Two local wrestlers, Shelton junior Pat Gillen and Derby senior captain Tyler O’Conner, will be wresting at the New England Wrestling Championships this weekend at the New Haven Athletic Center.
Gillen enters the tournament with a 44 – 0 record in the 215-pound weight class, including a 4 – 2 decision over Waterford’s Luke Wiggins in the State Open championship and a 17 – 2 major decision over Trumbull’s Bryan Barnash in the Class LL championship.
“Working hard in the offseason with my coach and my dad has helped me,” Gillen said.
“Pat is a solid wrestler and I look forward to his wrestling his match,” Gaels coach Bill Maloney said. “He’s always been a good technical wrestler, but this year, he’s bigger and stronger.”
Last year, he fell short of placing at State Open. He’s confident he can reverse it this year.
“This year, I have more experience than last year,” Gillen said. “It will help me out a lot this year. I didn’t know what to expect last year and lost my first match and I had to wrestle back, which took a toll on me. I hope to start off with a win and I’ll see what happens after that. I’ll focus on that match because I learned from last year.”
“Of course, we’d like him to be New England champion, but we hope he does well,” Maloney said.
While Gillen is a returnee to New England and in the upper weight classes, O’Connor wrestling in the 130-pound class and is a New England newcomer.
The 5 – 6 O’Connor qualified for New Englands by placing fourth at State Open, where he went 4 – 2. He won his first match and lost the second before dropping down to the consolation bracket where he won three matches, assuring himself at least a fourth place finish with an 8 – 5 decision over Tylor Herrick of Killingly. Herrick pinned O’Connor in the Class S championship match.
“It’s going to be tough to win a match at New Englands,” Red Raiders coach Walter Jadach said. “It would be great if he could. At Opens, we wanted to win a couple of matches and place. Getting here is icing on the cake. If he wins a match here, that would be great.”
O’Connor is calm about the meet and is looking forward to it.
“I’m not nervous because I have nothing to lose,” O’Connor said. “I hope to go in there, do my best and take it one match at a time. I’m prepared and ready. I’ll go in and try my hardest.”
Going into the New England Champioships, O’Connor has compiled a 35 – 6 record this year. Overall, he’s 94 – 35.
“He works really hard on his moves,” Jadach said. “He’s very technically sound and beats stronger kids because of his moves.”
By earning a spot at championships, he’s Derby’s first wrestler to qualify since Dave Stec did so in 2002.
Pride fueled him this year, which is his best of his career.
“I felt it was my senior year and I went all out,” O’Connor said. “I prepared every week for the match and I got in shape and practiced hard. I wanted to win States this year but lost. I was nervous going into state finals but I wasn’t nervous at Opens because I was the underdog. I hope to make it to Saturday.”
