Charles Tibbitts, Reed Douglass win state wrestling championships

ALBANY – Charles Tibbitts completed a perfect senior season of wrestling as a state champion Saturday with a pair of victories on the final day of the NYSPHSAA championships.

Tibbitts, a Sauquoit Valley student currently wrestling with the New Hartford Spartans, finished a 35-0 season with overtime victories in both his semifinal and final matches in 285-pound Division I competition at Albany’s MVP Center.

Joining Tibbitts among the state champions was Reed Douglass from Section II Canajoharie/Fort Plain who won the Division II 172-pound title. Central Valley Academy junior Ethan Randall was a 189-pound finalist in Division and finished second at his second state tournament.

Tibbitts also competed for Vernon-Verona-Sherrill and Holland Patent earlier in his six-year varsity career before joining the New Hartford squad as a freshman. Seeded second for the state tournament, he advanced through Friday’s competition with a 6-2 decision and second period pin to earn a spot in the Saturday morning semifinals.

His semifinal match against Stephan Monchery, the third seed from Section IX Middletown, went to overtime tied at 1. Tibbitts advanced with a sudden victory takedown.

Tibbitts’ opponent for the championship bout was Sebastian Regis, the 13th seed from East Islip in Section XI and an upset winner over top seed Konrad Krzyston in the other semifinal. The final match went all the way to a tie-breaker before Tibbitts had his hand raised with a 3-2 victory.

He is the first state wrestling champion from Sauquoit Valley and the first from a New Hartford team since Dan Perry won back-to-back titles in 1997 and 1998.

More: Four CVA wrestlers among 10 from area in state tournament semifinals

More: Four CVA wrestlers, one Little Falls Mountie win Section III championships

Douglass wins at 172

With the four wrestlers ahead of him eliminated on Friday, Canajoharie/Fort Plain senior Douglass entered Saturday’s semifinals with the top remaining Division II seed at 172 pounds. He pinned Luke Dendis, the No. 9 seed from Section V South Seneca, in the second period of his semifinal then defeated No. 7 Ray Hutton 3-1 in the championship round.

Douglass had beaten Hutton from Troy’s La Salle Institute in overtime in Section II’s Division II title match two weeks earlier. The pair appeared to be headed back to overtime before Douglass scored with a takedown in the final seconds of the third period to break a 1-1 tie in the match.

Canajoharie/Fort Plain had no 2020-21 season because of internal COVID issues during the delayed season for Montgomery County competition.

Other area performers

Randall, a 170-pound state qualifier as a Dolgeville freshman two years ago, improved his performance as a 189-pound junior. One of four Central Valley Academy wrestlers to advance to the semifinals, Randall, seeded third earned a 6-5 decision against No. 2 Simon Lingle from Section VI Newfane to get to the finals. Gabriel Monroe, seeded first from Section IV Windsor, pinned Randall at 3:13 to claim the title.

Central Valley Academy semifinalists Gene Edwards, Kace Cook and Sixx Cook were all beaten in their first Saturday matches and shifted to the wrestlebacks. Kace Cook, the lone senior among five Thunder wrestlers as the state tournament, worked his way back to third place at 138 pounds. Sixx Cook, a junior and the youngest of six wrestling brothers, did the same at 145. Edwards, an eighth-grader in his first varsity season, finished fifth at 102 pounds.

Freshman Cooper Reed, the lone wild card from Central Valley Academy, went to the wrestlebacks Friday and finished sixth at126 pounds.

Among the other Section III competitors:

•Dolgeville junior Jared Bilinski was a 189-pound semifinalist opposite Randall in the bracket and was beaten by Monroe Saturday. He also lost his first wrestleback and finished fifth with a win in his final match.

•Camden’s Trey Kimball reached the semifinals at 126 pounds and was beaten Saturday morning. The third-time state tournament qualifier finished third.

•Holland Patent’s Jordan Koenig was the No. 2 seed in the upset-heavy 172-pound bracket. He wrestled back from a quarterfinal loss Friday to finish third.

•Little Falls Mountie Mason Rowley was beaten Friday and came back to win his first two wrestleback matches.

Mt. Markham’s Aydin DeForest earned a fifth-place finish at 160 pounds. Canastota’s Evan Austerman finished eighth.

•Canastota’s Culley Bellino won two wrestleback matches at 132 pounds while teammate Casey Bixby won one at 215.

•Holland Patent’s Andrew Morris and Camden’s Josh Salsman each won two matches in the 285-pound wrestlebacks.

•Owen Hicks from Section II Fonda-Fultonville/Johnstown reached the 145-pound semifinals and was beaten 10-9 by eventual champion Jackson Polo from Section VIII Cold Spring Harbor. Hicks wrestled back to the third-place match where he was pinned in the first period by Kace Cook.

Jon Rathbun is a sportswriter for the Times Telegram. Email Jon at sports@timestelegram.com.

This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: State wrestling championships: Tibbitts, Douglass win state titles