The Marcellus wrestling team was coming off a strong showing at the Jan. 3 Port Byron Invitational, where with 223.5 points it was just behind runner-up Skaneateles (229.5 points), both of them chasing Cazenovia, who won with 267 points.
A week later, though, the Mustangs topped everyone in the Dan Wickham Classic at Unatego, where it earned 179.5 points to edge Saranac (177.5 points) and 12 other teams for the top spot.
In the 99-pound final, Marcellus’ Cahal Donovan beat Walton’s Caleb Robinson 8-3, while Zach Ruggles pulled off the victory at 126 pounds, defeating Colby Hall (Deposit-Hancock) 10-3 in the title bout.
Three other Marcellus wrestlers – Sam Rice (120 pounds), Tristan Duger (138 pounds) and Nate Long (160 pounds) – would finish second, as Rice fell to Josh Devine (Susquehanna Valley) 5-0 in the finals, Long lost to Dylan Gifford (Sydney) by that same margin and Duger took a 3-1 defeat to Monticello’s Ben Ulrich.
Alex Czerniak was third at 106 pounds and Riley Donovan got third at 113 pounds, with Nick Distefano fourth at 138 pounds and Kevin Morrissey fourth at 170 pounds. Nate Lukins got to fifth place at 152 pounds as Mike Heron was sixth at 126 pounds and Alesxandr Popov sixth at 285 pounds.
A week earlier, at Port Byron, Donovan won at 99, pinning Joe Powers (Port Byron) in 1:03 in the semifinals before blanking Cicero-North Syracuse’s Tyler Harrington 5-0 in the finals.
And Donovan was one of four Mustangs to finish in front. Ruggles (126) routed Devin Welch (Ithaca) 12-1 and, in the finals, did the same to Austin Parker (Port Byron) 11-2.
Long, at 160, pulled away from APW/Pulaski’s Jon Sheehy 14-4 after a 3-0 semifinal win over Ithaca’s Justin Milner. At 170, Morrissey beat Jesse Ramirez (North Rose-Wolcott) 6-1 to reach the title bout, where he earned a 9-4 decision over Mynderse Academy’s Austin Bannister.
Hood nearly made it five titles for Marcellus at 132, getting to the finals before a tough 7-6 defeat to Moravia’s Cody Lamphier. Czerniak (106) pinned Tyler Parker (Port Byron) in the third period to finish third. Rice won the consolation bracket final over C-NS’s Joe Mayers 6-1.
Distefano was fourth at 138, with Duger fourth at 145, each of them losing close third-place bouts – Distefano 7-6 to Cazenovia’s Billy Heselden, Duger 3-1 to C-NS’s Josh Bigford. Lukins was sixth at 182.
For a couple of seasons, West Genesee found itself unable to measure up on a consistent basis against the other CNY Counties League powers.
All of that changed, at least for one night, during Thursday’s meet with visiting Cicero-North Syracuse. After a 24-hour weather postponement, the Wildcats won every bout from 138 to 195 pounds, the key to defeating the Northstars 43-35.
Included in that seven-match run was six pins, with Yvan Kouakou (152 pounds) recording the fastest fall, finishing off Hunter Grybowski in 2:29, two seconds quicker than Liam Kotas (160 pounds) with his fall over James Debo.
Joe Malinowski, at 138, earned a second-period fall over Nick Gazzillo. Shayne Middleton, at 170 pounds, took 4:37 to pin Anthony Carella, while Griffin Sasso (182) pinned Andrew Clark in 5:09 and Dalton Elias (195 pounds) got his fall over Angelo Shaw-Perez with just three seconds left in their bout.
Only Victor Elias, at 145 pounds, had to go all six minutes, but still recorded an impressive 12-5 victory over Josh Bigford. C-NS won most of the matches in the lighter weight classes, but Mike Linton (126 pounds) provided an exception, blanking Jacob Hall 8-0.
From there, WG went to Saturday’s Cazenovia Invitational, where it finished 11th with 61 points, far off the pace set by Baldwinsville, who won with 194 points.
Kotas did beat Cazenovia’s Alex Nannery 8-5 to reach the 160-pound final, but ran into B’ville’s Thor Sutphen in that title bout and lost a tough 6-4 decision.
No other Wildcat wrestler reached the championship round, instead seeing Middleton earn third place at 170 by claiming a rematch with Carella in a 7-4 decision in the consolation bracket final. Kouakou and Linton both recorded sixth-place finishes.
