Already the owners of a school record for wins in a season, the Skaneateles wrestling team would find out how that success translated into results when it went north, to General Brown High School in Dexter, for Saturday’s Section III Class C championship meet.
Aiming for spots in this Saturday’s overall sectional tournament at Onondaga Community College’s SRC Arena, the Lakers earned them as it finished eighth out of 13 teams with 97.5 points. Adirondack, with 204 points, edged the host General Brown Lions (203.5 points) by half a point to earn the team title.
Maverick Janes and Connor Gray both would make it to the championship round. At 138 pounds, Janes earned a 15-0 technical fall over Nick LaManque (Holland Patent) and battled hard in the semifinals to beat another HP wrestler, Austin Benoit, 4-1. But in the finals, Canastota’s Nate Walker defeated Janes 8-2, leaving Janes with a record of 27-6 this winter.
Gray began his quest for the 182-pound title by pinning Canastota’s Richard Sharpe in 1:07 before a semifinal bout where he handled Cazenovia’s Brian Silfer 9-4. Met up with Port Byron’s Chris Pinckney in the finals, Gray never got on the board, taking a 4-0 defeat, but still leaving Dexter with a 30-6 record.
Both Janes and Gray will go to OCC this Saturday, as will three other Lakers that finished fourth in the Class C meet. Joey Brillo did so at 113 pounds, barely losing his third-place bout to Connor Schissler (General Brown) 10-8, while Josh Brillo gained fourth place at 126 pounds and Andrew Newton did the same at 145 pounds.
Three other Lakers managed sixth-place finishes, as Nevan Rourke did so at 106 pounds following a 1-0 defeat to Zach Williams (Hannibal) in the fifth-place bout and Max Collier got the same result at 113 pounds as he lost 9-5 to another Hannibal wrestler, Dustin Ouellette. Francis Lombardi made his way to sixth place at 160 pounds.
