Newtown High School’s wrestling team earned second place as a team and had a trio of champions in the Class L State Championships, held at Wilton High February 16 and 17. Xavier of Middletown was first with 343 points and Newtown finished with 251, recording three champs, a trio of runners-up, as well as having wrestlers place third, fourth, fifth and sixth.

Kenna Gioffre won the title in the 120 pound weight division, scoring a 7-4 decision against Kyden Merlin of South Windsor in the finals. Fisher Stites took the crown at 165, pinning Bristol Central’s Lincoln Archibald in 2:39. Jon DaSilva won the 285 championship with a pin fall victory over New Milford’s Riccardi Fernandez in 3:20 of their finals match.

In the 106 pound weight division Tommy Milligan earned second place, falling to Isaiah McDaniel of Middletown 13-2 in the finals. At 150 Jake Maddox also earned runner-up status losing a hard-fought 3-2 decision against Gilbert-Torrington’s Evan Schibi in the pinnacle bout. Marc Maurath was second at 157, falling 3-1 to Platt’s Caiden Talento.

At 144 Antonio Arguello placed third, posting a 16-1 technical fall victory over New Canaan’s Teddy Goetz at 3:35 of the match. At 190 Charlie Dunn placed fourth, advancing to the third-place bout before falling.

In the 175 bracket Andrew Corey came in fifth, pinning Simsbury’s Griffin Humes in 4:45. At 138 Grayson Renkert reached the fifth-place match before losing and earning sixth.

As a team, the Hawks outscored 22 other Class L teams, including New Milford (No. 3 in the state) and Simsbury (No. 7). This is just the third time in the last 52 years that Newtown has been runner-up in the state divisional tournament, coaches said.

The ten wrestlers that placed in the Class L competition qualified to wrestle at the State Open, which brackets the 24 best wrestlers from over 100 teams across all four divisions across the state. The State Open will be held at the Floyd Little Athletic Center in New Haven on February 23 and 24. The Nighthawks won the Open in 2015, placed second in 2017, and third in 2023.