Brad Lucas set the pace for the Cazenovia wrestling team, earning the 285-pound championship in the Lakers’ annual tournament on Saturday at Buckley Gym.
As a whole, Cazenovia posted 152.5 points, just behind Cicero-North Syracuse (154 points) for the runner-up spot in a 16-team field. Baldwinsville, with 182.5 points, claimed first place.
Lucas began his meet with a 14-3 romp over Chittenango’s Case Placito. His toughest match came in the semifinals, a 2-0 decision over Oswego’s Eric Doviak, leading to a championship match against Ariel Anoceto (Cicero-North Syracuse) that Lucas won by a 7-3 margin to improve his season mark to 20-3.
Dylan Evans, at 120 pounds, also reached the finals. Evans pinned Dylan Bortle (Cato-Meridian) at the end of the first period, and had little trouble in the semifinals against Billy Heselden (Fabius-Pompey), winning 15-5.
In the final against B’ville’s Kevin Paul, Evans took a 5-4 lead to the third period, but Paul took over int those last two minutes, prevailing in a 10-5 decsion. Still, Evans improved to 28-3 on the season.
Nick Petroff, wrestling at 126 pounds, lost a 5-1 semifinal to Tyler Field (Onondaga), but rebounded to earn third place, edging Chittenango’s Wyatt Blanding 1-0 in the consolation bracket final to improve to 28-5 this winter.
John Nannery (170 pounds) recovered from a quarterfinal defeat to win four times in the consolation bracket and got third place when Chris Pinckney (Port Byron) had to forfeit.
Dan Phillips, the Most Outstanding Wrestler at the Port Byron Invitational a week earlier, took a 7-5 semifinal loss to Kadire Flowers (Institute of Technology Central) at 182 pounds, but also salvaged a third-place finish, pinning Connor Hamilton (Adirondack) in 1:26, sending his season mark to 25-7.
Carter Biviano (113 pounds) lost in the semifinals and eventually claimed fourth place, as did Mike Nourse at 152 pounds. Matt Staiger, at 220 pounds, took a forfeit from Dave Kiernan (Homer) to finish fifth. Zach Maxwell (106 pounds) took sixth place, as did Hayden Polhamus at 195 pounds.
