Lowering the curtain on a memorable campaign Green Wave's Kirkegard earns fourth in New England wrestling

Conor Kirkegard of New Milford High School claimed a fourth-place finish last Saturday in the New England championship wrestling tournament.

The Green Wave sophomore showed the way for a trio of coach Chris Piel's grapplers in season-ending competition at the New Haven Athletic Center.

Anthony Terlizzi at 140 pounds and Adam Lynch at 215 pounds also competed at the New Englands courtesy of their top four finishes at the Feb. 26-27 state open tournament.

Their efforts helped coach Piel's mat crew lower the curtain on a 2009-10 season featuring an unbeaten regular season record, victory in the Green Wave's own invitational tournament and a successful defense of its South-West Conference championship.

The highlight for many, it's likely, was a dual-meet conquest of Danbury in late December that snapped the Hatters' 12-year, 262-meet win streak over state rivals.

Coach Piel's squad settled for second place at the state class `S' tournament to Fairfield Warde but came home that day with gold medals earned by Kirkegard at 103 pounds, Nick Amorando at 119 and Lynch at 215.

The Green Wave was third to Danbury and South Windsor in the state open meet with Kirkegard capturing a silver medal and Lynch, Terlizzi and Amorando all grappling their way to strong finishes.

-- Norm Cummings