Norwich ‘Four Horseman’ place 17th overall at the Eastern States Classic
LOCH SHELDRAKE, NY – 165 schools sent athletes from five different states to compete in one of the toughest tournaments in the country, the Eastern States Classic. Some of the wrestlers representing in the field were nationaly ranked across the board, including the number one ranked wrestler in the US High School Rankings.
“At Eastern States, you are only allowed so many entries and many schools are on a waiting list,” said Norwich head coach Bob Hagenbugh.
Four Norwich Purple Tornado wrestlers were part of the field in this prestigious tournament. Dubbed the “Four Horseman” by Hagenbuch, all won their first round matches.
Starting the Purple off at 99-pounds, Dante Geislinger tech falled his opponent 16-0 at the 5:20 mark of the match. He continued on the winning trail when he upset the seed with a 6-3 decision win, landing him into a semi-final match. Geislinger lost a hard fought battle by a 4-0 decision to the number one seed of his weight class, Mason Bush of Central Valley. Geislinger wrestled back to place fourth in the tournament.
In just a few weight classes higher, Norwich’s 126 pounder, Mike Squires, had a long journey ahead of him. “Mike had probably the most number of athletes and toughest weight classes in the entire tournament,” said Hagenbuch. In fact, Squires’ bracket was made up of 42 athletes. Squires opened up his tournament run with a 7-1 decision. But he was quickly met with a road block when he matched up against Matt Campo of Mount Sinai. Campo and Squires met in the finals of the Windsor Christmas Tournament with Campo taking the title. Squires looked to revenge the loss from a few weeks ago but it was again Campo with the win. Squires wrestled one more match in the tournament wrestlebacks before being defeated by Commack’s Matt Patrizio later in the tournament.
In the second match of his journey, Tornado Ty Rifanburg avenged his loss from last week, beating Central Valley’s Trent Ingraham with a 3-0 decision. In the quarterfinals, Rifanburg faced the number third seed of the tournament, Paul Calo of Southington. Nearly going the distance, Rifanburg fought hard before being pinned at 5:49. Rifanburg wrestled his way back to place seventh in the tournament, winning two of his next three matches.
Fighting an illness midway through the tournament, the Purple’s Brennan Slater pinned his first opponent faced. Slater took win number two by a 2-1 decision over Mike Sabella of Mount Sinai. Losing in his next match in a another close decision, Slater went to the wrestle-back rounds. Facing Elmira’s Charlie Mahon, the first ranked wrestler in Division-I of Section IV. With a last second reversal, Slater beat Mahon with a 3-2 decision. Shortly after, Hagenbuch shut down Slater due to sickness. “Doing well in this tournament is a good thing but we train for the end of the season where it matters the most,” said Hagenbuch. Slater placed eighth overall.
“Real proud of the guys how they competed in a high caliber tournament. We had five but brought four, sitting out Eli [Rodriguez], who would of been our fifth. I’m sure he would of done well and we might have ended up in the top ten as a team. But we have big things to do in the post season and I’m not about to risk anything before.
“All four guys wrestled hard for the entire matches. I know they were not pleased where they placed and that’s what I love about this team. They want it and they want to win no matter how highly ranked their opponent is. To place in this tournament is a very difficult challenge and for three of them to place speaks for itself.
“The beauty of it is, we know we could have done better. We made some mistakes but we know we have time to correct those errors to be ready for the upcoming post season.”
The post season starts as a team later today when the Norwich team heads to Afton as the fourth seed of the Section IV Division-II Dual Championships. The Tornado take on Walton-Delhi in the first round and are predicted to do well. Depending on the outcome of the first match, Norwich could face top-seeded BGAH. Dual match action starts are 5 p.m.
“At Eastern States, you are only allowed so many entries and many schools are on a waiting list,” said Norwich head coach Bob Hagenbugh.
Four Norwich Purple Tornado wrestlers were part of the field in this prestigious tournament. Dubbed the “Four Horseman” by Hagenbuch, all won their first round matches.
Starting the Purple off at 99-pounds, Dante Geislinger tech falled his opponent 16-0 at the 5:20 mark of the match. He continued on the winning trail when he upset the seed with a 6-3 decision win, landing him into a semi-final match. Geislinger lost a hard fought battle by a 4-0 decision to the number one seed of his weight class, Mason Bush of Central Valley. Geislinger wrestled back to place fourth in the tournament.
In just a few weight classes higher, Norwich’s 126 pounder, Mike Squires, had a long journey ahead of him. “Mike had probably the most number of athletes and toughest weight classes in the entire tournament,” said Hagenbuch. In fact, Squires’ bracket was made up of 42 athletes. Squires opened up his tournament run with a 7-1 decision. But he was quickly met with a road block when he matched up against Matt Campo of Mount Sinai. Campo and Squires met in the finals of the Windsor Christmas Tournament with Campo taking the title. Squires looked to revenge the loss from a few weeks ago but it was again Campo with the win. Squires wrestled one more match in the tournament wrestlebacks before being defeated by Commack’s Matt Patrizio later in the tournament.
In the second match of his journey, Tornado Ty Rifanburg avenged his loss from last week, beating Central Valley’s Trent Ingraham with a 3-0 decision. In the quarterfinals, Rifanburg faced the number third seed of the tournament, Paul Calo of Southington. Nearly going the distance, Rifanburg fought hard before being pinned at 5:49. Rifanburg wrestled his way back to place seventh in the tournament, winning two of his next three matches.
Fighting an illness midway through the tournament, the Purple’s Brennan Slater pinned his first opponent faced. Slater took win number two by a 2-1 decision over Mike Sabella of Mount Sinai. Losing in his next match in a another close decision, Slater went to the wrestle-back rounds. Facing Elmira’s Charlie Mahon, the first ranked wrestler in Division-I of Section IV. With a last second reversal, Slater beat Mahon with a 3-2 decision. Shortly after, Hagenbuch shut down Slater due to sickness. “Doing well in this tournament is a good thing but we train for the end of the season where it matters the most,” said Hagenbuch. Slater placed eighth overall.
“Real proud of the guys how they competed in a high caliber tournament. We had five but brought four, sitting out Eli [Rodriguez], who would of been our fifth. I’m sure he would of done well and we might have ended up in the top ten as a team. But we have big things to do in the post season and I’m not about to risk anything before.
“All four guys wrestled hard for the entire matches. I know they were not pleased where they placed and that’s what I love about this team. They want it and they want to win no matter how highly ranked their opponent is. To place in this tournament is a very difficult challenge and for three of them to place speaks for itself.
“The beauty of it is, we know we could have done better. We made some mistakes but we know we have time to correct those errors to be ready for the upcoming post season.”
The post season starts as a team later today when the Norwich team heads to Afton as the fourth seed of the Section IV Division-II Dual Championships. The Tornado take on Walton-Delhi in the first round and are predicted to do well. Depending on the outcome of the first match, Norwich could face top-seeded BGAH. Dual match action starts are 5 p.m.
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