio of LaSalle finishing 6th and 7th respectively at 195 lbs. Interesting since DiOrio beat Wilcox just weeks earlier at RI States. They didn’t face each other nor have any common opponents despite the small weightclass (12 entries, 4 from NE). There were other noteworthy performances by RI grapplers who weren’t placers. Justin Hood had a sensational tournament, going 6-2 while losing 5-3 in the blood round to the 8th place finisher. Hayden Myers went 5-2 as a junior 126.
New England wrestlers as a whole did exceedingly well, particularly in the Senior Division. NE had 15 All Americas there: 4 from MA, 5 from CT, 3 RI, and one each from ME, NH and VT. That’s 14.4% of the total Senior AA’s, presenting the New England collective as one of the top wrestling “states” at the NHSCA Championships. Other NE champions were Senior William Ebert of CT at 160, Junior Tyler Knox of MA at 120, and freshman Jude Correa of NH at 182. Of particular note I think was the success of New England wrestlers at the heaviest weightclass, 285 pounds. There were five AA’s between the four grade divisions, including Senior champ Adolfo and frosh runner-up Thomas Brown of MA. Out of six place-winners in the recent NEs at 285 four of them became NHSCA AA’s (the other two weren’t entered) and junior Dominic Silvia of MA placed third (he lost in the blood round at New Englands). That’s a strong national showing by New England wrestlers at a weight that quite frankly we don’t have a lot of competitors compared to the big wrestling states.
I don’t think RI had any entries in the Girls Division, so there were no placewinners. There were two Girls champs from New England: Skylar Kattendof of NH at 136 lbs. and Ella Nichols of CT, a 3-time NHSCA All American. In the Middle School Division there were three AA’s from Rhode Island: Joseph Joyce was third at 127 lbs., Apollo Bellini third at 80 lbs., and Colby Vital was sixth at 135. All-in-all a terrific showing by RI wrestlers and by New England as a whole.
So congratulations to all the wrestlers who competed, and special congratulations to all the coaches and the parents who supported them and made this possible. It appears that Rhode Island has a level of coaching that can compete on the national level. Below is the link to the brackets and results on Floarena:
arena.flowrestling.org/event/f3438a78-ceef-492c-b2e1-fbe5129b4c60