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State Tourney Begins Today

ALBANY — Brackets have been set for this weekend’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association individual wrestling tournament, and local grapplers are well represented with a field of 14 as well as a three first-alternate selections.

After finishing at a perfect 6-0 in Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 1 action this year, Falconer/Cassadaga Valley leads the way with four individual wrestlers with a shot at state titles.

Action will kick off today inside the Times Union Center with the Parade of Champions and Sportsmanship Awards taking place before preliminaries begin at 10 a.m.

Dan Torres is the first of four to enter the tournament with a No. 2 overall seed at 160 pounds in Division II. The Cassadaga Valley senior was able to pick up a Section VI title thanks to a hard-fought 5-4 win over Bryce Rowe of Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Panama on Feb. 10 at Lake Shore High School.

Sitting in the second overall spot, Torres will meet unseeded John O’Neill of Center Moriches out of Section XI in the first round.

Despite falling to Torres during his sectional run, Rowe will also have a good chance to finish the season well as the senior enters with a No. 3 seed.

That means that Rowe will meet the winner of Mike Wilmot out of Bainbridge Guilford/Afton/Harpursville of Section IV and Tyler Tambini of Malone out of Section X as they head to the mat to see who makes it to the main draw.

The man to beat at 160 pounds this year will be Jacob Nolan out of Section VII Saranac.

Following the lead of Torres is teammate Dylan Ingrao with the No. 2 seed at 152. The senior fell victim to a pin in 1:30 at sectionals by Zach Brown of Newfane, who will enter the tournament as the No. 3 seed.

Ingrao is slated to meet Rich Forbes of Catskill out of Section II to open things up, while Zack Lawrence of Duanesburg of Section 2 holds the No. 1 spot.

Robbie Penhollow is also a No. 2 seed for Falconer/Cassadaga Valley at 170 pounds after prevailing over Jacob Sarow of Akron/Alden, 5-4 in extra time to earn his Section VI title.

Penhollow will await the winner of Bailey O’Brien of Locust Valley out of Section VIII and Brandon Bido of Eagle Academy of the Bronx.

The final No. 2 seed for Falconer/Cassadaga Valley will be Corey Keefe at 185 pounds.

Keefe picked up his sectional title with a 7-2 win over Zak Trim of Maple Grove, and will now wait to face off against the winner of Jake Croston out of Mount Sinai of Section XI and Ervis Spahiu out of Petrides of Staten Island as they look to advance into the main bracket.

Trim enters as the No. 3 seed and will meet unseeded Harrison Sherman out of Cato Meridian of Section III.

The top man at 195-pounds is Doug Simmons of Canastota out of Section III.

Joining teammate Bryce Rowe for Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Panama will be Brendan Ramsey, who was able to surprise Ryan Nugent of Newfane for his sectional title with a 5-2 decision.

The unseeded Ramsey will be looking to wrestle into the main bracket as he takes on unseeded Michael Hernandez of the Bronx Studio School.

Should Ramsey advance he will have his work cut out for him, meeting No. 2 Brady Worthing of Tioga out of Section IV in the main draw.

Also representing Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Panama will be Ben Szymanowski at 220 pounds. Szymanowski will enter his bracket unseeded to take on Tylor Barnhat of Livonia-Wayland-Cohocton out of Section V after falling to No. 2 seed Mike Rigerman of Pioneer via major decision at Lake Shore.

Hector Colom of Fredonia/Dunkirk will enter the 132-pound bracket as the No. 3 seed, while Matt Evans of Randolph will be the No. 4 seed.

Colom was able to pick up his fourth Section VI title via a 4-2 sudden victory win after nearly dropping a decision to Evans in the final seconds of regulation.

The senior will now face Bryan Sexton out of Spencer-Van Etten/Candor of Section IV, while Evans is slated to meet Hector Rodriguez of Eagle Academy of the Bronx.

Cahal Donovan out of Section III Marcellus is your No. 1 seed at 132 pounds.

Joining his teammate Evans will be Nick Becker of Randolph in the 285-pound bracket.

Becker grabbed third place at the Section VI tournament thanks to a 3-1 win over Ty Casinelli of Newfane, and will now meet No. 5 Bailey Wood out of Walton-Delhi of Section IV.

Giuseppe Hoose of Southwestern is the No. 4 seed at 182 pounds after he was able to battle through illness and earn a 3-0 win over Julian Nixon of Newfane for his Section VI title. The senior will now lead off against unseeded Kyle Jenkins of Gouverneur out of Section X.

Patrick Walsh of Olean will also make the trip to Albany in the 182-pound bracket, as he enters unseeded and looks to move past No. 6 Zack Thurston out of Section V’s Hornell.

Walsh will be joined by teammate Nick Bierfeldt, who is unseeded at 120 pounds and slated to meet No. 5 Keth Cassar of Oyster Bay out of Section VIII.

First-alternate selections will be hoping earn a spot in the event of a withdrawal, and that includes Noah Turzillo of Jamestown, who is the first alternate at 220 pounds in Division I after falling to Lancaster’s Joe Andreeseen via major decision at sectionals.

Fredonia/Dunkirk’s Giovanni Russo is the first alternate at 138 pounds after losing to East Aurora’s Johnny Putney in the finals of the Division II sectional tournament.

Also earning a first-alternate selection is Luke Tomlinson of Maple Grove after his loss to Newfane’s Andrew Lucinski, 12-2, in the Division II finals.

Saturday’s action in Albany is scheduled to begin with semifinals and wrestlebacks at 10 a.m. with consolation semifinals at 12:30 p.m. and consolation finals at 2 p.m.

Final bouts are expected to take place at 6:30 p.m.

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