Hundreds of high school wrestlers from more than 40 teams converged in Fulton on Dec. 29 and 30 to take part in the Kenneth Haines Memorial Tournament – and Marcellus junior Cahal Donovan proved the best of all.
Donovan was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler after his run to the 132-pound championship, which put his season record at 25-0.
After pins over Gavin Lamb (Fairport) and Nolan Palmer (East Syracuse Minoa), Donovan got a 19-3 technical fall over Cortland’sAaron Kelchner in the quarterfinals and then handled Mexico’s Austin Reed 21-8 in the semifinals.
Then, in the championship bout against Victor’s Alex Samson, Donovan took control and earned a pin at 3:20, one of just two wrestlers to earn pins in the finals with Newark Valley’sTrentyn Rupert (285 pounds).
Overall, Marcellus finished 20th in the team standings, the middle of the pack as West Genesee earned 12th place with 97.5 points.
Chandler McAvan had the Wildcats’ best finish, at 195 pounds, where he lost in the semifinals, but recovered to win the consolation bracket, pinning Central Square’s Jamie Battaglia in 99 seconds to get third place.
Nate Wade was fourth at 99 pounds, dropping a close 7-5 decision to Horace Greeley’s Matthew Schreiber in the consolation bracket final. WG’s Devin Earl beat the Mustangs’ Riley LaFrance with a second-period fall in the fifth-place bout at 145 pounds.
Victor Elias, by pinning Camden’s Gavin Vera in the second period, earned seventh place at 160 pounds for the Wildcats as Marcellus had Trevor Widrick finish eighth at 145.
Marcellus would return to OHSL Liberty division competition with last Wednesday’s meet at Phoenix, and while Donovan was triumphant again, the Mustangs still lost, 45-29, to the Firebirds.
Five of the first seven bouts went to Marcellus, capped by Donovan’s 15-5 win over Ryan Dolbear at 138 pounds. Carl Santariello opened at 106 pounds with a second-period fall over Rayden Schmett as Ryan Moses (113 pounds) worked past Jeff Cooper 8-4.
Jack Santariello wrestled at 132 and got past Colton Winks 11-3 as Widrick emerged to beat Jadan Bruno 8-1. Those decisions gave Marcellus a 20-15 lead, but it didn’t last.
The Firebirds claimed five of the next six bouts, each of them pins or forfeits, clinching matters even though Tom Kinsella, at 195, edged Donovan Dygert 3-2 and Ethan Ciota closed at 99 with a 50-second pin of Josh Stafford.
Weather would postpone both West Genesee’s match against Syracuse and one between Jordan-Elbridge and Hannibal.
