SYRACUSE – As area high school wrestlers pursued Section III Division II honors last Saturday at Onondaga Community College’s SRC Arena, Cazenovia sophomore Evan Rutecki got the closest to the top of the podium.
Already the sectional Class C champion at 102 pounds, Rutecki had won 36 of 39 bouts entering the sectional meet, where he was the no. 2 seed.
After a first-round bye, Rutecki pinned Derek Walseman (Beaver River) early in the second period of the quarterfinals and then, in the semifinal round against Brock Frederick (South Jefferson), trailed late in the bout before a near-fall produced three decisive points and a 4-3 victory.
So in Saturday night’s sectional final Rutecki opposed the top seed, Central Valley Academy’s Gene Edwards. At 38-2 on the season, Edwards proved his talent by pinning Rutecki late in the first period for the sectional title.
Still, due to his second-place finish, Rutecki automatically qualified for the Feb. 25-26 state championships, to be held at MVP Arena (formerly Times Union Center) in Albany.
As for the only other Cazenovia wrestlers at the sectional meet,, Broden Enders, competing at 145 pounds, lost in the opening round to South Jefferson’s Aaron Briones, with Blaze Dannon (189 pounds) falling 9-2 to Lowville’s Keegan Crenshaw.
Chittenango got a tremendous performance from Andrew Bailey, who rose from a no. 6 seed to finish third at 189.
Having lost in the quarterfinals to CVA’s Ethan Randall (the eventual sectional champion), Randall then went to the consolation bracket and, after a forfeit, used an overtime takedown to beat Homer’s Zander Johnson 3-1 and then, in the third-place bout, won 7-3 over Adirondack’s Colin White, the no. 2 seed.
Dan Mahle (102) was the no. 6 seed but lost in the quarterfinals to Frederick after pinning Morrisville-Eaton’s Wyatt Hitchcock. Edward Geer, at 132 pounds, lost in the first round, as did Jacob Ezzo at 285 pounds.
