Despite Lineup Adjustments, Hawk Grapplers Expect To Come Out On Top

By Andy Hutchison

The loss of six graduates means several newcomers will have to step up, but the goal remains the same for Newtown High School’s wrestling team this winter: to be among the best in the conference and make a strong showing in the state brackets.

Newtown, under former assistant Dan McIlrath, who succeeds longtime coach Alan Potter, is shooting for another top-three finish in the South-West Conference championships.

Last year, the Nighthawks had a tenth-place finish in the state championships after grappling to a second-place tie in the South-West Conference championships. Despite having a half-dozen voids in the 14-slot starting lineup, McIlrath doesn’t think his team will miss a beat as returnees are back with more experience from a year ago and new-to-varsity competitors, every year, are coming in with more and more basic experience from the developing youth program in town.

“My goal every year is to make top three in SWCs and qualify as many people as we can for Class LLs,” McIlrath said.

The newcomers come to the mats with a fair amount of exposure to wrestling under their belts thanks to the efforts of the Over The Top youth program in town, and the efforts of middle school coach Chris Bray, McIlrath notes. That means the coach does not have to spend time teaching them the basics.

“I think it’s going to be a dog fight for spots,” he said of the younger grapplers competing for roles in the lineup. “By the end of the season I think we’re going to be ready.”

This year’s senior captains are Cory Fisher in the 170-pound weight division, Mac Morlock at heavyweight — both State Open qualifiers a year ago — and Nick Crudo at 120. Another key returnee is Pat Zingaro, likely at 145.

Juniors Jake Locorotondo and Max Temple are expected to fit into the lineup, and a large group of freshmen includes Matt Gonzalez, Forest Speed, James Leuci, Ed LaJoie, and Logan Walsh, McIlrath said.

“It’s going to be a fun year. I think it’s going to be a good year,” the coach said.

It is also going to be a different sort of year in terms of weight divisions themselves. To accommodate heavier wrestlers, high school wrestling now has added weight classes for the larger grapplers. Under the old setup, there was big gap from 171 to 189, and from 189 to 215. Now, following a slight change from 171 to 170, there are classes at 170, 182, 195, and 220. The middle weight divisions stayed the same but there was some tweaking to the lighter classes, including the smallest division being changed from 103 to 106, which McIlrath doesn’t like for the sake of the lightest wrestlers now giving up even more weight to opponents on the high end of the low weight division.

“I don’t mind the change up top, but I don’t like the change down at the bottom,” the coach said.

Another change this year includes McIlrath’s approach. He said wrestlers will not be permitted to drop weight to qualify for divisions except in the case of seniors who control weight naturally, by dieting properly, he said. The former high school wrestler notes that it used to be commonplace for students to make weight by running in hot gymnasiums with sweats on, or showering with clothes on.

“The things that were acceptable then I am not allowing to happen,” the coach said. “It’s dangerous to their health; it’s dangerous to their psyche.”

The Nighthawks were scheduled to begin the season at Bunnell High in Stratford on Wednesday (after The Bee sports section went to press). They’ll compete in the Guilford High Tournament on Saturday, December 17, and have their home opener when Stratford visits for a 7 pm match on December 21. Tough SWC teams, as always, include Brookfield, Masuk of Monroe, and Pomperaug of Southbury.