Gormley, Rifanburg wind up second at state wrestling tournament
ALBANY – Danny Gormley’s five-year climb up the awards podium ended one step short of the summit, while Tristan Rifanburg, the best in the state a year ago, had to settle for second best at the 49th Annual New York State Wrestling Championships, Saturday night at the Times Union Center in Albany.
Gormley, a Bainbridge-Guilford/Afton senior, was making his fifth New York State tournament appearance. He progressively improved at the tournament the past three years moving from sixth to fifth, and to a career-best third a season ago.
Facing Section II’s Andy Lyman in the 125-pound finals, a controversial stalling call on Gormley in the third period with a minute to go coupled with a Lyman escape shortly thereafter gave Lyman the edge in a 2-1 victory.
Neither wrestler aggressively sought takedowns in the first two periods, and neither wrestler ever came close to a two-point takedown. It was a bitter disappointment for Gormley, who came in as the tournament’s top seed. The post-match emotion from Gormley was matched by his head coach, Brandon MacNaught.
“He was my first five-timer,” a teary-eyed MacNaught said of his five-time sectional champion. “Maybe we were a little hesitant on our feet, I don’t know. What I do know is that the match should have gone into overtime. I felt the ref interjected himself into the match. I know for a fact we were not stalling on top. When you get two good wrestlers like that, what may look like stalling is just wrestling because both kids are talented.”
Rifanburg, competing in what was likely the most difficult weight class, needed to beat a returning state champion in the 112-pound division just to reach the finals. Rifanburg edged 103-pound state champion Abdulqawi Mohamed 3-1 in the semifinals using a two-point back tilt in the second period to create his winning margin.
The lone eighth-grader to reach the Division II state finals, Rifanburg squared off with three-time reigning state champion Arik Robinson of Peru for the title. Rifanburg settled in over the final two periods, but a 6-0 first-period deficit was too much to overcome in a 7-2 loss. Rifanburg had four losses on the season, one each to the 2011 Division I (Sean McCormick) and Division II 112-pound state champions. “Every kid he beat this weekend was a state place finisher,” said Norwich coach Joe Downey. “Tristan had a hell of a tournament, and he has nothing to be ashamed of.”
Close to a minute into the match, Robinson finished a takedown, and from the top position, picked up a pair of two-pointers for back exposure to open the early bulge.
Rifanburg, from the top, held down Robinson nearly the entire second period, and came close to earning his own back points with his patented tilt. Finally, in the third period, Rifanburg pulled off a reversal to score on Robinson. Rifanburg rode the cagey Robinson the rest of the way, but was unable to score.
“Tristan wrestled him tough, and we knew Robinson would come out and try for a dump right or a dump left,” Downey said. “We were trying to survive that early flurry, and he finally got us. He was able to punish us a couple of times from top, but Tristan got better as the match went on. We’ll take a couple of weeks off and start our training up again. We know what we have to work on. Tristan be ready for next year – and tougher than he already is.”
Sherburne-Earlville senior Greg DuVall, in his fourth trip to the state tournament, finally cracked the top six placing fourth at 152 pounds. DuVall lost in the semifinals to eventual state champion Chris Nevinger, 8-4, but bounced back in his wrestleback match topping Greene’s Christian Dietrich, 10-6. Back points off an armbar helped DuVall secure his placement.
“He’s been here a lot of times, he made his seed, and he got his 200th career win (on Friday),” said S-E fourth-year coach Bim Palmer. “He’s been a hard worker and I’m glad he finally got to place. He’s done well and he’s going to be missed.”
Greene brought five wrestlers to the state tournament, four of whom placed. Kyle Stanton (215) was fourth, Kurt Shear (189) took fifth, while Dietrich (152) and Keegan Cerwinski (160) each wound up sixth.
Stanton, a junior in just his second full varsity season, gained some tournament seasoning and the three finishers ahead of him at 215 all graduate. He lost in the semifinals to two-time state champion Nick Gwiazdowski of Section II, beat Section III’s Josh Lewis by decision in the wrestlebacks semifinals, before losing his third-fourth-place wrestleback match to Tyler Deuel of Section V.
Shear, the senior top seed, dropped a 3-1 decision in the semifinals to eventual state champion Nick Lalone of Cato-Meridian in Section III. Shear fell by one point in his first wrestleback, but dominated Jon Treen pinning the Section III foe in the second period for fifth.
Cerwinski, a junior, was a hard-luck loser in placing sixth. In his next-to-last wrestleback, he went to three overtimes in a scoreless match with Phillip Clarke of Copenhagen that Clarke won on referee’s criteria. Versus Jarrold Roosa in the fifth-sixth clash, Cerwinski was edged, 6-5.
Dietrich, too, after losing to DuVall, was beaten in overtime by Sandy Creek junior Jared Soule, 6-4. Soule was the lone non-senior on Dietrich’s slate over the weekend. “For a seventh-grader up here at his weight, Christian placing in the top six was huge,” said Greene coach Tim Jenks. “I think we’re going to see this boy up here for a lot of years.”
Jenks also lamented the endless stream of close matches that seemed to favor the opponents. “Everyone up here is tough, and if you relax for a second, it’s over,” he said. “I think we lost by one point or in overtime in all of these matches. We practice for that, but sometimes you come up short. As a coach, you want to see the kids do better; we want the best for them.”
MacNaught’s other two entries into the tournament were Vinnie Buttice (171) and Paul Parsons (160). Buttice finished with two wins and two losses. He lost by two points in the state quarterfinals, and lost his second wrestleback match by one point. In each case, he was leading the match in the third period. Parsons, meanwhile, was toppled in his only two matchups.
“Vinnie wrestled an absolutely brutal schedule this year,” MacNaught said, noting that Buttice had some big wins over top-notch opponents including 171-pound Division One finalist Matt Lashway of Queensbury. “He just had a great year.”
Parsons, MacNaught said, was wrestling a weight class up from his best weight. “We thought 160 pounds was his best chance to get to states,” the coach said. “We knew that (wrestling up) would not be a positive when we got up here.”
Norwich’s Frank Garcia finished his first state tournament with one win in three matches. His losses – each by two points – came to the state runner-up (Ian Ross), and the fourth-place finisher. “Frankie had a tough draw, and sometimes that happens when the kids are so evenly matched,” Downey said. “He had a great experience and he wrestled with a cold and some chest congestion. He was having problems breathing and he probably should have won his last match, but he’ll be back.”
Division II team scoring: Section V, 266.5; Section VI, 221.5; Section III, 213; Section IV, 197.5; Section II, 174; Section I, 93.5; Section VII, 87.5; Section X, 59; Section IX, 23; Section XI, 21.5; Public Schools, NYC, 10; Section VIII, 8.
Division II State Finals Results
(Weight Class, name, grade, school/section)
96: Lucas Malmberg(11) (Marathon-4) def. Ryan Snow(9) (General Brown-3), 12-2. 103: William Koll(9) (Lansing-4) def. John Aslanian(10) (Edgemont-1), pin at 2:48. 112: Arik Robinson(12) (Peru-7) def. Tristan Rifanburg(8) (Norwich-4) 7-2. 119: Nick Tighe(10) (Phoenix-3) def. Ian Ross(12) (Newark-5) 3-2. 125: Andy Lyman(12) (Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk-2) def. Danny Gormley(12) (BainbridgeGuilfordAft-4) 2-1. 130: Ryan Osleeb(12) (North Salem-1) def. Patrick Hogan(12) (Peru-7) 3-1. 135: Quinton Murphy(11) (Holley-5) def. AJ Rue(12) (Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk-2) Tech Fall 18-3. 140: Derak Heyman(12) (Tioga-4) def. Derek Pfluger(11) (Sandy Creek-3) 4-2. 145: Ben Haas(11) (Salamanca-6) def. Phil Czapla(12) (East Aurora-6) 9-2. 152: Chris Nevinger(11) (Letchworth-5) def. Brian Walsh(12) (Watervliet-2) Major Dec. 10-0. 160: Owen Scott(12) (Palmyra-Macedon-5) def. Burke Paddock(9) (Warsaw-5), 3-1. 171: Craig Scott(12) (Palmyra-Macedon-5) def. Tony Lock(11) (Pioneer-6), 3-0. 189: Nick Lalone(12) (Cato-Meridian-3) def. Ryan Todd(11) (Lansing-4), 11-2. 215: Nick Gwiazdowski(12) (Duanesburg-2) def. Cole Tristram(12) (Clifton-Fine-10) pin at 1:49. 285: Luke Albrecht(12) (Hudson Falls-2) def. Kacee Sauer(11) (Holley-5), 2-1.
Gormley, a Bainbridge-Guilford/Afton senior, was making his fifth New York State tournament appearance. He progressively improved at the tournament the past three years moving from sixth to fifth, and to a career-best third a season ago.
Facing Section II’s Andy Lyman in the 125-pound finals, a controversial stalling call on Gormley in the third period with a minute to go coupled with a Lyman escape shortly thereafter gave Lyman the edge in a 2-1 victory.
Neither wrestler aggressively sought takedowns in the first two periods, and neither wrestler ever came close to a two-point takedown. It was a bitter disappointment for Gormley, who came in as the tournament’s top seed. The post-match emotion from Gormley was matched by his head coach, Brandon MacNaught.
“He was my first five-timer,” a teary-eyed MacNaught said of his five-time sectional champion. “Maybe we were a little hesitant on our feet, I don’t know. What I do know is that the match should have gone into overtime. I felt the ref interjected himself into the match. I know for a fact we were not stalling on top. When you get two good wrestlers like that, what may look like stalling is just wrestling because both kids are talented.”
Rifanburg, competing in what was likely the most difficult weight class, needed to beat a returning state champion in the 112-pound division just to reach the finals. Rifanburg edged 103-pound state champion Abdulqawi Mohamed 3-1 in the semifinals using a two-point back tilt in the second period to create his winning margin.
The lone eighth-grader to reach the Division II state finals, Rifanburg squared off with three-time reigning state champion Arik Robinson of Peru for the title. Rifanburg settled in over the final two periods, but a 6-0 first-period deficit was too much to overcome in a 7-2 loss. Rifanburg had four losses on the season, one each to the 2011 Division I (Sean McCormick) and Division II 112-pound state champions. “Every kid he beat this weekend was a state place finisher,” said Norwich coach Joe Downey. “Tristan had a hell of a tournament, and he has nothing to be ashamed of.”
Close to a minute into the match, Robinson finished a takedown, and from the top position, picked up a pair of two-pointers for back exposure to open the early bulge.
Rifanburg, from the top, held down Robinson nearly the entire second period, and came close to earning his own back points with his patented tilt. Finally, in the third period, Rifanburg pulled off a reversal to score on Robinson. Rifanburg rode the cagey Robinson the rest of the way, but was unable to score.
“Tristan wrestled him tough, and we knew Robinson would come out and try for a dump right or a dump left,” Downey said. “We were trying to survive that early flurry, and he finally got us. He was able to punish us a couple of times from top, but Tristan got better as the match went on. We’ll take a couple of weeks off and start our training up again. We know what we have to work on. Tristan be ready for next year – and tougher than he already is.”
Sherburne-Earlville senior Greg DuVall, in his fourth trip to the state tournament, finally cracked the top six placing fourth at 152 pounds. DuVall lost in the semifinals to eventual state champion Chris Nevinger, 8-4, but bounced back in his wrestleback match topping Greene’s Christian Dietrich, 10-6. Back points off an armbar helped DuVall secure his placement.
“He’s been here a lot of times, he made his seed, and he got his 200th career win (on Friday),” said S-E fourth-year coach Bim Palmer. “He’s been a hard worker and I’m glad he finally got to place. He’s done well and he’s going to be missed.”
Greene brought five wrestlers to the state tournament, four of whom placed. Kyle Stanton (215) was fourth, Kurt Shear (189) took fifth, while Dietrich (152) and Keegan Cerwinski (160) each wound up sixth.
Stanton, a junior in just his second full varsity season, gained some tournament seasoning and the three finishers ahead of him at 215 all graduate. He lost in the semifinals to two-time state champion Nick Gwiazdowski of Section II, beat Section III’s Josh Lewis by decision in the wrestlebacks semifinals, before losing his third-fourth-place wrestleback match to Tyler Deuel of Section V.
Shear, the senior top seed, dropped a 3-1 decision in the semifinals to eventual state champion Nick Lalone of Cato-Meridian in Section III. Shear fell by one point in his first wrestleback, but dominated Jon Treen pinning the Section III foe in the second period for fifth.
Cerwinski, a junior, was a hard-luck loser in placing sixth. In his next-to-last wrestleback, he went to three overtimes in a scoreless match with Phillip Clarke of Copenhagen that Clarke won on referee’s criteria. Versus Jarrold Roosa in the fifth-sixth clash, Cerwinski was edged, 6-5.
Dietrich, too, after losing to DuVall, was beaten in overtime by Sandy Creek junior Jared Soule, 6-4. Soule was the lone non-senior on Dietrich’s slate over the weekend. “For a seventh-grader up here at his weight, Christian placing in the top six was huge,” said Greene coach Tim Jenks. “I think we’re going to see this boy up here for a lot of years.”
Jenks also lamented the endless stream of close matches that seemed to favor the opponents. “Everyone up here is tough, and if you relax for a second, it’s over,” he said. “I think we lost by one point or in overtime in all of these matches. We practice for that, but sometimes you come up short. As a coach, you want to see the kids do better; we want the best for them.”
MacNaught’s other two entries into the tournament were Vinnie Buttice (171) and Paul Parsons (160). Buttice finished with two wins and two losses. He lost by two points in the state quarterfinals, and lost his second wrestleback match by one point. In each case, he was leading the match in the third period. Parsons, meanwhile, was toppled in his only two matchups.
“Vinnie wrestled an absolutely brutal schedule this year,” MacNaught said, noting that Buttice had some big wins over top-notch opponents including 171-pound Division One finalist Matt Lashway of Queensbury. “He just had a great year.”
Parsons, MacNaught said, was wrestling a weight class up from his best weight. “We thought 160 pounds was his best chance to get to states,” the coach said. “We knew that (wrestling up) would not be a positive when we got up here.”
Norwich’s Frank Garcia finished his first state tournament with one win in three matches. His losses – each by two points – came to the state runner-up (Ian Ross), and the fourth-place finisher. “Frankie had a tough draw, and sometimes that happens when the kids are so evenly matched,” Downey said. “He had a great experience and he wrestled with a cold and some chest congestion. He was having problems breathing and he probably should have won his last match, but he’ll be back.”
Division II team scoring: Section V, 266.5; Section VI, 221.5; Section III, 213; Section IV, 197.5; Section II, 174; Section I, 93.5; Section VII, 87.5; Section X, 59; Section IX, 23; Section XI, 21.5; Public Schools, NYC, 10; Section VIII, 8.
Division II State Finals Results
(Weight Class, name, grade, school/section)
96: Lucas Malmberg(11) (Marathon-4) def. Ryan Snow(9) (General Brown-3), 12-2. 103: William Koll(9) (Lansing-4) def. John Aslanian(10) (Edgemont-1), pin at 2:48. 112: Arik Robinson(12) (Peru-7) def. Tristan Rifanburg(8) (Norwich-4) 7-2. 119: Nick Tighe(10) (Phoenix-3) def. Ian Ross(12) (Newark-5) 3-2. 125: Andy Lyman(12) (Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk-2) def. Danny Gormley(12) (BainbridgeGuilfordAft-4) 2-1. 130: Ryan Osleeb(12) (North Salem-1) def. Patrick Hogan(12) (Peru-7) 3-1. 135: Quinton Murphy(11) (Holley-5) def. AJ Rue(12) (Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk-2) Tech Fall 18-3. 140: Derak Heyman(12) (Tioga-4) def. Derek Pfluger(11) (Sandy Creek-3) 4-2. 145: Ben Haas(11) (Salamanca-6) def. Phil Czapla(12) (East Aurora-6) 9-2. 152: Chris Nevinger(11) (Letchworth-5) def. Brian Walsh(12) (Watervliet-2) Major Dec. 10-0. 160: Owen Scott(12) (Palmyra-Macedon-5) def. Burke Paddock(9) (Warsaw-5), 3-1. 171: Craig Scott(12) (Palmyra-Macedon-5) def. Tony Lock(11) (Pioneer-6), 3-0. 189: Nick Lalone(12) (Cato-Meridian-3) def. Ryan Todd(11) (Lansing-4), 11-2. 215: Nick Gwiazdowski(12) (Duanesburg-2) def. Cole Tristram(12) (Clifton-Fine-10) pin at 1:49. 285: Luke Albrecht(12) (Hudson Falls-2) def. Kacee Sauer(11) (Holley-5), 2-1.
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