Norwich five place 6th at Eastern States Classic
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LOCH SHELDRAKE – In one of the biggest tournaments held during the season, five members of the Norwich Purple Tornado wrestling team returned home as sixth place finishers after the 17th annual Eastern States Classic.
A tournament which features 174 teams from nine different states saw approximately 575 wrestlers in two days of action on the mats.
Norwich’s Dante Geislinger, who made an appearance at the tournament last season, placed second – the highest of the five Tornado wrestlers.
Geislinger met Shenedehowa’s Stevo Poulin, a wrestler from Section II who holds the No.1 ranking in the country, in the finals. Poulin, undefeated on the season, picked up his 19th win with the 11-0 major decision against Geislinger.
The Norwich 106 pounder didn’t have an easy path to the finals though. Chase Liardi of Massapequa was a Division-I runner up last year at the New York State Championships. Geslinger defeated Liardi by a 5-1 decision.
The Tornado junior squeezed out the win over Warsaw’s Muskan Monger by 5-4 decision and pinned Jyden Rampolla of Arlington as the second period ended in the earlier matches of his journey to the finals. Another match he had was against Cooperstown’s Avery Leonard.
Prior to the match, Leonard was a perfect 22-0 for the season but Geislinger ended that with a 15-0 tech fall, ending the match just over a minute and half into the second period.
Geislinger made his first appearance at the Eastern States Classic a year ago and placed fourth, losing to Liardi in the consolation finals by a 5-2 decision. This year, he improved his place and got revenge on the Massapequa wrestler.
The Purple Tornado’s Mikey Squires racked up a pin and two tech falls in the early rounds of his tournament field, defeating Brewster’s Jack Muentener, Wallkill’s Kraig Thomas and Petride’s Mike DiForte.
Squires’ next match was against a familiar opponent – Saranac’s Bryce Smith. The Norwich wrestler defeated Smith in the fifth-place match at the Division-II State Championships a season ago and won with a 3-0 decision.
In the meeting at Easterns, Squires bettered his scored against Smith, sending him to the wrestleback rounds with a 5-0 decision.
Squires met Poly Prep’s David Berkovich in the next round. Berkovich wrestled at the Prep Nationals tournament earlier this year and placed fifth. However, the Purple Tornado junior earned a sudden victory win.
Squires and Berkovich finished the three periods tied at 1-1, forcing the overtime action. Squires was able to get a reversal on the Poly Prep stand-out ending the match. The Norwich 152 pounder moved into the semifinals against Duanesburg’s Zachery Lawrence – the 2018 third place finisher at states.
Lawerence, who ended up as the 152 pound Eastern States Classic champion, handed Squires his first loss of the tournament by a 7-3 decision.
In the consolation finals, Squires faced Stefan Major of Kings Park. Major took the match with a 8-2 decision and Squires stood on the podium at the fourth spot.
Tyler Rice of Norwich also faced a tough field at 285 pounds. Rice’s lone loss of the tournament came in the semifinals match against Newark Valley’s Trentyn Rupert.
A New York State Division-1 third place winner a season ago, Rupert battled with the Tornado Sophomore in the semifinals match but was able to come out the winner of the 6-0 decision.
Rice rebounded nicely and defeated Collin Burns of Hilton in the consolation finals, sneaking out with a 2-0 devision for third place.
In his earlier matches, Rice claimed three straight wins by pinfall – his fastest was in 17 seconds against Walt Whitman’s Mondell Brandon. Defeating Jason Lonstin of Ellenville in the next match, Rice pinned his opponent in 22 seconds.
His quarterfinals match didn’t move past the first period either as he put Ardsley-Dobbs Ferry’s George Lebberes down to the match and pinned him at the 1:47 mark of the match.
Rice also defeated Carthage’s Collin Null for the second time this season – the first in the final of the Clyde Cole Invitational – with a 6-0 decision.
Andrew Brown and Nick Glanville of the Tornado also represented Norwich in the large tournament field. Both Brown and Glanville ran into competition early in their brackets.
Glanville, who went 0-2 in the tournament, was one of 63 wrestlers in this weight class – the most competitors of any of the 15 weight classes.
The Norwich senior was winning 4-0 his first match against North Rockland’s Sean Garofal, before Garofal was able to catch a move and pinned Glanville up with one second left in first period.
Glanville lost his next one by a 7-3 decision to Mitchell Gaiser of Alexander, exiting the tournament much earlier than he wanted.
Brown also went 0-2, facing some tough opponents early on. One of his opponents what Lowville’s Micah Roes. The 113 pound junior from Section III took fourth at the New York State Championships for Division-II last season and defeated Norwich’s Geislinger earlier this season at the Valley Duals with 4-2 decision. Roes finished seventh in this year’s Easterns Classic.
The Purple Tornado five finished in sixth place out of 174 teams, bettering last season’s 17th place. In 2015, Norwich also took home a sixth place plaque.
“Teams get a certain number of kids they can bring,” said head coach Bob Hagenbuch. “We had five slots so we brought five wrestlers.
“We go to Easterns for the competition and to earn bonus points if we beat ranked athletes. We wrestled really well against the best. We have things we need to work on. We will make some adjustments and get ready for some big tournaments coming and for the post season.”
The Purple Tornado received the three-seed for the Section IV Division-II Dual Championships and will wrestler Tuesday night at Walton High School for a chance to attend the second annual New York State Duals Championships to be held later this month.
Norwich won the Section IV tournament last year and took part in the inaugural NYS Duals Championships after defeating Tioga in a close match.
This year, the Tornado take on Owego in the quarterfinals at 5 p.m. The winner of the dual match moves on to face second-seeded Windsor. On the other side of the bracket is Bainbridge-Guilford-Afton-Harpursville (BGAH) taking on the host Walton-Delhi Warriors. Winner of the two teams will see Tioga in the semifinal round. Both semifinals will happen side by side and start at 6:30 p.m.
The two winners will move into the finals match, starting at 7:30 p.m. The dual tournament champion will then head to the 2019 NYSPHSAA Dual Meet Championships held at Onondaga Community College in Syracuse on January 26.
Cost of admission for Tuesday’s even is $5 for adults and students, $3 for seniors 65 and over and free for children 10 and under.
A tournament which features 174 teams from nine different states saw approximately 575 wrestlers in two days of action on the mats.
Norwich’s Dante Geislinger, who made an appearance at the tournament last season, placed second – the highest of the five Tornado wrestlers.
Geislinger met Shenedehowa’s Stevo Poulin, a wrestler from Section II who holds the No.1 ranking in the country, in the finals. Poulin, undefeated on the season, picked up his 19th win with the 11-0 major decision against Geislinger.
The Norwich 106 pounder didn’t have an easy path to the finals though. Chase Liardi of Massapequa was a Division-I runner up last year at the New York State Championships. Geslinger defeated Liardi by a 5-1 decision.
The Tornado junior squeezed out the win over Warsaw’s Muskan Monger by 5-4 decision and pinned Jyden Rampolla of Arlington as the second period ended in the earlier matches of his journey to the finals. Another match he had was against Cooperstown’s Avery Leonard.
Prior to the match, Leonard was a perfect 22-0 for the season but Geislinger ended that with a 15-0 tech fall, ending the match just over a minute and half into the second period.
Geislinger made his first appearance at the Eastern States Classic a year ago and placed fourth, losing to Liardi in the consolation finals by a 5-2 decision. This year, he improved his place and got revenge on the Massapequa wrestler.
The Purple Tornado’s Mikey Squires racked up a pin and two tech falls in the early rounds of his tournament field, defeating Brewster’s Jack Muentener, Wallkill’s Kraig Thomas and Petride’s Mike DiForte.
Squires’ next match was against a familiar opponent – Saranac’s Bryce Smith. The Norwich wrestler defeated Smith in the fifth-place match at the Division-II State Championships a season ago and won with a 3-0 decision.
In the meeting at Easterns, Squires bettered his scored against Smith, sending him to the wrestleback rounds with a 5-0 decision.
Squires met Poly Prep’s David Berkovich in the next round. Berkovich wrestled at the Prep Nationals tournament earlier this year and placed fifth. However, the Purple Tornado junior earned a sudden victory win.
Squires and Berkovich finished the three periods tied at 1-1, forcing the overtime action. Squires was able to get a reversal on the Poly Prep stand-out ending the match. The Norwich 152 pounder moved into the semifinals against Duanesburg’s Zachery Lawrence – the 2018 third place finisher at states.
Lawerence, who ended up as the 152 pound Eastern States Classic champion, handed Squires his first loss of the tournament by a 7-3 decision.
In the consolation finals, Squires faced Stefan Major of Kings Park. Major took the match with a 8-2 decision and Squires stood on the podium at the fourth spot.
Tyler Rice of Norwich also faced a tough field at 285 pounds. Rice’s lone loss of the tournament came in the semifinals match against Newark Valley’s Trentyn Rupert.
A New York State Division-1 third place winner a season ago, Rupert battled with the Tornado Sophomore in the semifinals match but was able to come out the winner of the 6-0 decision.
Rice rebounded nicely and defeated Collin Burns of Hilton in the consolation finals, sneaking out with a 2-0 devision for third place.
In his earlier matches, Rice claimed three straight wins by pinfall – his fastest was in 17 seconds against Walt Whitman’s Mondell Brandon. Defeating Jason Lonstin of Ellenville in the next match, Rice pinned his opponent in 22 seconds.
His quarterfinals match didn’t move past the first period either as he put Ardsley-Dobbs Ferry’s George Lebberes down to the match and pinned him at the 1:47 mark of the match.
Rice also defeated Carthage’s Collin Null for the second time this season – the first in the final of the Clyde Cole Invitational – with a 6-0 decision.
Andrew Brown and Nick Glanville of the Tornado also represented Norwich in the large tournament field. Both Brown and Glanville ran into competition early in their brackets.
Glanville, who went 0-2 in the tournament, was one of 63 wrestlers in this weight class – the most competitors of any of the 15 weight classes.
The Norwich senior was winning 4-0 his first match against North Rockland’s Sean Garofal, before Garofal was able to catch a move and pinned Glanville up with one second left in first period.
Glanville lost his next one by a 7-3 decision to Mitchell Gaiser of Alexander, exiting the tournament much earlier than he wanted.
Brown also went 0-2, facing some tough opponents early on. One of his opponents what Lowville’s Micah Roes. The 113 pound junior from Section III took fourth at the New York State Championships for Division-II last season and defeated Norwich’s Geislinger earlier this season at the Valley Duals with 4-2 decision. Roes finished seventh in this year’s Easterns Classic.
The Purple Tornado five finished in sixth place out of 174 teams, bettering last season’s 17th place. In 2015, Norwich also took home a sixth place plaque.
“Teams get a certain number of kids they can bring,” said head coach Bob Hagenbuch. “We had five slots so we brought five wrestlers.
“We go to Easterns for the competition and to earn bonus points if we beat ranked athletes. We wrestled really well against the best. We have things we need to work on. We will make some adjustments and get ready for some big tournaments coming and for the post season.”
The Purple Tornado received the three-seed for the Section IV Division-II Dual Championships and will wrestler Tuesday night at Walton High School for a chance to attend the second annual New York State Duals Championships to be held later this month.
Norwich won the Section IV tournament last year and took part in the inaugural NYS Duals Championships after defeating Tioga in a close match.
This year, the Tornado take on Owego in the quarterfinals at 5 p.m. The winner of the dual match moves on to face second-seeded Windsor. On the other side of the bracket is Bainbridge-Guilford-Afton-Harpursville (BGAH) taking on the host Walton-Delhi Warriors. Winner of the two teams will see Tioga in the semifinal round. Both semifinals will happen side by side and start at 6:30 p.m.
The two winners will move into the finals match, starting at 7:30 p.m. The dual tournament champion will then head to the 2019 NYSPHSAA Dual Meet Championships held at Onondaga Community College in Syracuse on January 26.
Cost of admission for Tuesday’s even is $5 for adults and students, $3 for seniors 65 and over and free for children 10 and under.
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