Dan Lang, whose spectacular Baldwinsville wrestling career in the mid-1970s culminated in a state championship, is now a member of the Section III Wrestling Hall of Fame, the seventh man in the Bees’ history so honored.
Three consecutive years, from 1973 to ’75, Lang emerged victorious at the Section III championships in the heavyweight division of 250 pounds, when only one man per weight class advanced to the state meet. In the middle of this run, Lang, in 1974, went all the way to the state title.
Lang joins Leo Johnson (1990), Otis Sennett (1991), John Arcaro (2003), Tom Pickard (2007), Bob Medina (2010) and Fred Brown (2011) as members of this prestigious fraternity with B’ville ties. Pickard won back-to-back state titles in 1977 and ’78 right after Lang graduated.
The entire Class of 2016, which includes Lang and wrestlers Lee Avery (Cazenovia) and Mike Catania (Cicero-North Syracuse), along with coach Joe Campo (Frankfort-Schuyler) and contributors Brad Hamer and Jack Romagnoli, will get honored at a dinner next Nov. 5 at Borio’s Restaurant in Cicero.
Just after this was announced, B’ville’s current wrestling team made their way to the annual Phoenix Round Robin on Saturday and proved itself quite strong, earning 201 points to finish third behind Fulton (259.5 points) and the host Firebirds, who won with 306.5 points.
Jeremy Pond and Thor Sutphen won their respective weight classes for the Bees. Pond, at 132 pounds, won a tough 5-2 decision over Cortland’s Kiegan Brown in the finals, while Sutphen took the 170-pound title when he pinned Phoenix’s Kyle Demo 18 seconds into the third period.
Jake Naples was the only other B’ville wrestler to get into the finals, at 120 pounds, where he meet Fulton’s Wyatt Willis and got pinned in the final 30 seconds of their title bout, but three other B’ville wrestlers had third-place finishes.
Jacob Cavallo, at 106 pounds, beat Port Byron’s Katherine Sumner 5-0 for third place. Kevin Lewis reached that same mark at 126 pounds by claiming a 7-3 decision over Fulton’s Nick Noel, while Dan Fawwaz won a tough 1-0 decision over his own teammate, John Petrelli.
Aside from Petrelli, Zach Hahn (113 pounds) and David Rush (145 pounds) earned their own fourth-place finishes. Spencer Woods, at 152 pounds, edged Bryce Doane (Fayetteville-Manlius) 5-4 for fifth place, with Dan Wicks fifth at 195 pounds. Tyler Patrick (132 pounds), Tom Fuzia (138 pounds) and Jacob Barnaba (160 pounds) each had sixth-place efforts.
When the Bees returned to CNY Counties League competition Wednesday night at the Baker High School gym, it found success again, defeating Cicero-North Syracuse 48-24.
Wicks won the opener at 195, pinning Jack McDonald early in the third period. But after Mike Spicer (285 pounds) beat Christian Anoceto 6-2, the Northstars won the next four bouts, taking a 21-9 lead.
From there, though, B’ville dominated, starting with Naples, at 120, pinning Zach Sweeney in 3:15. Kevin Lewis (126 pounds) shut out Joe Mayers 5-0 as Patrick pinned Jacob Hall with 16 seconds left in their bout.
Then the Bees won the last five matches, starting at 145, where John Eustice beat Matt Brisson 5-1. Rush, at 152, took just 60 seconds to pin Troy Misita as Woods, who moved up to 160, got a second-period fall over Andrew Clark.
To close out the meet, Brandon Schmid, at 170 pounds, pinned Landry Rogers with 30 seconds left and Petrelli earned an 8-2 decision over Jeremiah Butler.
B’ville will work during the holiday break, too, competing next Tuesday and Wednesday at the Dolgeville Duals before the league schedule resumes Jan. 6 against West Genesee.