NEW HAVEN, Feb. 25, 2024 -- Under Hall of Fame coach Mike Cunningham, Xavier-Middletown won their third straight State Open championship with a tournament record 243½ points. Xavier put five wrestlers in the finals and had three individual champions – the most in one year for Xavier in team history.

The Falcons will bring nine wrestlers to next week’s New England championships in Providence. The top five wrestlers in each weight class earn bids to the New England tournament.

“We just set goals,” Cunningham said. “We scored 204 in 2022 so let’s go beat that, Let’s get 14 guys to the State Open. This is one of the more talented teams and they’re really nice kids. They’re good kids. The expectations are high but they never think about it. They just go to work.”

The Falcons aren’t afraid of travel either. They supplement their schedule in Connecticut with out-of-state tournaments in Delaware (Beast of the East), New York (Mid-Hudson Classic), Massachusetts (Methuen Invitational), Maryland (War on the Shore) and Wisconsin (National High School Duals) to challenge their wrestlers.

Senior Raekwon Shabazz (113) and Charles Weidman (215) each won their second consecutive State Open title with sophomore Braylon Gonzalez (126) beating two-time Open champion Joe Mahoney of New Fairfield in an entertaining match, 10-8.

Anthony Basile (138) and Max Morse (175) finished second for Xavier with Kevin Kasperowski (132) taking third. Kyle Levesque (144), John Lagana (150) and Vincent Rivera (157) were each fourth.

Cunningham was inducted into the Connecticut Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2022.

Newtown, which had four finalists in four consecutive weight classes from 144 through 165 pounds, finished second with 147½ points. That was 96 points behind Xavier but it was the most points scored by a second place team in tournament history.

Senior Fisher Stites (165) won his second straight State Open title while freshman Jake Maddox (150) won his first title. Freshman Antonio Arguello (144) and junior Marc Maurath (157) each finished second.

“It’s nice to have that group. They can all challenge each other (in practice). Some of their best matches are in practice,” Newtown coach Chris Bray said.

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Posted on February 27, 2024 by the Connecticut Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame