3 other county wrestlers place

ALBANY – Over 30,00 New York State high school wrestlers started the 2018-219 season back in November. 496 were left at the two-day New York State Championship event held at Times Union Center in Albany Friday morning. Only 30 stood on the podium at the conclusion of the weekend.
Norwich’s 106 pound junior Dante Geislinger was one of those who held a sign that read “2019 Champion” and had two medals dangling around his neck, the second time in two years.
Geislinger, the No. 1 seed of his bracket, pinned his way into the semifinals. The Purple Tornado returned to Saturday night’s center stage with another pinfall win, this one coming with just 18 seconds remaining in the match.
Geislinger, who took on a defensive minded Maple Hill’s Caleb Svingala, scored the first point of the finals bout on an escape in the first period.
The now two-time champ set up a move that was finished with a double ankle control takedown in the second period, taking the 3-0 lead.
Starting on top in the third, Geislinger needed to keep Svingala down with heavy forward pressure.
Svingala attempted to build his way to his feet but the strength of the Tornado 106 pounder made it very tough. Geislinger looked up with 15 seconds left and knew if the hadn’t made a move by now, the wrestler from Section II wasn’t going to be able to make one at all.
As the final seconds ticked off the clock, the crowd began to cheer for the repeat champion as the Norwich junior grabbed 3-0 decision over Svingala.
“It feels amazing,” said Geislinger. “All the work you put in really pays off. You put the work in and you see it pay off, it’s awesome.”
The Tornado wrestler said he knew that despite the score being 0-0 after the first, the time would come that his opponent would break.
An emotional Bob Hagenbuch, Norwich head coach, said that he was very proud of his two-time champion – both coming under his helm as the head coach.
“It’s what we talk about from day one,” said Hagenbuch. “In practice, we’re talking about getting to the state tournament and getting to the top of the podium. It starts back in November, and here we are in February. I’m proud of his work ethic he has put into the last two years as he is a constant worker and a great teammate. He’s fun to coach.”
But Hagenbuch’s night in the chair on the side of the mat wasn’t over yet.
Waiting through the next five matches in the warmup room was Mikey Squires, the 152 pound finalist of the Purple Tornado.
The Norwich junior reached the finals with an opening round second period pin. Squires then faced two familiar opponents – Reese Lockwood of Groton and Mount Sinai’s Matt Campo.
Squires defeated Lockwood with a 7-2 decision and took care of Campo in the semifinals with a 5-0 win.
Taking on the No.1 seed of his bracket, Zack Lawrence of Duanesburg in Section II, Squires knew he was going to have the be aggressor in the match.
The Norwich wrestler met Lawrence at the Eastern States tournament in January. Lawrence took the win over Squires with a 7-3 decision win.
Late in the first period, Squires was assessed a penalty point for fleeing the mat. Not a common call during a match, especially a match with Squires as he is normally lining up for the shot.
As he was trying to work his way free, Squires finally got loose and took a few steps away from his opponent. That’s when the official awarded Lawrence with the point, giving the Section II wrestler the 1-0 lead.
Squires had a take down to start the second period but Lawrence was able to come away with a reversal for a 3-0 lead. The Duanesburg wrestler held that lead entering the final two minutes of the match.
Late in the period, Lawrence – who had already been assessed the stalling warning in an earlier period – was dinged for another stalling call to give the Purple Tornado wrestler a point.
With the score now at 3-1 and 15 seconds left in the match, Lawrence was called for stalling again. Since Squires’ opponent was on top, the clock was supposed to stop and the wrestlers were due to start back in the middle.
However, action continued. Hagenbuch went to discuss with the official and the protest was correct. Adding 15 seconds back on the clock, Squires needed to at least escape out of the bottom to score the escape point and tie the match to send it into over time.
Unfortunately, the Norwich junior was unable and fell in the championship match by a 3-2 decision.
“I feel Mike’s pain right now,” said Hagenbuch later in the evening. “He’s worked really hard all year and his whole career for this. We really thought this was the year to win the state title. We had a good game plan going in and we stuck to it. It was there but just didn’t work our way. I’m really proud of him. He’s number two in the state, there is no reason for him to hang his head.”
“You gotta be 10 points better than the ref,” Squires said, restating a college coach’s famous quote. “It was my fault for letting it come down to a call at the end. I wasn’t 10 points better tonight.”
With seven Chenango County wrestlers attending the championship tournament when the action started Friday, six continued into the second day.
Bainbridge-Guilford-Afton-Harpursville’s Joey Florence was the lone wrestler who was unable able to make it to Saturday’s matches after falling in his first two.
Teammate Brody Oleksak however, made it to the semifinal round after winning their first two matches.
Oleksak had a rematch from the Section IV Division-II finals with John Worthing of Tioga. Oleksak defeated Worthing at that tournament in overtime with a 3-0 tiebreaker final.
However, in New York State tournament, Worthing avenged his loss with a 3-0 decision win in the semifinals.
Worthing nearly caught Oleksak in a cradle early in the match but the Bears wrestler was able to wiggle is way out of the pin.
In the consolation semifinals, Oleksak trailed late in the match but scored an escape with eight seconds left. Needing to turn and shoot, the BGAH 138 pounder was unable to score as the time ran out, sending him the fifth/sixth place match.
Oleksak won that bout with a 6-0 decision win after scoring three points in the first period and getting a three point near-fall count at the end of the match.
BGAH’s senior Shane Hoover pinned his opening match with 25 seconds left in the first period, moving into the quarterfinals and still undefeated for the season.
Having to see the No. 2 seed – Charlie Grygas out of Duanesburg High School– in the 160 pound bracket in his next match, Hoover knew he was going to have to wrestle tough in the bout.
Leading late in the match 3-1, the Bears’ senior had to avoid the late match takedown by Grygas. However, Grygas landed his shot before the clocks showed zero, sending the quarterfinal bout into sudden victory overtime.
Both being very aggressive in the extra minutes of wrestling, the two wrestlers took shots at each other but Hoover’s didn’t stick and Grygas’ attempt ended out of bounds.
As there was just 17 seconds in the match, most thought the match was headed into another overtime session. However, the Duanesburg 160 pounder landed one final shot before time expired and moved into the semifinals.
Hoover was sent to the wrestle back rounds after his first loss of the season. The BGAH senior fought his way back to the consolation semifinals, looking to place third in his weight class, but fell in that match by a 3-0 decision to Gavin Bell of Cold Spring Harbor. Hoover finished fifth after beating General Brown’s Matt McManaman in the fifth/sixth place match with a 3-1 sudden victory decision.
Greene/Oxford’s 195 pounder Owen Kennedy reached the championships with an at-large bid.
As the seventh seed in his weight class, Kennedy won by pinfall in his first match and headed to the next round.
Facing the second-seeded Nate Degroff in the quarterfinals, Kennedy worked hard but trailed 5-0 heading into the second period. As Degroff tilted Kennedy, scoring back points, he was able to set up the pin. With 40 seconds left in the same period, the official slapped the mat for the Degroff pinfall win.
Kennedy worked his way back in the wrestle back rounds. He won his his first match in the fight back rounds with a 5-2 decision but fell in the next bout to a 4-2 decision to Kolton Gagnon of Cold Springs Harbor. The Greene/Oxford junior wrestler finished with an overall season record of 34-8.
Sherburne-Earviille’s Alex Thompson started off the tournament as a six seed in the 220 pound bracket. Thompson defeated his opponent in his first match with a 3-1 sudden victory, moving onto the quarterfinal rounds.
In the next round, Thompson went up 2-0 in the match on Port Jervis’ James Oosterom within the first 30 seconds of the match.
The second period ended the way Thompson didn’t want it to. Oosterom lined up his move and was able to pin Thompson with 30 seconds left, sending the Marauders junior to the wrestle back rounds.
Using his frustration from the second round loss, the S-E 220 pounder came out in the next round very aggressive, taking the first shot at Colby Suglia of Mattituck. Either wrestler scored in the first period but Thompson kept the tempo in his favor.
Starting on the bottom in the second, Thompson built his way to the escape and scored it with 32 seconds left in the period.
In opposite positions to start the final period of the match, Suglia scored his escape point to tie it at 1-1.
With 30 seconds left in the match, Thompson avoided overtime with a takedown and a nearfall count to take 5-1 decision late in the bout.
Unfortunately, Thompson second day didn’t last long as Connor Skyora of Jasper-Troupsburg defeated him by pinfall in the third period.
The S-E wrestler held a 2-0 lead at the end of the first period but Skyora tied the match at 2-2 with an escape and a locking hands call against Thompson.
Thompson was then tilted by Skyora within first 30 seconds of the third and turned flat to his back for the loss.
After dealing with a back injury and missing many chances to wrestle this season, Thompson made it to the biggest stage of the season and finished with an overall record of 19-6.
It was said by NYSPHSAA officials that two-day attendance was recorded at 15,336. The number of fans was the largest in size in the past 10 years. The event ends the 2018-2019 wrestling season. Wrestlers, however, know the of-season begins today if they plan to return again next season.