Provo, Taylor win NHSCA national titles, 12 earn All-America honors – Connecticut Wrestling Online

Stratford’s Nico Provo (left) and Newtown’s Nate Taylor won national championships at Sunday’s NHSCA national tournaments in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Both are students at Greens Farms Academy and train at the Southside Wrestling Club in Bridgeport.

Two Connecticut wrestlers won national championships at the National High School Coaches Association (NHSCA) tournaments on Sunday, with 12 wrestlers receiving All-American Honors.

Stratford senior Nico Provo won his first NHSCA national title with £ 126 in the senior national tournament, while Newtown newcomer Nate Taylor won a national crown with £ 160 in the freshman national tournament.

Both wrestlers attend Greens Farms Academy in Westport and wrestle with the Southside Wrestling Club in Bridgeport.

Canaan’s new senior Justin Mastroianni earned the NHSCA All-American award for the third time in his career by finishing second with £ 145. Mastroianni is also a Greens Farms Academy wrestler.

Joel Barlows Josh Brault (5th, 113), Milfords CJ Shea (132, 6th), J’Mari Lowman (145, 8th) and Simsburys Ty Finn (152, 7th) received All-American Honors in the Senior National Tournament.

In the Junior National Tournament, Michael Bartush (195) from Norwalk was third, while Chris Murphy (195) from Guilford was sixth. At the Sophomore National Tournament, Brendan Gilchrist von Norwalk finished second with 195 pounds.

At the Freshman National Tournament, Warren Harding’s Chefren Spodnik was honored with his third place among 220 All-American in Bridgeport, while Danburys Dom Iaquinto was sixth with 182 pounds.

While Provo was in the tournament, his decision to enter a competition was made at the last minute, according to Jack Conroy, the head coach of Greens Farms Academy and the Southside Wrestling Club. Provo tried to recover from some injuries and skipped the New England tournament earlier this month, but looked sharp in training at Southside this week, Conroy said.

“I didn’t mean to go,” said Provo. But he reconsidered when he saw FloWrestling using his photo as a promotional photo. Provo normally competes at 120 pounds but didn’t have enough time to safely lose weight and decided to move up to 126.

“We just said we’re going to wrestle some weights and have some fun,” said Provo. “We only ever played one match and now I’m a national champion. It took me a long time to come. “

Provo, who will be heading to Cornell next fall, rolled through the tournament, giving up only one takedown in five wins. He took a place in the final with a 6-2 win over Illinois Koderhandt, thanks to two takedowns and a two-point reversal.

In the final, Provo beat Carter Bailey from Livermore, California, 2-1, with a two-second lead. The two wrestlers spent most of the game chasing each other and looking for openings. Provo found his in the waning seconds of the game.

“Sometimes you have to be patient,” said Conroy. “At a really high level, it’s about the openings (to score). There weren’t many openings in this game, but when he saw it, he took it. “

Provo literally took off Bailey in a one-on-one to win his first national NHSCA title.

“It means a lot,” said Provo. “It means a lot to GFA. It means a lot to my family. It means a lot to the university I attend (Cornell). It means a lot to my club team, Southside Wrestling. It’s bigger than me and that’s one of the coolest things about it. “

Provo is only the second Connecticut senior to win a national NHSCA title. Fitch’s Jared Kosman (113) won in 2018.

Taylor rolled his way to a national freshman title at 160 pounds with three dominating wins and a thrilling semi-final win. Taylor won the national crown with a 10-0 win over Gunner Cramblett of Saint Paris, Ohio.

He didn’t give up a point in his first round from Jackson Eddy (Ohio) and in his 11-0 quarterfinal win over Ryan Gallagher of Pennsylvania.

In his 4-3 semi-final win over Hoke-Poe Hogan of Jefferson, Georgia, it was different that Taylor won with a takedown in the last second.

Hogan led 3-0 in the second half before Taylor reduced the lead to 3-1 thanks to an escape three seconds ahead in the second half. Another escape from Taylor, 49 seconds ahead in the third half, reduced the lead to one, 3-2.

In the final seconds of the game, Taylor defeated Hogan, but the referee waved it off and said time was up. Conroy, who trained the corner, questioned the decision and went to video review, with the referee undoing the call and giving Taylor a takedown at the last second.

Mastroianni (145) was defeated by 19 seconds to beat Jack Haslim of Ohio 5-3 in the semifinals and secure a place in the championship game. Caine Tyus from Illinois took control early and pinned Mastroianni in 3:59.

“I’m sure he’s disappointed,” said Conroy. “He’s a great athlete, but he got into a crazy mess. He accepts it. It won’t be the last time (Justin) is able to do something special. “

Mastroianni won the Freshman National title at 132 in 2018 and finished fourth with 138 pounds in 2019 in the Sophomore Nationals.

Norwalk’s Brendan Gilchrist had four straight pins to secure a £ 195 spot in the Sophomore National finals. Gilchrist won with pins in 2:54, 0:44, 4:47 and 2:37. But he met Sonny Sasso from Nazareth, Pennsylvania in the title fight and fell 13-2.

Bartush won six games in a row in the consolation round and did not give up a single point in his last three games of the tournament to finish third in the Junior National Tournament with 195 pounds.

An escape with 1:54 in the second half was the profit margin in Bartush’s comforting final win against Jacob Meissner of Minnesota with 1-0.

Bartush, who also wrestles at Greens Farms Academy and with Southside, lost in his second match of the tournament to Luke Rasmussen from South Dakota, but defeated Rasmussen 5-0 in the consolation semifinals.

“Michael’s just a die-hard wrestler and he really showed it,” said Conroy.

Spodnik had two pins in less than a minute in the consolation round and finished third in the freshman tournament with 220.

2021 results of the NHSCA National Tournament

Connecticut All-American wrestler
senior citizens
Nico Provo (126), Stratford, first
Justin Mastroianni, 145, New Canaan, runner-up
Josh Brault, 113, Joel Barlow (Easton), fifth
CJ Shea (132), Milford, sixth
Ty Finn, 152, Simsbury, seventh
J’Mari Bowman (145), eighth

Juniors
Michael Bartush (195), Norwalk, third
Chris Murphy (195), Guilford, sixth

Sophomore Nationals
Brendan Gilchrist (195), Norwalk, runner-up

Freshman Nationals
Nate Taylor, Newtown (160), first
Chefren Spodnik, Harding (220), third
Dom Iaquinto, Danbury (182), sixth

Girl nationals
Ashley Reed (160), Southington, runner-up
Ella Nichols (160), Bristol Eastern, Fourth
Jacklyn Smith, 185, Bridgeport, seventh

Middle school nationals
Cole Lemovitz, 75, Killingly, sixth
Max Richardson, 80, sixth
Mason Whitney, 80, Colchester, seventh
Jack Gedney, 80, eighth
Drayvn Roberts, 154, East Hartford, eighth

Gerry deSimas Jr. is the editor and founder of Connecticut Wrestling Online. He is an award-winning writer and has covered sports in Connecticut and New England for more than 35 years. He was inducted into the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2018.