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Aspras, Taylor honored with Saunders and Schultz Awards, respectively – Connecticut Wrestling Online

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Aspras, Taylor honored with Saunders and Schultz Awards, respectively – Connecticut Wrestling Online


Foran’s Kelly Aspras, left, and GFA’s Nate Taylor were honored as Connecticut’s winners of the 2024 Tricia Saunders Excellence Award and the Dave Schultz Excellence Award.

Milford’s Kelly Aspras of Foran High has been selected as the 2024 Connecticut winner of the Tricia Sanders High School Excellence Award and Greens Farms Academy senior Nate Taylor of the Sandy Hook section of Newtown has been selected as the state winner of the Dave Schultz Excellence Award in 2024 from the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Both awards recognize and honor wrestlers for their excellence on the mat, scholastic achievement, citizenship and community service.

Aspras, who will attend nationally-ranked Sacred Heart University next winter, had a limited wrestling schedule this past winter. She eliminated wrestling against boys to avoid injuries and remain healthy throughout the season.

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Aspras continued to dominate the competition among the girls. She finished third at the Eastern States Classic in New York at 145 pounds in January and won Foran’s Queen of the Mat tournament for the second time with three pins.

She won her third CIAC Girls Invitational championship and won her first New England championship at 152 pounds, finishing her high school season with a 13-1 record and 11 pins. She became the third girl in state history to win a third Girls Invitational title.

Taylor, who will attend the University of Pennsylvania next season, is a four-time National Prep School Tournament All-American. Three times, he finished third in 2021, 2022 and 2024 with a second place finish in 2023. Taylor wrestled at 190 this past season.

He won three New England Prep School championships in 2022, 2023 and 2024 and three Western New England championships, being named Most Outstanding Wrestler twice in 2023 and 2024. Taylor helped Greens Farms Academy win the last two New England championships.

Last December he was third at the Ironman Tournament in Ohio at 190 pounds and was an All-American at the Super 32 preseason tournament in 2022. He earned All-American honors in the 16-and-under division, formerly known as the Cadet Division, at 170 pounds at the USA Wrestling national championship meet in 2021.

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In 2021, he won the National High School Coaches Association (NHSCA) freshman tournament at 160 pounds.

First presented in 2014, the Tricia Saunders Award is named in honor of Saunders, a four-time world champion wrestler and women’s wrestling pioneer. Saunders was the first woman to be inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2006 and was inducted into the United World Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2011.

The Dave Schultz Award was established in 1996 to honor Olympic and world champion Dave Schultz, whose career was cut short when he was murdered in January 1996. He was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member in 1997 and as a member of the United World Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2016.



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Connecticut

I-95 reopens in Connecticut after gas tanker fire damaged Norwalk overpass – Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News

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I-95 reopens in Connecticut after gas tanker fire damaged Norwalk overpass – Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News


(CNN) — A busy stretch of Interstate 95 in southwestern Connecticut reopened to traffic this weekend, just a few days after a gasoline tanker fire damaged an overpass and forced the highway to close in both directions.

Traffic was back up running in both directions Monday morning “at full capacity” in Norwalk – some 40 miles northeast of New York City – CNN affiliate News 12 reported.

“It is truly amazing that in less than 80 hours from that fiery crash Thursday that shut down traffic in both directions, the highway again is fully open,” Gov. Ned Lamont – who is expected to hold a news conference Monday morning – said Sunday in a news release, praising state agencies involved in the cleanup, demolition and rebuilding.

“I am impressed by these efforts and thankful for the dedication, skill, and labor of everyone who has been involved,” he said.

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Northbound lanes of I-95 in Norwalk had been expected to reopen by 8 p.m. Saturday, according to Lamont’s office, while the southbound lanes had been anticipated to open by Sunday at 10 a.m.

While the highway has reopened, work continues to replace the Fairfield Avenue Bridge, which was demolished after sustaining “significant damage” in Thursday’s crash, Connecticut Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto said in the news release.

The governor declared a state of emergency in response to the accident, saying Thursday the interstate would be closed “at least through the weekend.” Motorists were encouraged to avoid the area – a tall order, given Norwalk, home to about 90,000 people, is about 30 miles southwest of New Haven, Connecticut, and in the New York metro area.

The bridge was demolished by 12:30 p.m. Saturday, according to a news release that day from the governor’s office. Crews then cleaned up debris and began repairing the highway before reopening northbound lanes.

The southbound lanes remained closed until Sunday because the damage was so severe “that those lanes need to be milled and repaved,” the release said.

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I-95 in Connecticut reopens after tanker crash

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I-95 in Connecticut reopens after tanker crash


NORWALK, Conn. — Interstate 95 in Connecticut reopened Sunday after a flaming crash involving a gasoline tanker scorched a bridge and left the road closed for days, officials said.

Authorities shut the highway down in both directions after a three-vehicle crash Thursday involving a gasoline tanker, which burst into flames and damaged an overpass above I-95 in Norwalk. No one was seriously injured.

Workers began demolishing the bridge on Friday and worked to repave damaged parts of the road in time for rush hour on Monday.

“It is truly remarkable to complete this work in less than 80 hours,” Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said Sunday on the social platform X.

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The interstate serves as a major link between New England and New York. The closure left drivers packed bumper to bumper on some of the detour routes.


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I-95 in Connecticut to be closed for days after fiery crash damages bridge, governor says



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I-95 in Connecticut fully reopens after fiery petroleum tanker crash damages road

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I-95 in Connecticut fully reopens after fiery petroleum tanker crash damages road


NORWALK, Conn. (WFSB/Gray News) – Interstate 95 in Connecticut fully reopened Sunday morning following a fiery petroleum tanker crash last week.

The crash involved three vehicles, including the tanker and another tractor-trailer in Norwalk around 5:30 a.m. Thursday morning. Police say a car was merging onto 95 South when it collided with a tanker truck.

The tanker truck then collided with a tractor-trailer before bursting into flames under the Fairfield Avenue overpass.

Officials said no one was injured.

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However, the crash shut down the highway and slowed traffic in lower Fairfield County and around Connecticut.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation and its contractors got the highway fully reopened in less than 80 hours.

Governor Ned Lamont and Connecticut Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto made the announcement Sunday morning.

“It is truly amazing that in less than 80 hours from that fiery crash Thursday that shut down traffic in both directions, the highway again is fully open,” Lamont said.

The bridge was heavily damaged when a tanker truck caught fire after it was involved in a crash Thursday morning.

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The governor said southbound lanes of the highway would remain closed to vehicles through the day on Sunday, May 5, to allow those lanes to be milled and repaved.

To view camera footage of the demolition, click here.

“Completely removing that bridge in less than 36 hours is an impressive feat and is credit to the hard work and dedication of the contractors and Connecticut Department of Transportation crews, who are pushing to get the entire highway fully reopened in both directions by Monday morning,” Governor Lamont said.

Governor Lamont declared a state of emergency to speed up reconstruction.

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