For the second time in three years, West Genesee wrestler Nate Wade can call himself a Section III champion.
Adding to the 99-pound Division I (large school) title he won as a freshman in 2018, Wade continued to add to his long resume with a run to the top of the podium at 132 pounds during Saturday’s sectional meet at SRC Arena.
But Wade was far from the only local wrestler to earn top sectional honors. Solvay senior Tyriq Block rose to the top of the standings in Division I at 182 pounds as Marcellus sophomore Carl Santiarello emerged victorious as the top seed at 106 pounds in Division II (small schools) to lead the Mustangs.
Wade was the top seed at 132 and entered the sectional meet with a 37-1 record. He then spent less than three minutes on the mat in the quarterfinals and semifinals, pinning Syracuse’s Malik Egerton in 71 seconds and 97 seconds for his pin over Liverpool’s J.J. Paulson.
Paired up in the final against Fulton’s Cole French, Wade got a first-period takedown and, after another takedown in the second period, nearly pinned French, eventually pulling away to prevail 12-2 for the sectional title.
Santiarello faced a larger field of 14 wrestlers as the top seed at 106, but had a first-round bye before taking out Cazenovia’s Shaun Zampetti with a first-period pin in the quarterfinals and a pin over Vernon-Verona-Sherrill’s Aaron Moir at the end of the second period.
The title bout had Santiarello methodically put away Adirondack’s Jacob Strain, executing five different takedowns, four of them after Strain pulled off single-point escapes, all leading to a 10-4 victory and a berth in the Feb. 28-29 state meet in Albany with a 33-3 record.
Block is going there, too, having again wrestled this season with Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA and going 30-4 to earn the no. 2 seed going into the sectional tournament. Then, as Block pinned Christian Kerfien (Oswego) in the quarterfinals and won a 4-2 semifinal battle with Fulton’s Cameron Lugo, top seed Tom Albright (Carthage) lost his semifinal to Rome Free Academy’s John Walston.
So it was Block against Walston in the finals. Two different first-period takedowns put Block in control, and he added two more takedowns in the remaining two periods to defeat Walston 9-4 for his first sectional title.
Marcellus also had a sectional Division II champion in Dylan Price, who is from Onondaga High School but wrestles with the Mustangs.
Price, the top seed at 138 pounds, pinned teammate Tim Okhman in 28 seconds in the quarterfinals, got a 16-1 technical fall over General Brown’s David O’Neill in the semifinals and blanked Central Valley Academy’s Dawson Mower 6-0 in the finals.
The Mustangs’ Colin Scherer finished fourth at 99 pounds, with Ryan Moses earning fifth place at 132 pounds. Ethan Ciota (113 pounds), Wilvon McKee (220 pounds) and Kyle Brown (285 pounds) each lost in the quarterfinals, with Dylan Hook taking an opening-round defeat at 195 pounds.
Up in Division I, West Genesee had Cole Saxon recover from a semifinal loss at 138 pounds by shutting out Adam Brown (Cicero-North Syracuse) 5-0 and then blanking Fulton’s Noah Horning 9-0 to clinch third place.
Colin McAvan took sixth place at 160 pounds after a 9-3 semifinal loss to Fayetteville-Manlius’ Alex Dauksza. Cole Arnold (220 pounds) had a quarterfinal defeat as, Jack Wade (99), Dylan Pitonza (120 pounds) and Peter Dwinell (195 pounds) lost in the opening round.
For Jordan-Elbridge, the best performance came from Jared Lawrence, at 220. After he lost in the quarterfinals, Lawrence went 2-1 in consolation bracket bouts, including a 3-2 win over Port Byron’s Mitchell Tanner and beating Beaver River’s Connor Edick 7-2 to secure fifth place.
The Eagles also had Bryan Tanner wrestle at 113, taking an opening-round loss, as did Zach Hill at 160 pounds, Cameron Newhook at 182 pounds and Ryan Rivenburgh at 285.
