CENTRAL NEW YORK – It proved to be a productive holiday break for the Cicero-North Syracuse wrestling even as many of its main rivals rested or went elsewhere.
At SUNY Oswego’s Laker Hall on Dec. 28 the Northstars nearly went to the top of the standings during the Kenneth Haines Memorial Tournament.
Of the 20 teams in the field, C-NS’s total of 181.5 points beat every Section III side on the field and was second overall to Section V’s Webster Thomas, who won with 211 points. Fulton was third with 154 points.
Kennedy Thomas led C-NS, making his way to the championship round at 152 pounds when he beat Watertown’s Paul Ortega 10-5, but not quite able to win it as Niagara-Wheatfield’s Chase Richards edged Thomas 11-7 in the final.
Two other Northstars had third-place finishes. Kasey Kalfass recovered from a narrow 3-2 semifinal loss to Joe Rafuse (Fayetteville-Manlius) at 124 pounds to sweep the consolation bracket and take third beating Malakai Colon (Webster Thomas) by a 12-5 margin.
Over at 215 pounds Kaydin Welch also lost in the semifinals and then won the rest of his bouts, getting to the consolation bracket final where he beat his own teammate Michael Pease with a second-period pin.
Ahmed Ashkar equaled Pease with a fourth-place finish at 285 pounds. James Conklin pinned Oliver Lyon (Niagara-Wheatfield) for fifth place at 101 pounds.
Grady Ellsworth (108 pounds) edged Holland Patent’s Raymond Spann 7-5 to also finish fifth. Three others – Javone Dawkins (131 pounds), Sean Aldrich (145 pounds) and Dominic Salvatore (190 pounds) – had sixth-place efforts.
The C-NS girls wrestlers took part in the Frosty Freestyle Festival Dec. 28 at Midlakes High School, where Shea Ellsworth finished fourth at 100 pounds and Aniyah Burton took fifth place at 165 pounds, pinning Phoenix’s Kensley Kurtz to earn that spot.
