Section IV Class B and C tournament results

Section IV Class B
BINGHAMTON – The Norwich Purple Tornado took the mats by storms this past weekend on Saturday– winning in a landslide at the Section IV Class B tournament held at Chenango Valley High School – while qualifying 13 wrestlers for the upcoming Section IV tournament. Norwich filled 14 of the 15 weight classes – excluding the 285 weight – and saw wrestlers qualify for the Section IV tournament on Friday, Feb. 10, and Saturday, Feb. 11, at nearly each and every weight entered.
This year, Section IV wrestling has decided to split the wrestling of DI and DII schools – rather than have the two-days of wrestling for both smaller and larger schools happen in one location like it had in the past. Watkins Glen will be the host of the DII, smaller schools, and will see the likes of all Section IV Chenango County teams head their come next weekend.
The 2017 Class B championships were kind to the Norwich wrestlers who saw their hard work and dedication pay off when seven wrestlers took home a first place finish – with three take second, two take third and two claim a fifth.
• 99 pounds: The eighth grade lightweight, Dante Geislinger dominated his way in the weight to a first place finish on the day. Due to numbers, Geislinger received two forfeits before seeing his first match of the day in the semifinals. When met with his first opponent, Geislinger showed no signs of rust, defeating Richard Champion of Chenango Valley by pin at 1:02. This advanced Geislinger to the finals where second-seeded Mitch Shipman of Dryden awaited. Alas, Geislinger proved too much for his opponent in the finals, as he dominated Shipman with a win by pin at 2:25.
• 106 pounds: Mikey Squires, a Tornado freshman, continued the trend as the weight classes progress – nabbing a first place finish of his own. Squires, like Geislinger, was afforded two first round byes to begin the day of wrestling. Squires first taste of victory came in the semifinals when he landed a solid 5-0 win over Windsor's Mike McDaniels (fourth seed). With a win in the bag, and a trip to the finals – Squires – the first seed – was matched with a showdown against the second-seeded Nate Lehr of Chenango Valley. Squires was able to maneuver his way to a 6-1 victory in the finals to take Norwich to two champions thus far.
• 113 pounds: Enter Norwich's Eli Rodriguez. The Tornado freshman cruised his way to a third consecutive championship for Norwich. Rodriguez, facing a slightly more filled weight class, first saw action in the quarterfinals – when Nick Spinner, the eight seed from Waverly, was afforded a shot at top-seeded Rodriguez. 1:28 later, Rodriguez earned the quick win by pin over Spinner advancing to the semifinals to face off against Joel Choynowski of Owego (fourth seed). Rodriguez saw nearly no challenge once again, besting his time in the quarterfinals with another win by pin at 1:15 to advance to a shot at the championship. Second-seeded Tayson Evans of Susquehanna Valley did manage to avoid the pin from a pin-happy Rodriguez – however, the Tornado sealed the third first place finish with a win at 15-2 in the finals.
• 120 pounds: A classic first verses second seed finals matchup was once again what fans were given at the weight – although Norwich's Nick Glanville would succumb to a pin in the finals to take home a second place finish. With two early bye's Glanville cashed in on a trip to the finals with a win over third-seeded Ethan Stotler of Waverly – as Glanville secured the win by pin at 4:24. That is when top-seeded Caleb Wiggins of CV stole the show in the finals halting the Tornado from a fourth consecutive run at the top spot. Glanville battled in the loss but was caught in a pin at 2:06 for the second place finish.
• 126: Norwich's Cristobal Caballero, a senior at the weight suffered through a few tough matches before tasting victory to advance to sectionals. Caballero finished in fifth place following early losses which jettisoned him to the wrestle-backs. A quarterfinal loss to Maine-Endwell's Cheyenne Sisenstein (fourth seed), saw Caballero drop to the lower half of the bracket, as a hope of third was then the goal. However, an unlucky draw to face third-seeded Cole Volpe of CV handed Caballero his second straight loss – as the back-to-back losses by pins at 3:47, and 2:37 respectively – set Caballero up for one last shot at fifth. Caballero capitalized on his chances late, with a win over Hunter Martin of Owego, winning by pin at 4:16 for the fifth place spot.
• 138 pounds: Dakota Powers, another freshman for the Tornado, earned himself another fifth place finish on the night. Powers failed to find the early win, taking a loss by fall at 2:49 in the quarterfinals to Bobby Brotherton of Dryden. With a bye to advance in the wrestle-backs, Powers then advanced to face third-seeded Dillon Morgan of Windsor – to which, like Caballero, Powers fell once again by pin at 3:39 to move to the a chance at fifth place. That is when Powers snagged a key win over Cody Chandler of Waverly, taking the win by pin at 2:36 for a fifth place spot.
• 145 pounds: 3-0 on the day, Ty Rifanburg, a junior and younger of the two Rifanburg brothers on the Norwich squad, advanced to the finals – gliding through all of his competition with ease for the first place finish. Ty earned the early pin in the quarterfinals over Dryden's Isaac Powers to advance to the semifinals where fourth-seeded Gabe Monroe would take his shot at knocking off the top-seeded Ty. 15 points later, and Ty saw his hand raised with a 15-0 technical fall win over Monroe. Following an upset win from Sus. Valley's Jason Moelder who defeated second-seeded Nate Aylward by pin at 5:26 – Ty made simple and short work of Moelder. Earning the first place victory with a first period pin at 1:56.
• 152 pounds: Due to a smaller number at the weight, older brother Cole Rifanburg was only afforded a chance to go 2-0 on the day. However, despite his first win coming in the semifinals for top-seeded Norwich senior, he would best his younger brother in the fastest pin at :47, when he handily defeated fourth seeded Alex Quinn of Windsor at the mark. With another upset – third-seeded Cameron Bundy of Owego knocking off Wyatt Andrews of Dryden by a 5-4 decision – Cole was faced with nothing resembling a challenge. Cole dominated his finals matchup with Bundy to win by fall at 2:35 for the first place finish – marking fifth on the day thus far.
• 160 pounds: Norwich sophomore, Keegan Wright was in a favorable spot in his weight class – as the weight only featured five wrestlers, essentially guaranteeing Wright a placing finish. However, despite the chance to just slide to place finish, Wright instead rose to the challenge to take home a third place finish on the day. Following a loss to second-seeded Mike Wilmot of Windsor at 3:05 – Wright was dropped to the wrestle-backs. That is where his true grit shined through with back-to-back wins coming for the third place spot, Wright snagged a :41 second win in the first round, defeating Kobe Parks of CV; before he snagged another win by pin over fourth-seeded Trevor Frable of Sus. Valley at 1:23.
• 170 pounds: The Norwich senior and second-seed of the weight had a major mountain to climb when faced with an appearance in the finals – Jake Franklin ultimately battled to the finals where he fell to Micah Miller of Maine-Endwell by a close match of 1-0. This one point is all that separated Franklin from the ultimate win on the day. However, instead, Franklin was made to take second with the loss in the finals to go 1-1 on the day. Earning the early win over third-seeded Mitchell Knapp of Sus. Valley Franklin punched his ticket to the finals with a hard-fought 9-4 victory in the semifinals.
• 182 pounds: Norwich saw their final champion on the day come when junior Brennan Slater stepped onto the mat at the weight. Slater, the top-seed, snagged a semifinal win over Ben Gates of Waverly at just 1:29, before advancing to the finals where the eventual victory awaited. Slater went head-to-head with second-seed Nate Aurelio of CV – taking the quick win by pin in the finals at 3:14.
• 195 pounds: Another depleted weight – a weight class with just four wrestlers – Norwich's Angel Francis was able to take advantage of the match ups in order to slide himself into a win for third place overall. After falling to top-seeded Richie Knapp of Sus. Valley at 1:28, Francis was faced in a match for third against second-seeded Jack Riegal of CV. Notably, Riegal did lose his match to Matt Nichols of Waverly by injury default – eventually having to forfeit to Francis as well for the third place slot.
• 220 pounds: The biggest wrestler on the Norwich squad happens to be up and coming phenom in the making Tyler Rice. The eighth grader, found himself in the finals of his very first of ever Class finals. Rice earned a trip to the finals after defeating Braxton Acquisto-Ray by fall at 3:42. With the win in the books, Rice, the second seed was faced with a finals match of VanDreisen of Owego. Avoiding any major turns in the match, Rice snagged a second place spot in the weight with his 9-2 loss to VanDreisen in the finals.
Notably, Norwich brought Izaiah Caballero and Seth Wessels to the tournament, where Caballero wrestled at 113 pounds and Wessels wrestled at 132 pounds – neither placed.
Team final standings: Norwich 233.5, Susquehanna Valley 188, Chenango Valley 178, Windsor 162, Dryden 132.5, Maine-Endwell 102, Owego 91, Waverly 74.

Section IV Class C
AFTON – BGAH won the Section IV Class C Tournament held in Afton on Saturday. BGAH earned the win by besting second-place Tioga by 12 points to hold on for the team title. BGAH followed suit of Norwich bringing 15 wrestlers – and seeing 14 place and advance to the upcoming Section IV tournament. Like Norwich, BGAH also saw seven wrestlers take home a first place finish, with one claiming second, two claiming third, two claiming fourth and two claiming fifth.
• 106 pounds: Top-seeded eighth grader, Brody Oleksak earned an easy road to victory at the weight – as he would not see a match until the semifinals. Oleksak was on point for the tournament, claiming two wins by pin – with the first coming over Parker Sexton of SVEC at 1:07 – and the second coming in the finals over Brady Worthing of Tioga. Oleksak pinned the second-seed in just 1:34 to take home the top spot.
• 113 pounds: Haiden Burns, another eighth grader looked to make some ripples in the tournament, after advancing to the semi finals following a quarterfinal win over Morgan Myers of SVEC by fall at 5:39. Burns was then outmatched to fall to the wrestle-backs when second-seed David MacWhinnie of Tioga best Burns for the loss at 14-0. Burns earned a win by pin over Gabe Stevens of Lansing to advance for a shot at a third place spot – however, following the 4:32 pin over Stevens, Burns was then locked into a match he lost to Tyler Lewis of Thomas A. Edison by a score of 5-2. Burns finished in fourth place for the Bears.
• 120 pounds: A BGAH freshman, Seth Foster, grabbed a solid fifth place finish in the tournament following his early exit to the wrestle-backs. Foster lost a quarterfinal match to Jimmy Verrelli of Oneonta by a pin at 3:04, landing Foster in a match to stay alive in the race for third with Walton-Delhi's Tracer Howard. Howard snagged the win by fall at 3:56 to set up a fifth place match for Foster and Isaiah Nickisch of SVEC. Foster did manage to avenge the early losses, taking fifth with a win over SVEC by a decision at 10-3.
• 126 pounds: Damian Knapp, a BGAH sophomore, battled his way to a respectable third place finish on the day. Knapp earned a win over Colton Watson of Whitney Point, winning by pin at 1:46 for a shot at top-seeded Daniel Koll of Lansing. Knapp would battle, but come up short in his attempt for the upset – losing 8-4 to Koll. Knapp then proceeded to dominate the wrestle-backs earning two wins by decision at 5-2 and 5-1 for a third place spot.
• 132 pounds: Second-seeded BGAH junior, Cody Ferrara, earned the upset win in the finals defeating Bryant Sexton of SVEC by a tough-fought 4-3 decision for the first place win. Ferrara snagged an early pin at :44 over Devon Walker of TAE before advancing for a second win in the semifinals over Hunter Burch over Oneonta – this time by technical fall at 15-0 at five minutes in.
• 138 pounds: Top-seeded Ben Bivar of BGAH, a junior as well, made it two in a row for the Bears when he snuck in a win by pin over teammate Austin Eggelston in the finals. Bivar dominated the top half of the bracket, earning a 5-4 victory in the quarterfinals over garrett Hoskey of Lansing – a win that propelled Bivar to two win by pins. The first of which coming over Kyle Jelliff of SVEC at 5:51 to advance to a finals berth. In the bottom half of the bracket, Austin Eggelston – also of BGAH and just an eighth grader saw an easy pin in the quarterfinals when he stuck Weston Underwood of Whitney Point in just 2:17 to advance to the semifinals. An 8-7 victory over Nick Dower of Oneonta propelled Eggelston to a friendly matchup in the finals – where he suffered a loss to the older Bivar by pin at 4:21.
• 145 pounds: No competition at the 145 pound weight gave an easy road to BGAH's fourth champion – the younger Hoover brother Shane Hoover. Shane snagged his first win in the semifinals when he downed Robbie Swartout of SVEC by a major decision of 11-2. Facing off against Tony Giovagnoli in the finals, Shane earned the effortless win over the Yellowjacket in just 1:32 for the championship run.
• 152 pounds: Hayden Lewis, a sophomore, snagged an early win over Charlie Stevens of Lansing at :58, before dropping a match to top-seeded Grady Alpert of SVEC. With a 1-1 record, and heading to wrestle-backs, Lewis proceeded to rip off two straight wins for a third place finish for the Bears. Lewis snagged a 6-0 decision over Charlie Wright of Watkins Glen, before embarrassing Stevens in a rematch for third – winning by a major decision score of 16-2.
• 160 pounds: Madison Hoover, one of four BGAH seniors, and older brother of Shane (145), showed his sheer dominance at the weight when he cruised to three wins all by pin to take home the first place finish. Madison stuck Bryce Eastman of Lansing in a shocking :22, before taking his time with Dalton Cummings of Watkins Glen in the semifinals – pinning Cummings at 3:14. With first and second seed finals matchup, Madison simply destroyed his opponent, Brenden Cairns of Walton-Delhi – pinning the second seed in just :47 in the finals for the first place finish.
• 170 pounds: Due to a semi-empty weight Austin Carr, a senior, wasn’t afforded a match until the semifinals – where he simply set first to Antonio Steinhauer of TAE, winning by pin at 1:15. Carr advanced to the finals where he was matched with the second-seeded Mark Mullen of SVEC. Although unable to secure the quick pin, Carr did prove triumphant in bringing himself and the Bears another crucial win when he edged Mullen by a score of 14-7.
• 182 pounds: Bradley Wilson, a junior, saw a hard fought day turn into a fifth place finish. Wilson snuck an early win in during the quarterfinals – defeating Brandon Snyder of TAE by fall at 3:57 – before he was handed a loss by pin in the semifinals when Trey Floyd of Tioga snagged the pin at 2:35. Suffering a loss to Ethan Blinn of SVEC in wrestle-backs, Wilson then earned some redemption when he earned the 12-0 major decision win over Jordan Dillenbeck of Watkins Glen for the fifth place finish.
• 195 pounds: Mitchell Weist, another BGAH senior, earned his top-seeded spot with a first place finish in the tournament. Weist saw his first match of the day be decided by an early pin, when he pinned Quintin Yaple of Tioga in the semifinals at just 1:17 into the match. Weist followed up this performance with another win by pin in the finals, when Weist defeated Richie Serafin at 2:58. This marked BGAH's seventh and last champion in their tournament.
• 285 pounds: Senior Nick Decker rounded out the place-winners for BGAH with his fourth place performance at the weight. Decker snagged one win en route to his fourth place spot – as the five man bracket – handed Decker his early win over Timothy Williams of Walton-Delhi at a time of 1:54. That is when Decker saw his results slip, with a loss coming to top-seeded Stephan Taylor of Tioga, where the Bear fell by pin in the semifinals at 1:39. Decker failed to earn the third place spot, with a second consecutive loss – this time to Leroy Williams of Oneonta who earned the win for third at just 1:20 into the first period.
Notably, Dylan Decker, a freshman at 99 pounds for BGAH did wrestle at the weight, but was unable to place in the tournament.
Team final standings: BGAH 265.5, Tioga 253.5, Oneonta 169, SVEC 168.5,Walton-Delhi 162, Watkins Glen 119, Whitney Point 72, Thomas A. Edison 55.5, Lansing 44.
Stay tuned for tomorrow's edition of The Evening Sun, where a recap of Sherburne-Earlville, Otselic Valley, Greene, Oxford, and Unadilla Valley wrestling in their respective class tournaments will. Full results and brackets can be found online at cnywrestling.com.