Cazenovia’s wrestling team hoped to conclude one of its busiest portions of the season by hosting its own invitational meet on Saturday, featuring 16 entrants.
Overall, the Lakers had 75 points, taking seventh place, while Chittenango was seventh with 87 points. Vestal, with 198 points, topped the field, with Baldwinsville (145.5 points) in second.
Only one Laker, Nick Petroff, made the championship round, in the 120-pound division. Petroff pinned Chittenango’s Alex Bixby in the second period and edged Tyler Heggelke (West Genesee) 2-1 in the semifinals, only to lose a 5-3 title match to Onondaga’s Tyler Field. Bixby finished fifth.
Dylan Evans claimed fourth place at 126 pounds and Brad Lucas earned fourth at 285 pounds. Aaron Lahart was fifth at 99 pounds, with Carter Biviano fifth at 113 pounds after pinning Chittenango’s Wyatt Blanding in 2:04 for that spot. Ted Kugler was sixth at 138 pounds.
Meanwhile, Chittenango’s Wes Blanding, at 132 pounds, took the title by dominating Onondaga’s Alex Potts 17-5 in the championship round, and teammate Cody Carbery won at 106 pounds with a 5-2 finals decision over Oxford’s Joe Nelson. John Regan rose to fifth at 145 pounds, with Zach Graham (195 pounds) also in the fifth slot.
Back on Jan. 7, the Lakers had a strong showing during the Port Byron Invitational. It earned 170 points for third place in a 14-team field. North Rose-Wolcott won with 222.5 points and Hannibal (175.5 points) edge out Cazenovia for the second spot.
Jake Wilson, at 160 pounds, took 35 seconds to pin Moravia’s Alex Lavender in the quarterfinals. He then edged Charles Small (North Rose-Wolcott) 3-2 in the semifinals and, in a classic final, got past Jordan-Elbridge’s Mitch Cooper in a 14-13 decision.
As for Dan Phillips (182 pounds), he pinned J-E’s Ryan Hubbs in 3:27 and took just 48 seconds to pin Port Byron’s Mike Murray to reach the title match, where in just 1:10 he finished off Hannibal’s John Burcham to prevail.
At 138 pounds, Teddy Kugler pinned Shawn Conners (Red Creek) and Kyle Bush (Mynderse Academy) to reach the finals, but fell to Hannibal’s Alex Race 9-3 and settled for second place.
Petroff, beaten in the semifinals at 120, recovered to beat Hannibal’s Greg Hadcock 5-1 for third place. Mike Nourse had the same finish at 145 pounds, routing Jake Yates (Mynderse) 14-3 to prevail in the consolation bracket. Dan Cossitt, by pinning Chris Pinckney (Port Byron) in 2:31, got to third place at 152 pounds, and Lucas topped Mike Carbonaro 5-1 for that same finish.
Biviano took fourth place at 113, with Evans fourth at 126 pounds and Hayden Polhamus fourth at 195 pounds. LaHart was fifth at 99 pounds, with John Nannery getting to fifth at 220 pounds when he beat Dakota Carswell (Hannibal).
Back in OHSL Liberty division action on Thursday night, the Lakers ripped past Jordan-Elbridge 69-16, aided by seven Eagles forfeits to Polhamus, Biviano, Kugler, Lucas, LaHart, Cooper Holgate (106 pounds) and Anthony Rinaldo (132 pounds).
Phillips did wrestle, though, and pinned Ryan Hubbs in 1:22 as Nannery, in five fewer seconds, pinned Andy Chambers. Nourse and Evans both managed second-period falls, while Cossitt, in the closest match of the night, topped Collin Ennulat 4-1.
Chittenango returned to action last Tuesday, going to East Syracuse-Minoa and earning enough points in the early going to hold off the Spartans 45-27.
Graham opened the meet by fighting past Cody Loope 9-5. In between forfeits to Casey Placito (285) and Wyatt Blanding (113 pounds) Carbery, pinned Jasyn Burns in just 22 seconds.
After Bixby (120) squeezed out a 1-0 decision over Jeremy Murphy, Blanding got a 21-5 technical fall over Kyle Parella, after which Brad Phelps (138) pinned Kevin Morris in 1:14 and Regan (145) took just 28 seconds to pin Frank Kulas.
Correy Wilmer earned the Bears’ other points, at 160, with a 15-4 romp over Alex Seamans. Rob Tyson (126) lost a narrow 9-8 battle to Sam LeGro and Tylar Wilmer, at 170, fell to Eric Spero 4-2.
