Middletown Wrestler Devon Carrillo Captures Third Consecutive Class LL Championship

Another day, another championship.

All-American wrestler Devon Carrillo won his third consecutive Class LL state championship and his first at 182 pounds. Carrillo had taken the state title the previous two seasons at 171.

Carrillo’s dominance extended further than just his title. The senior defeated New Milford’s Doenia with a 24-second pin, and his four pins added up to just 7:45 seconds. Carrillo’s remarkable performance earned him awards for most outstanding wrestler and fastest fall at the meet.

“Devon is amazing wrestler,” Middletown Head Coach Mark Fong said. At this point we expect him to dominate. We never expect him to give up a point. He’s definitely the favorite for the New England championship and it would be great to see him win. It’s the one honor that has eluded him.”

Indeed, Carrillo is confident he will take the championship in both the State Open and New England championships at 182.

“Keep the same mentality,” Carrillo said to the Middletown Press in regards to continuing his success. “Nobody comes close to me, and just keep dominating everybody, and I’ll be good.”

As a team Middletown finished sixth overall with 118.5 points. Daniel Hand won the state title with 233 points, and New Milford finished second with 178.

The Blue Dragons had two wrestlers finish second. Senior Andrew Carrigan was runner-up at 120, and junior Randy Halle took second place at 160.

“I’m really excited about Randy,” Fong said. “He came in ranked 11th in his class and beat the second and third ranked wrestlers to win. It was a great performance.”

Though he was very pleased with the performance of certain wrestlers, Middletown’s Head Coach was nowhere near satisfied with ho his team performed overall.

“We did not perform as well as I was hoping to,” Fong stated. I thought we could finish in the top five but a lot of our wrestlers seemed like they were asleep. We did not wrestle-back well like we usually do. I can’t remember the last time we had no one place in consolation at this meet.”

The trio of Carrillo, Carrigan and Hale will represent Middletown at the State Open. That meet will take place this Friday and Saturday at the Floyd Little Athletic Center in New Haven.