ALBANY – No less than five Cicero-North Syracuse wrestlers found themselves in Albany late this week for the two editions of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships.
And this included the first-ever NYSPHSAA meet in girls wrestling where C-NS’s Shea Ellsworth represented Section III in the 100-pound division on Thursday afternoon.
A 23-6 record against tough competition left Ellsworth as the no. 6 seed, but that didn’t help in her the opening round against no. 11 seed Cadence Guy (Walton/Delhi), who pinned her in 93 seconds.
Moved into the consolation bracket, Ellsworth won her first bout there, pinning Middletown’s Mileyda Palaez-Colon in 89 seconds, but was stopped in the next round when Huntington’s Bianca Awerman pinned her on the way to a third-place finish.
Section III had just one state champion – Mount Markham seventh-grader Samantha Massey who didn’t drop a point in any of her bouts, two of them pins and two of them 10-0 shutouts including the final where she beat Shaker’s Julia Duro.
A day later at MVP Arena four C-NS boys wrestlers got their turns at the state meet, but none of them were able to make it past their opening bouts in the main bracket.
Of them, Kennedy Thomas had the most painful defeats. As the no. 5 seed at 152 pounds, Thomas was favored against Horace Greeley’s Chris Nocca, but it turned into a back-and-forth battle where, in the final seconds, Nocca pulled it out 8-7.
Thomas recovered in the consolation bracket to pin Tyler Ritter (Chenango Forks) in 56 seconds and Matthew Merecka (Wantagh) early in the second period, but then lost another close decision 3-2 to Brockport’s William Wood one win short of a podium finish.
Kasey Kalfass, the Most Outstanding Wrestler at the Feb. 15 Section III Division I state qualifier when he beat the top three seeds in the 124 division, lost his opening-round bout to Hauppuage’s Gino Manto in a 17-1 technical fall and then, in the consolation bracket, lost 13-2 to Oceanside’s Jake Strianese.
At 131 pounds, Javone Dawkins met Long Beach’s Brody Franklin in the opening round and also suffered a defeat through a technical fall, this one 16-1, going on to a defeat to another Oceanside wrestler, Chace Morris.
Wrestling at 190 pounds, Kaydin Welch went all six minutes in his opening-round bout against Churchville-Chili’s Andrew Frost but lost a 9-4 decision, then was pinned by Shaker’s Paul Harley in 4:17.
