In perhaps the ultimate sign of how far it had risen, the Cazenovia wrestling team is one of 16 teams invited to the biggest team event of the season — the annual Section III Dual Meet, to be held Saturday at Rome Free Academy.
The only drawback for the Lakers is that, in the opening round, it will have to face defending Dual Meet champion Phoenix, who is also the top seed this time around.
As a warm-up for the Dual Meet, the Lakers had a simple time of it during last Monday’s meet against LaFayette at Buckley Gym, crushing the Lancers by a score of 62-6.
Though Cazenovia gained many points through forfeits, Phil Kugler did wrestle at 160 pounds and pinned Joe Muir at the end of the first period.
Elsewhere, Alex Petroff, moving up to 135 pounds, earned a 17-1 technical fall over Dan Moltion, while Noah Shephard (140 pounds) gained his own technical fall, shutting out Steve Griffin 15-0.
In back-to-back matches, Dylan Perry (145 pounds) went all six minutes to beat Ryan Scholes 9-5, while Dan Cossitt (152 pounds) had to push hard to beat Mitch Burke 9-7.
Dylan Perry (103 pounds), Jose Wells (112 pounds), Sam Taylor (171 pounds), Cody Foster (189 pounds) and Jake Auyer (215 pounds) all claimed forfeits.
