This week the Norwich Bulletin is presenting the Top 10 sports stories of 2017. Today we look at the Ellis Tech wrestling team’s historic Class M state championship victory.
      
Ellis Tech  was the favorites going into the 2017 Class M state wrestling tournament. And when four Eagles, including two defending champions, reached the finals, things were looking pretty good.
Still, Ellis Tech coach Rafael Calixto appeared nervous. Calixto and assistant coaches Jamie Devanny and Chris Warren had started this journey four years ago. They convinced everyone that the impossible was possible. That a tech school could, indeed, win a state title.
“From Day One, our goal was a state championship,” Calixto said. “Maybe it’s my competitive nature, but we’ve always had high expectations.”
With Sean Johnson (113), Anthony Devanny (126), JoJo Gonzalez (132) and Cole Blair (138) rolling to victories, Ellis Tech (Danielson) had edged defending champion Foran, 213.5 to 183.5 to capture the program’s first state title and first-ever wrestling crown for a technical school.
Ellis Tech‘s only previous state titles came via five boys’ cross country state crowns during a period from 1987-1993. 
"It was always in the dream,” said Devannys. “We started out and it was like, ‘We’re going to win Class M.’ It was going to happen.”
Johnson and Gonzalez, a two-time New England champion, won individual Class M titles the year before.
The Eagles also earned important place points from Gavin Rickaby (106), Josh Wojcik (182), Gavin Thuotte (220), and Collin Delsanto (285) to unseat the Lions.
 Foran coach David Esposito said the better team won it.
 “They were better than us and they were better than us all year,” Foran coach David Esposito said. “It was a harder job for us to come in second this year than to come in first last year. We just got outwrestled by a better team.”
In Calixto’s first season in 2014, Ellis Tech placed 16th in the Class M meet. They improved to seventh in 2015 and rose to fourth in 2016, which was the best-ever finish for a tech school at a state meet. 
Until 2017.
“You still have to show up and perform,” Calixto said. “Ask any of these guys, we’ve always told them this is possible. This senior group believed in the process and put their trust in us. It’s great to see that hard work and coming from nothing, it’s a real thing. It can happen for anybody.”