Greene's Stanton realizes dream
ALBANY – The end of Kyle Stanton’s high wrestling journey ended with him falling to his knees in the center of the Times Union Arena in celebration.
The Greene senior culminated his varsity career at Greene with a New York State championship, and he did so with devastating efficiency. He pinned all four of his opponents using just two minutes and 57 seconds of mat time. His title bout was the only one to last more than a minute with Hornell’s Zachary Bacon succumbing in all of 68 seconds.
“I knew coming into the tournament that I wanted to get in and get out; to do what I had to do to win,” Stanton said. “Everything just starting clicking from the first match, and I felt really confident in the finals. I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be.”
Stanton realized a dream that was born as a second-grade pee wee wrestler. He came up through the ranks with Greene state champions Tyler Beckwith and Nick Wilcox, but it appeared he would never have the opportunity to follow in their footsteps. A birth defect in his vertebrae was discovered in the seventh grade, and he was forbidden by doctors to wrestle. Three years later after corrective surgery to repair the defect, Stanton was cleared to wrestle again in the tenth grade. “I came back to wrestling, and just tried to get back into it and see what would happen,” he said. “I maintained a lot of the skills from the time off, and it was pretty awesome getting to the section finals that first year.”
Stanton seemed to come out of nowhere that sophomore season. From that point forward, Stanton was the man to beat in Section IV. This season, he was the man to beat. Period.
“Kyle was just fantastic, and to win it the way he did was unbelievable,” said Greene head coach Tim Jenks.
The number one seed, Stanton pinned his first three opponents in 48, 36, and 25 seconds. Mind you, he was not beating slouches. His last two matches, the opposition had over 70 combined wins compared to just two losses. Stanton’s brutal upper-body throws made the outcomes academic.
“I was throwing everybody in the tournament and getting pins, I figured I would just go for it (in the finals),” Stanton said.
Stanton tried a hip toss early again Bacon, who avoided the takedown. Eventually, Stanton secured a traditional takedown, but quickly took advantage of an opening and cradled Bacon up for the fall.
“I just love wrestling,” Stanton said. “After I won, I thought about all the hard work I put in just to overcome the back injury, and to finally win it was amazing.”
Stanton was one of two Greene wrestlers to reach the championship round. Senior Keegan Cerwinski (182) grinded out a 1-0 semifinals win over Section V’s Tim Schaefer to earn the right to face unbeaten and top-seeded Tony Lock of Section VI. Lock, untested in his first three matches, recorded two takedowns, and completely neutralized Cerwinski’s offense en route to a 4-0 victory.
“It was great for him and he deserved to be in the finals,” Jenks said of Cerwinski. “He worked his whole career to get there, and everything he did was to be in the finals. He wanted to win it, but with Lock there at 182...we didn’t think it was insurmountable, but wow, Keegan came off the mat and said (Lock) was a lot stronger than he thought he would be.”
Elsewhere, Oxford sophomore Joe Nelson (99) placed third in his first state tournament appearance. Nelson dropped his quarterfinals match to state runner-up Nick Casella of Section VIII.
Nelson then won four straight matches in the wrestlebacks defeating Section V’s Andrew Flanagan Holley 7-1 for third place. Nelson showed his grit overcoming a 2-0 deficit to Alex Herringshaw in his consolation round semifinals matchup to rally for a 4-2 overtime win.
“It was very disappointing that a chance at a state title was gone (on Saturday),” Nelson said, who finished his season with a 36-2 record. “I couldn’t let the loss define my entire season. I knew it was going to be tough to battle all the way back to third, but I wasn’t settling for anything less.”
Greene junior Dan Dickman wound up fourth at 152 pounds. Dickman, too, dropped his quarterfinals matchup, but picked up three straight wins to place among the top four. “It was great for Dan. He had three matches decided by one or two points, and he won them all,” Jenks said. “To do that (at the state tournament) is hard to do. He should have a lot of confidence next year.”
Norwich freshman Tristan Rifanburg (126) wound up sixth in his third sectional tournament. The Tornado’s Frank Garcia (132) and Kegan Levesque (195) went 2-2 in their tournament appearance with each falling one win short of placing.
“Honestly, it’s not what we wanted or expected,” said Norwich coach Joe Downey. “We wanted our guys to go there and place, and we were hoping Tristan could win it again. This will be another good learning experience for the future, and (the losses) can only make us better.”
Greene’s Mike Beckwith (160) and B-G/Afton’s Mark Viviano (195) each finished with one win and two losses in their tournament appearance.
The Greene senior culminated his varsity career at Greene with a New York State championship, and he did so with devastating efficiency. He pinned all four of his opponents using just two minutes and 57 seconds of mat time. His title bout was the only one to last more than a minute with Hornell’s Zachary Bacon succumbing in all of 68 seconds.
“I knew coming into the tournament that I wanted to get in and get out; to do what I had to do to win,” Stanton said. “Everything just starting clicking from the first match, and I felt really confident in the finals. I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be.”
Stanton realized a dream that was born as a second-grade pee wee wrestler. He came up through the ranks with Greene state champions Tyler Beckwith and Nick Wilcox, but it appeared he would never have the opportunity to follow in their footsteps. A birth defect in his vertebrae was discovered in the seventh grade, and he was forbidden by doctors to wrestle. Three years later after corrective surgery to repair the defect, Stanton was cleared to wrestle again in the tenth grade. “I came back to wrestling, and just tried to get back into it and see what would happen,” he said. “I maintained a lot of the skills from the time off, and it was pretty awesome getting to the section finals that first year.”
Stanton seemed to come out of nowhere that sophomore season. From that point forward, Stanton was the man to beat in Section IV. This season, he was the man to beat. Period.
“Kyle was just fantastic, and to win it the way he did was unbelievable,” said Greene head coach Tim Jenks.
The number one seed, Stanton pinned his first three opponents in 48, 36, and 25 seconds. Mind you, he was not beating slouches. His last two matches, the opposition had over 70 combined wins compared to just two losses. Stanton’s brutal upper-body throws made the outcomes academic.
“I was throwing everybody in the tournament and getting pins, I figured I would just go for it (in the finals),” Stanton said.
Stanton tried a hip toss early again Bacon, who avoided the takedown. Eventually, Stanton secured a traditional takedown, but quickly took advantage of an opening and cradled Bacon up for the fall.
“I just love wrestling,” Stanton said. “After I won, I thought about all the hard work I put in just to overcome the back injury, and to finally win it was amazing.”
Stanton was one of two Greene wrestlers to reach the championship round. Senior Keegan Cerwinski (182) grinded out a 1-0 semifinals win over Section V’s Tim Schaefer to earn the right to face unbeaten and top-seeded Tony Lock of Section VI. Lock, untested in his first three matches, recorded two takedowns, and completely neutralized Cerwinski’s offense en route to a 4-0 victory.
“It was great for him and he deserved to be in the finals,” Jenks said of Cerwinski. “He worked his whole career to get there, and everything he did was to be in the finals. He wanted to win it, but with Lock there at 182...we didn’t think it was insurmountable, but wow, Keegan came off the mat and said (Lock) was a lot stronger than he thought he would be.”
Elsewhere, Oxford sophomore Joe Nelson (99) placed third in his first state tournament appearance. Nelson dropped his quarterfinals match to state runner-up Nick Casella of Section VIII.
Nelson then won four straight matches in the wrestlebacks defeating Section V’s Andrew Flanagan Holley 7-1 for third place. Nelson showed his grit overcoming a 2-0 deficit to Alex Herringshaw in his consolation round semifinals matchup to rally for a 4-2 overtime win.
“It was very disappointing that a chance at a state title was gone (on Saturday),” Nelson said, who finished his season with a 36-2 record. “I couldn’t let the loss define my entire season. I knew it was going to be tough to battle all the way back to third, but I wasn’t settling for anything less.”
Greene junior Dan Dickman wound up fourth at 152 pounds. Dickman, too, dropped his quarterfinals matchup, but picked up three straight wins to place among the top four. “It was great for Dan. He had three matches decided by one or two points, and he won them all,” Jenks said. “To do that (at the state tournament) is hard to do. He should have a lot of confidence next year.”
Norwich freshman Tristan Rifanburg (126) wound up sixth in his third sectional tournament. The Tornado’s Frank Garcia (132) and Kegan Levesque (195) went 2-2 in their tournament appearance with each falling one win short of placing.
“Honestly, it’s not what we wanted or expected,” said Norwich coach Joe Downey. “We wanted our guys to go there and place, and we were hoping Tristan could win it again. This will be another good learning experience for the future, and (the losses) can only make us better.”
Greene’s Mike Beckwith (160) and B-G/Afton’s Mark Viviano (195) each finished with one win and two losses in their tournament appearance.
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