Blue Knights Wrestling Battles Injuries, Finishes near Top of Podium

The Blue Knights Wrestling Team SHS BLUE KNIGHTS INSTAGRAM

There’s nothing easy about being a high school wrestler. Southington head coach Derek Dion says that his wrestlers are the hardest working athletes in the entire school. Certain expectations come with donning the Blue Knights logo on your singlet, and dedication is chief among them.

“If you’re a wrestler, you have to work really, really hard just to be a bad one,” Dion said. “The amount of work to be a great wrestler is incomprehensible to most high school athletes. Even the worst kid on the team works harder than a kid on any other team in the school. I’ll stand by that statement all day long.”

Southington entered the season with high expectations, and the Blue Knights never stopped grinding. Unfortunately, the injury bug put a crimp in the team’s plans. Two wrestlers suffered season-ending injuries before the year even began. Southington was missing at least four wrestlers from their lineup in every meet of the campaign.

Dion admits it has been tough trying to get through the season with so many out. The Blue Knights had many wrestlers step up when their name was called. But the absences altered how Southington was able to compete.

“We were really excited for the season. We had a lot of really good wrestlers coming back. We were excited about our prospects,” Dion said. “I think we could’ve won every tournament we went to, won every match and won the state tournament. But we haven’t been able to put the full lineup out there. It was a challenge, with disappointments along the way. We’ve had a lot of guys step into the lineup and wrestle well. What we needed was to all get healthy at the same time.”

Healthy or not, the Blue Knights still needed to train hard. The head coach calls wrestling, “the highest level of fitness.” Dion and company must put in the work as well, making sure every competitor’s determination is matched by their technique. The Blue Knights are forged in these high-intensity sessions. Their reward is a pool of sweat – and an ocean of pride.

“It is a lot,” Dion said. “Wrestling isn’t a sport kids necessarily watch on TV. They don’t see it or just learn it from their parents. They have to put in the work. We have to teach them everything from how to stand to every single move, every position. There’s a lot of teaching that’s involved. You have to have a high amount of stamina and physicality. You could get hurt. When kids get tired, that’s when they get hurt.”

“These kids are working from the second we get into practice,” he continued. “They’re wrestling in a pool of sweat all day. It is grinding, it is difficult. But the kids will do it. They’ll grow strong enough to take on anything the rest of their lives. To me, it’s the best sport there is.”

 

Southington Finishes Top 5 at CCCs, States

During the regular season, Southington competes in dual meets on Wednesdays and in large scale tournaments on the weekends. The weekend events are modeled on the state tournament, to keep wrestlers prepared for when their postseason moment comes.

The Blue Knights went 10-3 during their dual meet season. They fell short of their goal of being undefeated, but Dion treated each loss as an opportunity to teach the team a new lesson. Their weekend tournaments served as another way to prepare. At each match, the team did everything in its power to improve.

When the Central Connecticut Conference Tournament started, Dion didn’t want the Blue Knights to be distracted by the bright lights. “It’s just another tournament,” he remarked. Even with injuries, Southington was prepared to battle to the best of their abilities.

Once the dust settled, the Blue Knights finished fourth out of 28 teams with a score of 162. Senior Jake Rivera won the 157-pound division with a technical fall (20-2). Junior Ajay Ayyala was the runner-up at 113 pounds.

Senior Chiemeka Ogubuagu took home third place in the 150, while fellow seniors Jake Lowe and Derek Rodriguez finished fourth in the 120 and 126 pound classes respectively. Sophomore Nick Drury finished fifth at 190.

Southington entered the year expecting a higher podium finish. But Dion didn’t come away from CCCs with only disappointment. Given how the Blue Knights competed, some positives became clear.

“I was excited for the team and each individual kid. If you’re missing four guys that’s frustrating, but that means 10 guys are doing well. You’ve got to look at the positives,” Dion said. “We’ve had a pretty successful team over the years. If I come in there and I’m whining about missing kids, the other coaches aren’t really feeling all that bad for me,” he joked. “There’s a lot of positives. It’s frustrating because I know how good these kids could be if we could get them all out there. This year has been a lot of shoulda, coulda, woulda.”

Once the Class LL State Tournament arrived, Dion and company knew what was at stake. All of the team’s effort has been directed towards this moment. It was time to see what Southington could do.

“I think we can compete at a high level,” Dion said before the tournament started. “We’re backing off the really hard wrestling in the room right now. Trying to get their bodies to feel a bit better. We’re hoping that we can go in there with a little bit more of health. With all the work the kids did this year, they can go in and find out what they can do, and try to get on the podium.”

“Really what you’re doing this for is to give the kids an opportunity to place really high at States and meet their own individual goals,” he continued. “I’m hoping that we’re putting enough kids in a position to do that, so they can be proud of themselves for doing their best.”

And doing their best is what happened at the State Tournament. Rivera again won the 157 pound division with a 6-0 decision. Rodriguez finished second in the 126 as Ogbuagu placed third in the 150 class. Lowe finished fourth in the 120, while senior Nate Karelus and freshman Brandon Campbell placed fifth in the 113 and 106 classes, respectively. Overall, Southington finished third out of 25 teams with a score of 173.

Seniors Lead the Fight

As they made their run through the postseason, Southington was led by their four senior captains Rivera, Ogbuagu, Lowe and Rodriguez. All have seen the program grow over their four years. That experience helped them pave the way for the next group of Blue Knight wrestlers.

“They’re all four-year wrestlers, varsity kids. They all bring their experience every day,” Dion said. “They work hard in practice, they set examples. They’re great kids to be around, they have great personalities. They’re hardworking kids. Those are the easy kids, the fun kids to coach. There’s never any behavioral problems. They’ve made it really fun.”

Rivera and Ogbaugu both earned their 100th career wins at the Class LL State Tournament. Lowe and Rodriguez each placed in both postseason tournaments and have formed a potent unit alongside their fellow seniors. That success has come from years of effort, which Dion has seen throughout the team.

Injuries meant that not everyone on the squad was able to compete. Still, each wrestler showed up every day willing to put in the work. Everyone battled together, and worked towards becoming the best wrestlers they could be.

“Even the kids who aren’t in the lineup, I think how proud I am for them to show up everyday and work as hard as they can knowing they won’t have their chance for glory,” Dion said. “That says a lot about their high character. We have five or six seniors who spent the year knowing they weren’t going to make the lineup. We have some highly skilled kids. They came and worked hard every day.”

The Southington High School wrestling team features seniors: Chiemeka Ogbuagu, Derek Rodriguez, Eric Ludden, Gavin Martin, Jake Lowe, Jake Rivera, Kevin Ajce, Michael Czarkosky, Nathan Karelus, Paul Cavanaugh, Rosco Cook, Ryan Dos Santos, Tyler Lamontage, William Pemberton and Darian Rivera; juniors: Ajay Ayyala, Ayden Karpen and Dareius Wright; sophomores: Darys Chekir, Dylan Gajewski, Eli Weisz, Elijah Ragin, Esti Elezi, Gursimar Sahani, Nicolas Drury, Peter Teslik, Trevor Hall, Tyler Paolino, Ulysses Arellano and Matthew Spalter; alongside freshmen: Austin Martella, Ayden Vasquez, Brandon Campbell, Elian Haddadi, Jayvien Fonseca, Jeremy Nelson, Jessie Bartone, Kurt Rucker, Owen Guida, Shiloh Barrett-Janik and Zoey Mendes. Dion is joined by assistant coaches Brian Zaccagnino and Kevin Seeger.

Dion Looks Towards Future

With so many seniors on the roster, the Blue Knights are sure to look different the next time they step onto the mats. Dion will be hoping for a much healthier season. But what won’t change is the effort every wrestler must put in each day.

The goal is succeeding at the state tournament. But Dion knows wrestling provides much more than that. With every bead of sweat that drops, he hopes the wrestler understands the deeper meaning of that effort.

“It’s a lot of work. But it’s work that will define them,” Dion said. “The hard work they put in becomes a sense of pride. They know they’re working harder than anyone else in the school. They walk out of there with a feeling that they can do anything.”

“The best thing wrestling can give you is the person you become as a result of it,” he continued. “That’s our mantra. We get out there and work. They’re forged in fire. They come out of there ready to take on the world.”

After coaching for 35 years, Dion has seen it all on the wrestling mat. As for this year’s squad, he won’t forget all the seniors who made a difference, or the bond they fostered over four years together. This year’s team continued to set a high bar for Southington wrestling. Dion is now excited to see if next year’s team can top it.

“Every year is special. It’s the relationships that kids have with each other, the relationships you build with the kids and their parents. Every team that has come through has been special in one way or the other,” Dion said. “This year has seen more seniors than I’ve had in most of my years coaching. When you spend four years with these kids, you develop a pretty good bond. It’s hard to see the kids go. There will be a lot of kids here that we’ll miss. It’s the cycle. Every year we think, ‘What are we going to do without these guys?’ Then next year, other guys step up. Each class is pretty special in its own way.”