South Side Wrestling Club boasts champions

The South Side Wrestling Club has been very busy the month of July. Hakim Fleming (heavyweight division), Dan Geriak (heavyweight), Ryan Craft (heavyweight), Dominick Spadaro (65 pounds), Nehemiah Harris (170 pounds), Jack Ryan (106 pounds), Mike Bartush (95 pounds), Jon Kosak (113 pounds) and Tristan Haviland (130 pounds) all competed at the East Coast Clash at Roger Williams University on July 17. Fleming won gold with a 4-0 decision in the finals and Haviland took first with a 3-1 decision victory over the NY Catholic state champion. Spadaro, the youngest of the group at 8 years old, won two matches by tech fall 16-0 and 21-4. His finals match claimed to be one of the most exciting matches of the tournament. Down 2-0 with 15 seconds left in the third period, Spadaro took his opponent down and turned him which looked like to be the finish. The match was decided in sudden victory overtime in a scramble on the sideline and a second place finish for Spadaro. During the week of July 15-22, five participants from South Side traveled to Fargo, North Dakota for Freestyle and Greco Nationals. Matt Ryan, Kasim Khan, Clyde Auba, Joe Accousti and Nate Reyes claimed their spot with the nation’s best. Matt Ryan finished the week with 11 wins and 4 losses, who came one win away from placing top 8 in the nation in Greco. Auba and Accousti each came one win away from placing top 8 in the nation in freestyle. Competing in Fargo became part of South Sides curriculum this past summer, after teaming with CT national team assistant coach Jack Conroy and Fargo All American coach Brendan Gouldup. South Side coaches include Brandon Fulco and David Briganti. At the Nutmeg State Games on July 31, South Side was well represented with 15-plus wrestlers. Champions on the day were Sergio Ferrara (heavyweight) and Auba (182 pounds). The place winners included Mike Bartush (95 pounds), Steven Reyes (113 pounds), David Castaldo (132 pounds), Harris (195 pounds), Anthony Emmanuel (152 pounds), Ben Anderson (174 pounds), Quint Bartush (138 pounds) and Daniel Geriak (heavyweight). Anyone interested in signing up for South Side Wrestling Club’s all session or the South Side Intensive Wrestling Camp held at Notre Dame August 8th-12th please contact SouthSideWrestling@yahoo.com.

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