From the wins by Marcellus junior Cahal Donovan to the collective efforts of West Genesee, area high school wrestlers had plenty to celebrate when Saturday’s Section III championships at SRC Arena were done.
Donovan was the top seed in Division II (small schools) at 132 pounds and owned a 41-1 record going into the meet, where no one would get close to toppling him as he became the first Mustangs wrestler since Pat Bennett in 2001 to earn a sectional title.
After a first-round bye, Donovan pinned Christian Daley (Skaneateles) in the second period and got a third-period technical fall over Mexico’s Austin Reed in the semifinals.
The title bout pitted Donovan against Camden’s Tybarius Harter, whom he took down in a matter of seconds. Despite allowing a few escapes, Donovan did more than enough to pull away and beat Harter 10-3 for the sectional title.
But Donovan wasn’t the only local champion, as West Genesee had 12 wrestlers in the Division I (large school) sectional tournament and saw two of them prevail – freshman Nate Wade at 99 pounds, sophomore Devin Earl at 145 pounds.
Wade, the top seed at 99, pinned William Beseth (Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA) in 35 seconds and got a technical fall over Andon Green (Carthage) in the semifinals before a hard-fought final where, by a 7-2 margin, Wade beat Indian River’s Alex Booth to improve to 37-3 this winter.
Also with a top seed, Earl claimed a 10-1 victory over Tom Albright (Carthage) and an 8-2 win over Aidan Poe (Indian River) on the way to a title bout where, moving to 27-10 on the season, Earl beat Fayetteville-Manlius challenger Ali Salem 5-1.
As a whole, WG finished fourth in the Division I standings behind Fulton, J-D/CBA and Indian River.
With the no. 2 seed at 160 pounds, Victor Elias lost a 7-4 decision to Liverpool’s Anthony Piscatelli in the semifinals, but recovered to finish third with a pin of Rome Free Academy’s Marc Darcangelo in the consolation bracket final and improve to 31-6 overall.
Griffin Sasso got a third-place finish at 170 pounds, beaten 11-0 in the semifinals by J-D/CBA top seed Nick Wright, but recovering with two more wins, capped by a 7-2 decision over Auburn’sKeyshin Cooper.
Chandler McAvan started out as the no. 2 seed at 195 pounds, but he also lost in the semifinals, 9-2, to Jamie Bataglia (Central Square) and ultimately took fourth place, his record moving to 31-8.
Like McAvan, Cole Wade gained a fourth-place finish at 182 pounds, having lost to eventual champion Stephen Demong (Oswego) in the semifinals. Brady Ryan could not hold his no. 4 seed at138 pounds, an injury costing him his quarterfinal with Central Square’s Andy Nicholson.
Ejarian Burgin had a sixth-place finish at 126 pounds. Jackson Taetsch wrestled with Wade at 99 and lost in the first round, as did Gavin O’Neil (113 pounds), Patrick Ivery (132 pounds) and Randell Ouimet (220 pounds).
Back in Division II, Marcellus had Jack Santariello join Donovan at 132, but he lost in the opening round. Carl Santariello (99), Ryan Moses (106 pounds), Tim Okhman (126 pounds), Riley LaFrance (145), Robbie Seeley (160) and Tom Kinsella (170) all had first-round defeats, too.
Jordan-Elbridge put a handful of wrestlers into the sectional meet. Derek Quigley (120), Marion Quigley (138), Landry LaFleur (170) and Josh Roberts (285 pounds) all lost in the first round.
