4/12/2009 9:48:00 AM 

  

Winter Sports All-City Teams 2009-10: State champion tops city’s wrestling best

Regis Jesuit's John Crowley tops seven Aurora placers, six part of 2009-10 All-City mat team

 

 

 Posted: Friday, April 9, 2010 12:00 am

By Courtney Oakes
 The Aurora Sentinel

For the fourth time in five seasons, Aurora had a state championship wrestler, as Regis Jesuit sophomore John Crowley captured this season’s Class 5A 160-pound mat title.

The city has never had a three-time state champion, but Crowley took the initial step toward being the first with a 6-4 overtime win over Chaparral’s Jackson Julian on Feb. 19 at the Pepsi Center.

Crowley became the third Regis Jesuit state champion in the past four years and moved up five spots from the sixth-place he took during an injury-marred freshman season. He finished with a 40-3 overall record and tops The Aurora Sentinel’s 2009-10 All-City Wrestling Team.

All three Regis Jesuit state qualifiers placed, as seniors Andrew Onorato (145 pounds) and Gordie Pisciotta (171 pounds) took fifth and sixth, respectively, to join Crowley on the medal stand.

Onorato (39-7) avenged a loss from a week earlier when he pinned Cherokee Trail’s Willy Gustin in an all-Aurora fifth-place match, while Pisciotta (40-6) won his first two matches to make the placing round — overcoming a torn foot tendon — and taking sixth when he had to forfeit his consolation semifinal.

A Cherokee Trail wrestling program that had been building a foundation the past few seasons took a firm step forward in 2009-10, with an Aurora-best seven state qualifiers, including the first four placers in school history.

Junior 112-pounder Chris Buccieri and senior heavyweight Ben Jordan, the team leaders all season for the Centennial League champions, each took third. Buccieri finished with a city-best 42 wins, while Jordan posted 39 victories.

Junior Keith Johnson took fourth at 189 pounds in his first trip to state, finishing 37-8. Seniors Taylor Rivera (140) and Collin Gorham (who didn’t make state, but was the top Aurora 135-pounder at 33-10) round out the Cougar contingent.

Two of Gateway’s three state qualifiers placed, as senior LaDaris Mungin (130 pounds) turned his third state trip into his first trip to the podium — in fifth — while senior David Anderson needed to qualify just once to get his first place, taking sixth at 152 pounds.

Three of Grandview’s four state qualifiers made the all-city team, led by junior Joshua Federico, who took fifth at 103 pounds in his first Pepsi Centr trip. Senior John Godin and sophomore Sean Burroughs were the top performers at 119 and 125 pounds, respectively.

Senior Daymeon Vaughn went 1-2 as Rangeview’s only state qualifier.
2009-10 AURORA SENTINEL ALL-CITY WRESTLING TEAM

103 pounds

Joshua Federico, Grandview, jr. (39-9)*

112 pounds

Chris Buccieri, Cher. Trail, jr. (42-3)*

119 pounds

John Godin, Grandview, sr. (33-5)

125 pounds

Sean Burroughs, Grandview, so. (34-11)

130 pounds

LaDaris Mungin, Gateway, sr. (36-9)*

135 pounds

Collin Gorham, Cher. Trail, sr. (33-10)

140 pounds

Taylor Rivera, Cher. Trail, sr. (27-11)

145 pounds

Andrew Onorato, Regis Jes., sr. (39-7)*

152 pounds

David Anderson, Gateway, sr. (28-8)*

160 pounds

John Crowley, Regis Jes., so. (40-3)*

171 pounds

Gordie Pisciotta, Regis Jes., sr. (40-6)*

189 pounds

Keith Johnson, Cher. Trail, jr. (37-8)*

215 pounds

Daymeon Vaughn, Rangeview, sr. (33-12)

285 pounds

Ben Jordan, Cher. Trail, sr. (39-3)*

Honorable mention

Dylan Avery, Gateway, jr.; Dustin Brown, Eaglecrest, sr.; Greg Conrardy, Cher. Trail, sr.; Gage Fell, Eaglecrest, sr.; Willy Gustin, Cher. Trail, sr.*; Ethan Hales, Cher. Trail, sr.; Alex Kelly, Eaglecrest, jr.; Tony Millan, A. Central, sr.; Derek Olson, Grandview, sr.; Joaquin Reyna, Hinkley, jr.

* — State placer