Wrestling

MAC Championships
WALTON – B-G/Afton won six titles at the MAC Championships Saturday in Walton, and cruised to the overall team title topping second-place Greene by 32 1/2 points.
The Bears, Greene, and Oxford finished one-two-three in team scoring, and claimed 12 out of the 15 individual titles up for grabs.
“It’s always nice to win a league championship, and good way for us to start the postseason,” said B-G/Afton coach, Brandon MacNaught. “Hopefully, we can get on a roll.”
MacNaught’s Bears were on a roll this past weekend putting 10 wrestlers into the finals. Four-time Section IV champion, Danny Gormley, began the title run at 125 pounds winning by technical fall. He was followed by B-G/A league champions Jesse Griswold (130), Cory Burnett (135), Daren Terpstra (152), Vinnie Buttice (171), and Billy Holden (285).
“Cory is just getting better and better, and I think Danny is rounding into shape,” MacNaught said, noting that Gormley is still not 100 percent recovered from an ankle injury suffered in December. “Danny’s trying to settle in and see what he can do.”
The turnaround for Oxford’s wrestling program continued with Joe Nelson (96) and Austin Crandall (103) starting the finals with back-to-back wins. Nelson upended Walton’s Dylan Wood, 4-0, and Crandall toppled Tozhia Possemato, 7-2. The Blackhawks, who did not win a dual meet the previous two years, had four wrestlers in the finals, and seven overall place in the top four. “The tournament kind of capped off our performance in the league this year,” said Oxford coach Craig Tefft. “It’s nice that those kids are getting the success.”
Greene, still battling some injuries, had eight kids place to finish 46 points ahead of Oxford. Winning their weight classes were Dan Dickman (140), Mike Beckwith (145), Keegan Cerwinski (160), and Kurt Shear (189).
B-G/Afton, Oxford, and Greene all qualified for the Section IV dual meet tournament next weekend. Oxford is at Waverly Friday night at 6 p.m. with the winner matching up with B-G/A. Greene entertains Norwich on Friday at 6 p.m.
MAC Results
Other local place finishers
Second place  Jeremiah Winter (112), Oxford; Devin Depew (135), Oxford; Cody Davy (140), B-GA; Dakota Vandermark (145), B-GA; Paul Parsons (160), B-GA; Mark Viviano (189), B-GA
Third place:  Tyler Olson (119), UV; Trevor Parrish (130), Greene; Clayden Audette (152), Zach Montgomery (160), UV; Caleb Cutting (171), Oxford; Chris Kehoe (285), Greene.
Fourth place: Ryan Castle (96), Greene; Braxton Howell (103), Greene; Austin Lewis (112), UV; Jody Smith (140), Oxford; Dylan Aikens (145), Unadilla Valley; Cody Marcinko (152), UV; Alex Avolio (285), UV.
Team scores: Bainbridge-Guilford-Afton 189; Greene 156.5; Oxford 110.5; Unatego 98.5; Deposit-Hancock 71.5; Delhi 63; Walton 61; Sidney 60.5; Unadilla Valley 55; Harpursville 36.
Finals
96: Joe Nelson (O) dec. Dylan Wood (W), 4-0; 103: Austin Crandall (O) dec. Tozhia Possemato (D/H), 7-2; 112: Austin Ryan (Unatego) dec. Jeremiah Winter (O), 10-8; 119: Scott Stafford (S) dec. Ryan Marszal (Unatego), 12-2; 125: Danny Gormley (BGA) tech. fall over Derek Northrop (S), 6:00; 130: Jesse Griswold (BGA) dec. Codie Nichols (Unatego), 8-1; 135: Corey Burnett (BGA) dec. Devin Depew (O), 10-1; 140: Dan Dickman (G) dec. Cody Davy (BGA), 9-0; 145: Mike Beckwith (G) pinned Dakota Vandermark (BGA), 0:42; 152: Daren Terpstra (BGA) dec. Gavin Tarbox (D/H), 9-3; 160: Keegan Cerwinski (G) dec. Paul Parsons (BGA), 3-0; 171: Vinnie Buttice (BGA) dec. Cody LaFever (Delhi), 6-0; 189: Kurt Shear (G) pinned Mark Viviano (BGA), 1:17; 215: Kyle Stanton (G) pinned David Fehrman (H), 1:59; 285: Billy Holden (BGA) dec. Mike Thomas (Delhi), 5-2.
Third-fourth Consolation Finals
96: Jacob Andrews (H) pinned Ryan Castle (G), 2:00; 103: Logan Robinson (W) dec. Braxton Howell (G), 4-1; 112: Jason Lobdell (D/H) pinned Austin Lewis (UV), 4:23; 119: Tyler Olson (UV) dec. Tyler Dickman (G), 9-7; 125: Lucas DeJoy (Unatego) tech. fall Jon Wingerter (D/H), 4:09; 130: Trevor Parrish (G) dec. Ray James (W), 5-4; 135: Kevin Thayer (Unatego) dec. Mike Neumann (Delhi), 10-0; 140: Nicholas Jump (S) pinned Jody Smith (O), 1:41; 145: Leland Slawson (Unatego) dec. Dylan Aikens (UV), 3-1; 152: Clayton Audette (O) dec. Cody Marcinko (UV), 9-3; 160: Zach Montgomery (UV) won by forfeit over Justin Bronson (D/H); 171: Caleb Cutting (O) pinned Kasey Bowker (W), 3:39; 189: Bryan Ingram (Delhi) pinned Dylan Barber (Unatego), 1:23; 215: Ben Cairns (Delhi) dec. Eddie Castillo (W), 11-9; 285: Chris Kehoe (G) dec. Alex Avolio (UV), 5-2.

STAC Championships

Garcia repeats for Norwich
OWEGO – Norwich eighth-grader, Frankie Garcia, repeated as STAC champion Saturday night at Owego. Garcia beat previously-unbeaten Sam Carpenter of Elmira, 5-2, in the 119-pound division. Norwich had three other tournament finalists, all of whom came up short.
Garcia, though, came out and dominated Carpenter, despite the relatively close score. Garcia scored takedowns in two of the three periods, and was never close to getting taken down himself, said NHS head coach Joe Downey.
It doesn’t matter what caliber of wrestler you put in front of Frankie,” Downey said. “He’ll continue to go from the first whistle to the last. He’s starting to look like his end-of-season form.”
Placing second for Norwich were Tristan Rifanburg (112), Tanner Cummings (135), and Kegan Levesque (215). Rifanburg, an eighth-grader, suffered his third loss of the season to highly regarded Johnson City senior, Sean McCormick, 11-1. McCormick had a takedown and two sets of back points in the opening period to open an 8-0 lead. “McCormick is just a real elite athlete, and probably favored to win (states) this year,” Downey said. “He had some back points on Tristan, and that’s not something Tristan is used to. (Tristan) had to battle back and he rode (McCormick) tough in the second period. We have a couple weeks to prepare for sectionals, and Tristan will bounce back.”
Cummings hung close with Chenango Forks’ Casey Lanave until later in the third period when he was pinned at 5:37. Lanave is a veteran state tournament competitor and another elite-level wrestler, Downey said. “Tanner had a really good win in the semifinals beating Dustin Greene of Chenango Valley,” Downey said. “It was nice to avenge the loss to Greene from earlier this season. He just fell short in the finals, and we know he has to wrestle a little better on his feet.”
Levesque dropped a 10-3 final to Jake DuBois of Chenango Forks. Levesque had two close wins over DuBois earlier this season, but made a mistake in the first period on a takedown attempt, and gave up a five-point move (takedown and back points). “Kegan just made a couple of mistakes early, and it took him out of his game,” Downey said.
Adding a fifth-place finish for Norwich was Landon Cummings at 96 pounds.

Indoor Track and Field

Big performances for Noelle, B-G/A relays
NEW YORK CITY – At the Armory Track and Field Center, Chad Noelle, running for B-G/Afton’s indoor team, had the best indoor mile time in the country for a scholastic runner at the 10th Annual New Balance Games.
Noelle, running against a competitive field, ran his final lap in under 60 seconds to win in 4:11.64. Noelle also owns the best indoor time in the country in the 3,200 meters, and the win this past weekend qualified him for the Millrose Games mile slated Friday at Madison Square Garden.
B-G/A’s 1,600-meter relay team of Emily Woodford, Katie Woodford, Julia Knapp, and Isamarie Ramos also made the trip to New York City, and clocked a season-best 4:08.91, the quartet’s best time this season. The time was good enough for eighth overall out of 86 teams entered.
“Emily ran fantastic in a tough situation.  She led off with a large crowd and ran exactly the way we have talked about racing from that spot,” said B-GA coach Robb Munro.  “She knows she can run a little faster but I am not sure she could have done any better with the race unfolding the way it did. She stayed out of trouble and ran very smooth.  Julia and Isa both had to spend time in a pretty good crowd. They both worked out of the crowds to close very well, but had a lot of people slowing them down and handled it with great patience. Katie was able to get a little space for herself in lane one and ran the first lap very smooth. When she hit the backstretch of the second lap, she ripped the teams in front of her and pulled away (in our heat) for a very comfortable win.”