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.

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.

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.

A man accused of causing a fiery crash that shut down a major Connecticut highway bridge and killed a fuel delivery truck driver has been charged with negligent homicide, police said Thursday.

State police said Reginald Collins, 59, turned himself in Wednesday after learning that authorities had issued an arrest warrant for him related to the April 2023 crash on Interstate 95, a major artery between New York and Boston. His lawyer denied the allegations and said they came as a surprise.

State police said Thursday that Collins was driving his car on the southbound side of the Gold Star Memorial Bridge between New London and Groton when he blew out a tire, swerved and stopped in the right lane instead of pulling onto the right shoulder.

A fuel delivery truck then crashed into Collins’ car, flipped over onto its right side and caught fire, state police said. The 42-year-old truck driver, Wallace Fauquet III, of Stonington, was killed. Collins was knocked unconscious, and he and a passenger in his car were pulled to safety by good Samaritans as the flames approached the vehicle.

The arrest warrant alleges Collins “created a traffic hazard by remaining stationary within the right acceleration lane and failing to move the vehicle out of the travel lane to a safe location.”

Collins’ lawyer, Anthony C. Basilica, said his client’s car was disabled when it came to a stop and he couldn’t get over into the shoulder.

The crash resulted in the southbound side of the bridge being closed for hours and causing a major disruption in traffic. The Gold Star Memorial Bridge comprises two steel truss bridges — one each for southbound and northbound traffic over the Thames River. It is Connecticut’s largest passenger and truck bridge at 6,000 feet (1,800 meters) in length.

The truck spilled about 2,200 gallons (8,340 liters) of home heating oil, and some of it went into the river. Videos from the scene showed flames burning and smoke rising from a lengthy section of the bridge and spreading to land on the Groton side. The fire damaged some protective fencing and the roadway, but did not damage the bridge’s structure.

Collins, of New London, was arraigned Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to negligent homicide with a motor vehicle, improper parking, failure to register his vehicle and illegally operating a vehicle without proper insurance coverage. He was released on a promise to return to court on June 4.

Basilica said Collins had just bought new tires and was taking a test drive when one of them shredded on the bridge. He said Collins is considering a lawsuit against the tire store and Fauquet’s estate. He said Collins is still dealing with injuries from the crash including neck and back pain and post-traumatic stress.

State police said Fauquet was not licensed to transport hazardous materials such as fuel, but that did not take away from Collins’ role in the accident.

Connecticut Fishing Report

Matt at Black Hall Outfitters in Westbrook told me that he had a slight, but noticeable, uptick in tautog action in the central sound this week, including some relatively easy limits in 15 to 25 feet of water. Small orange jig tipped with a crab was the ticket, and as the water temperatures slowly tick up, it should only improve for the last few days of the season. School to just over slot-class bass are around in better numbers, especially around the tidal creeks and herring runs. If you’re out there on a full sun day, with a decent surface temperature, you’re apt to find some fairly reliable topwater action. If they’re not biting topwater, you should be able to fool them on Fin-S fish or GT paddletails. The herring numbers seem to have increased quite a bit, find the ospreys and you should find the herring and bass.  Matt hasn’t spent as much time in the sweetwater this week, but reports are good for big largemouth on swimbaits and jigs, while trout action is as steady as ever.  

Heather from the Blackhawk in Niantic reports, “It’s almost time!! We can’t wait to start fishing!  Our season will start on Friday, May 3.  Tickets will be posted online on Monday night at 8 p.m., just like in past years.  Be sure to check out our calendar so you see what’s coming up! We continue to book private charters, so be sure to email the office to get your date on the calendar. We are humbled to once again be in the running for the best charter boat in the “Best of the Best” contest.  We would be honored if you’d vote for us! We look forward to seeing everyone soon!” 

Captain Mike Roy at Reel Cast Charters said that the fishing took another turn for the better this week. The stripers are responding well to smaller-sized soft plastics fished on jigheads, but a few more are willing to take topwater offerings each day. Mike is still targeting resident fish, as they wait for fresh fish to really show themselves along the local river mouths. Most of the bass are school class up to 30 inches with the occasional 15-pound class fish mixed in. They also did a bit of togging this week to keep things interesting and were able to get their limits for the table. Captain Mike and his team have openings over the next two weeks, which should be primetime. Give him a call today to book your spot. 

Captain Chris of Elser Guide Service told me that he started to put more time into fishing the Housatonic this week and fishing continues to improve in select locations. Herring are evident, but not obvious, so it’s key to hone in on their location to find quality fish in the 30-inch-plus range. On the freshwater scene, the Hendrickson hatch has kicked off, so the dry-fly enthusiasts are thrilled! Chris likes to experiment with different patterns and find what will produce, when a traditional dry fly doesn’t. Lately, this method has worked well with large parachute patterns. He also added that if you’re a wild trout enthusiast, they may be picky during this hatch, but it is your best chance to get a big fish on a dry fly! 

Tyler at Fisherman’s World in Norwalk reports that they’ve heard of their first reports of early migratory striped bass in the far western sound this week. Boats that headed west found fresh fish on the troll between Greenwich and Execution Rock. This first big wave of fish in the Sound will slowly bleed into local waters over the course of the next few weeks and it won’t be long until the local reefs and rockpiles are covered in larger stripers. For those who don’t want to wait any longer, there are plenty of resident bass in the local rivers, coves, and harbors. Small soft plastics and swimming plugs are doing the most damage, especially in the rivers, but sandworms and even mackerel chunks are taking their share of fish too. The blackfish bite has been good enough for April but is a tad inconsistent. Many anglers are reporting a good bite one day, followed by a skunking the following day. Staying mobile and actively searching for where they are is the key to success, and it definitely seems good enough to give it a shot before the season closes out. Trout fishing in the local streams is improving as the flows improve, while the Saugatuck Reservoir is starting to wake up, with some better walleye and smallmouth reports this week.  

Connecticut Fishing Forecast

With a slight uptick in temperature combined with one of the driest weeks we’ve had in months, it feels like we’re finally approaching the precipice of the winter leaving us and the spring run taking off.  

A few more warm days this week equaled some more encouraging tautog reports from the Western Sound and Central Sound. There isn’t much consistency in the tautog bite, with reports varying from day to day, but it seems that if you get out before the close of the season, you should be rewarded. This is especially the case for the anglers that are willing to be mobile and bounce around. As these tautog make their way into our territory, they’re moving around constantly, so anglers need to be willing to do the same.

Holdover striped bass action has been excellent across the state all season, and another good push of river herring has brought some of the bigger fish out and kicked up activity levels. Bass can be found throughout the river runs and are also being caught in good numbers on the beaches along the mouth of the tidal rivers, so basically anywhere a bass could intercept a river herring, you’re likely to find one. We’re still a few weeks away from the true peak “spring run”, but there are certainly fish to be had at the moment. The Connecticut River is still a bit cold and dirty, but I think we’re only a few days away from some awesome bass fishing up and down said river. This is especially the case when you consider the shad fishing. Reports from the last few days have gone from nothing to steady action in all the usual hotspots, so shad anglers should be busy this weekend, and striper anglers should take this as a sign that the bass bite is ready to blow up. The trout streams have settled nicely and that fishery is as consistent as it gets at the moment.