A brief holiday respite for the Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse wrestling teams ended when they both went to SUNY-Oswego Monday and Tuesday as part of a massive field in the annual Kenneth Haines Memorial Tournament.
The Warriors finished 10th among 33 sides that earned points, getting 97.5 points, a half-point less than ninth-place Marcellus (98 points), while the Northstars had 42 points to finish 26th, well off the pace that Fulton set as it won with 241.5 points and Fairport (188 points) took runner-up honors.
Audey Ashkar’s victory at 132 pounds highlighted Liverpool’s efforts. From a top seed, Ashkar pinned Brian Martin (CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt) in 1:50 and topped Tybarius Harter (Camden) 7-1 in the quarterfinals before beating Gouverneur’s Dan Mullin 6-1 in the semifinals. Against Newark Valley’s Gianno Silba in the final, Ashkar controlled the entire bout, winning a 9-3 decision.
No other Liverpool wrestler had a top-four finish, but Christian Bradshaw did get to fifth place at 99 pounds, prevailing when Mexico’s Dean Shambo had to forfeit.
At 132 pounds, Jerry Nash won a tough 5-3 decision over Derek Goga to finish seventh, while Dylan Wallace was eighth at 138 pounds, falling to CBA/J-D’s Dustin Harris by that same 5-3 margin as Nick Thomas got eighth place at 182 pounds.
By far, C-NS’ best finish came at 113 pounds, where Trevor Harrington lost in the quarterfinals to New Hartford star Kelan McKenna, but recovered for a fifth-place finish, edging Fulton’s Jacob Ruggeri 2-1 for that spot. Nathan Osborne earned seventh place at 106 pounds when he pinned Hannibal’s Seth Salmonsen in 43 seconds.
C-NS returns to CNY Counties League action nextWednesday at Fayetteville-Manlius as Liverpool visits Auburn before a Thursday meet with New Hartford and a Jan. 9 appearance in the Leo J. Sammon Tournament at Central Valley Academy.
