The 49th annual Brunswick Invitational Wrestling Tournament was held this past Saturday and as always, the competition was fierce, the wrestling was outstanding and the atmosphere was electric in each and every weight class.

With one wrestler finishing in first place, two competitors placing second and four athletes taking third, host Brunswick School, indeed, made its mark at its own tournament, earning a third-place finish in the team standings.

Greens Farms Academy captured the team title at the 2024 49th annual Brunswick Invitational, earning a team score of 514 points. Trinity Pawling School finished second in the team standings at the 11-team tournament with 252.5 points, followed by Brunswick. Greenwich High School placed fourth in the team standings (154 points), while Hopkins School took fifth (110 points). Christian Yanoti was Brunswick’s champion wrestler of the day.

In the championship match of the 115-pound weight class, Yanoti was victorious against Neil Glynn of Greens Farms Academy, winning by pinfall in 1:15.

The semifinal-round of the 115-pound division saw Yanoti pin Graydon Ross of Greenwich Country Day School in 1:35. Greenwich Country Day School finished sixth in the team standings at the BIT (62.5 points).

“He opened really strong and he’s a strong kid,” Yanoti said of his championship match against his Greens Farms Academy competitor. “He got the better of me and he took me down and got me on my back, which was really tough. But he got kind of sloppy, he got kind of high and I was able to roll him on his back and pin him.”

“Winning this tournament is a great feeling,” Yanoti added. “Last year, I didn’t get the result I wanted, so it’s great this year to win.”

Seeded second, Yanoti posted a record of 4-0 on his way to winning the 115-pound championship.

“After the first match, the second match was a lot tougher opponent, also against someone from GFA,” Yanoti said. “I think I won that 5-1. The third match was a kid I wrestled before, so I knew what to expect going into it.”

Yanoti said he benefits from being part of a formidable, competitive Bruins squad.

“If you practice consistently with really good people, you get good as well,” he noted.

The Bruins received a second-place showing from Jack Degl in the 167-pound weight class. Top-seeded Ryan Schneider from Greens Farms Academy defeated the second-seeded Deigl in the 167-pound final, 7-0.

“The GFA kid is the No. 1 seed, they’re like the 30^th team in the country,” said Deigl, a junior, who finished third in the 152-pound bracket at the 2023 BIT. “Going into it, I knew it was a tough match and that it was going to be close.”

In the semifinal-round of the 167-pound bracket, Deigl earned a 10-2 major decision against his opponent from New York Military Academy. Deigl registered a record of 3-1 for the tournament.

“I did pretty well, I wrestle him again in about a week-and-a-half,” Deigl said. “I remember my freshman year, I took fifth place and I hung pictures of people I lost to on my wall, so I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. So, just making the finals is definitely a big achievement.”

Senior Michael Accetta, one of the Bruins’ captains, also produced a second-place showing at the Brunswick Invitational. Fereol Faure of Hopkins School pinned Accetta in 1:53 in the title match of the 134-pound division.

Faure held a 2-0 lead on Accetta prior to pinning him. In the 134-pound semifinals, Accetta won by pinfall against Greenwich High’s Kevin Barrios Espana in 1:44. Accetta was leading his semifinal-round match against Barrios-Espana, 2-0, before pinning him.

Sophomores Ethan Phelps, Alec Harned, Jake Greene and Michael Marini each placed third in their respective weight classes at the BIT. Phelps finished a stellar tournament by defeating John Berlandi of Trinity Pawling in the match for third place, taking a hard-fought 3-1 decision in the 134-pound division.

Harned finished third in the 146-pound class by pinning Max Dubner of Greenwich Country Day School in a time of 4:51. Harned was leading the third-place match against Dubner 5-0 before the pinfall.

In the 192-pound division, Greene pinned Trey Boula of Trinity Pawling (2:26) to earn a third-place finish. Greene was ahead in the match, 3-0, at the time of the pin.

Marini edged Jaylani Woodridge of Trinity Pawling by a 2-0 decision in the 287-pound (heavyweight) third-place match. Also for Brunswick, Owen Bartoszek, a freshman and Patrick O’Donahue, a junior, each registered fourth-place finishes at the BIT.

Bartoszek lost to Eric Fusscas of Hopkins in the 108-pound match for third place, 7-0 and O’Donahue was pinned by Angus Deely of Trinity Pawling in 2:25 in the 140-pound third-place matchup. Deely held a 3-2 edge on O’Donahue prior to the pinfall.

Kyle Pagnani, a senior captain placed fifth, as did juniors Will O’Reilly and Declan Murray for Brunswick at the tourney. Pagnani edged Rylan Alves of Greenwich High in overtime of the 159-pound fifth-place match in an exciting, back-and-forth match.

Pagnani and Alves each put every ounce of energy into this hard-fought 159-pound fifth-place match.

“This was the last BIT of my life, I’ve been doing this since 8^th grade,” Pagnani said. “I had some motivation from coach. With one-minute left. I just gave everything I had.”

“I love it, this was the best competition I’ve had in a while,” Pagnani said of the Brunswick Invitational. “It was the best weight class I’ve wrestled in a while.”

In the 192-pound match for fifth place, O’Reilly was victorious against Pat Healy from Wilbraham and Monson Academy by a 10-7 decision. Murray earned a fifth-place finish in the 217-pound class, winning by major decision against Peter Ivanov from Hopkins.

Matias DeBono, a sophomore and freshman Judah Viders each finished sixth in their respective weight class for Brunswick. Kelly Corson of Greenwich Country Day School won the 101-pound weight class title at the BIT. Team champion Greens Farms Academy won 10 weight class titles.