History was made by the Skaneateles wrestling program, and it had little to do with the activities of the current Lakers.
The Section III Wrestling Hall of Fame Class of 2017 was announced last Wednesday, and among the five inductees is Skaneateles graduate Bill McCauley, who in 1969 won the only individual state championship in program history at 215 pounds. He was also a Section III champion in 1968.
McCauley joins a Hall of Fame class that includes coaches John Babcock (South Jefferson and Watertown IHC) and Mark Peavey (Vernon-Verona-Sherrill), plus Watertown’s Tom Verone, a two-time state champion in 1972 and ’73, and New Hartford’s Dan Perry, who also won a pair of state titles, in 1997 and ’98. The Hall of Fame induction dinner is set for Nov. 4, 2017 at Borio’s Restaurant in Cicero.
As to the current Lakers, it followed up its 4-1 run in the APW/Pulaski Duals on Dec. 3 by having its home opener against Central Square last Wednesday night, Skaneateles taking a 54-30 defeat to the Redhawks.
In all, 10 bouts were contested, five won by each side, with the Lakers having to forfeit four different times amounting to 24 points, nearly the entire margin since Skaneateles also got a forfeit at 113 pounds to J.W. Simmons.
Christian Daley earned the first Skaneateles mat win at 126 pounds by pulling out a 2-1 decision over Andy Nicholson with a third-period takedown. Two bouts later, at 138 pounds, Joey Brillo pinned Casey Brennan late in the second period as Matt Goetzmann (145 pounds) got his own second-period fall over Nick Ackley.
Another exciting bout at 170 pounds saw the Lakers’ Ian Frackelton remain undefeated by topping Matt Lewis in a 9-7 overtime battle. To end the evening, Joey McIntyre, at 220 pounds, pinned Jordan Pone with 25 seconds left.
From there, Skaneateles ventured to Saturday’s Portville Tournament, a precursor to a showdown with neighbor and rival Marcellus on Wednesday night.
The Lakers finished third at Portville, a strong finish given that it had wrestlers in just nine of the 15 weight classes. Amid a round-robin format, Skaneateles got 210.5 points, trailing only Randolph (288.5 points) and Bolivar-Richburg (263.5 points).
A trio of Lakers finished first, including Simmons, who at 106 pounds needed only 94 seconds to pin all four of his opponents. Pat Greenfield prevailed at 182 pounds with a 46-second pin over Randolph’s Jacob Zachary in the finals and Goetzmann, at 145, went 5-0 on the day, edging Caleb Palmatier (Franklinville) 5-2 in their title bout.
Brillo finished second, as did Frackelton as they both went 4-1 on the day, with McIntyre also a second-place finisher following a 3-1 effort. Daley, Hannah Drake (99 pounds) and James Leubner (152 pounds) all got third-place finishes, with Leubner beating teammate Josh O’Hara in the third-place bout.