Several wrestlers from Cazenovia and Chittenango would make it to the awards podium by the end of Saturday’s Section III Division II championships at Onondaga Community College’s SRC Arena.
Champions in 15 weight classes were crowned, both in Division II (small school) and Division I (large school), with winners advancing to the Feb. 27-28 New York State Public High School Athletic Association championship meet at Albany’s Times Union Center.
For the Lakers, John Nannery did best, earning fourth place at 182 pounds. In the opening round, Nannery, the no. 3 seed, routed Canastota’s Kris Rutherford 13-1, and then prevailed in the quarterfinals when Port Byron/Union Springs’ Chris Pinckney had to take an injury default.
Moving to the semifinals, Nannery ran into Mexico’s Jacob Woolson, and could not keep up, taking a 12-2 defeat. In the consolation bracket, Nannery beat Logan Nichols (South Jefferson) 3-0 to advance to the third-place match, but fell, 3-1, to Cato-Meridian’s Nick Sharp, to settle for fourth.
Also for the Lakers, Will Khalil got to sixth place at 113 pounds, edging Nick Herringshaw (Holland Patent) 8-7 in the opening round and topping Max Collier (Skaneateles) 4-2 in the quarterfinals before a semifinal defeat to the eventual champion, Mexico’s Theo Powers. Then Khalil lost a rematch to Collier with fifth place at stake after a defeat to Adirondack’s Brandon Gaylord.
Kevin Frega, at 195 pounds, won his first-round bout over Seth House (Cato-Meridian) 6-0 before a 9-4 quarterfinal loss to top seed Matt Buell (Sherburne-Earlville), who went on to win, the third instance of a Laker wrestler eliminated by the sectional champion at this meet. Frega fell, 3-1, to Brett Finch (Camden) in the consolation bracket.
At 220 pounds, Dan Phillips lost in the opening round to Dylan Hotchkiss (Homer) 8-0, while at 285 pounds Hayden Polhamus also lost, to Central Valeley’s Brandon Yager, who ended up in third place after his first-period pin over Polhamus.
Chittenango’s Matt Bixby reached a milestone on his way to fifth place at 138 pounds. Beaten in the quartefinals 9-4 by Phoenix’s Seth Gilbert, Bixby went 2-1 in the consolation bracket, topping Jeff Taylor (Cato-Meridian) 2-1 and, after a loss to Dan Alberico (Camden) by that same margin, avenging his loss to Gilbert with an injury defeault to not just get fifth place, but reach 100 career wins.
Will Young (145 pounds) beat Little Falls’ Tyler Douglas with a technical fall in the first round and, after a quarterfinal defeat, got past Fred Schell (Central Valley Academy) 11-7 to eventually gain sixth place.
Justin Cox would beat Hotchkiss 4-0 in the consolation bracket after his quarterfinal loss at 220 to Phoenix’s Will Hilliard on his way to sixth place. Connor Fredericks (152 pounds), despite a no. 6 seed, lost in the opening round, as did Antonio Cutrie at 195.
