Section 3 crowns wrestling class champions

Jon Rathbun, Times Telegram
·5 min read

Wrestling teams from three area schools won titles while numerous individuals brought home honors that will continue their seasons from Section III's five class tournaments.

Adirondack won the Class C championship in Little Falls and Canastota repeated in Class D in Cooperstown while Central Valley Academy added a seventh consecutive Class B title while winning for the fourth time at home in Ilion.

The class tournaments feed into the sectional tournament at SRC Arena with the top four finishers from classes B, C and D plus wild cards setting the field for Division II, and classes AA and A competing in Division I.

The sectional tournament is scheduled for Saturday and there is a one-week layoff before those winners travel to Albany for the Feb. 24 and 25 state tournament at what is now MVP Arena. Central Valley Academy already placed second in the state dual meet tournament for the second time, having reached the finals at thet event in Syracuse in January.

Here is a look at how the class tournaments turned out for local teams.

Camden Blue Devil Trey Kimball works to force the shoulders of Homer Trojan Jeffrey Stauber to the mat Saturday at Central Valley Academy. Kimball pinned Stauber in the first period of the 132-pound final at Section III's Class B tournment and earned his third sectional class championship.
Camden Blue Devil Trey Kimball works to force the shoulders of Homer Trojan Jeffrey Stauber to the mat Saturday at Central Valley Academy. Kimball pinned Stauber in the first period of the 132-pound final at Section III's Class B tournment and earned his third sectional class championship.

More:Wrestling: Tioga repeats as dual meet state champion; Central Valley Academy second

More:Section 3 wrestling results for 2022-23 season

Class AA

Cicero-North Syracuse, competing in its home gym, topped Jamesville-DeWitt/Christian Brothers Academy to win the nine-team tournament with the runner-up sending six wrestlers to the finals to claim three individual titles.

Cicero-North Syracuse had five finalists and the most outstanding wrestler, Kamdin Bembry.

Rome Free Academy sophomore Chad Tennant, a finalist last year, won the 138-pound title while teammate Ryan Wright placed sixth at 215.

Class A

Carthage had foutr individual champions and sent three other wrestlers to the finals at Indian River to earn top honors among 10 teams.

Vernon-Verona-Sherrill placed fifth as a team with junior Charlie Foster earning his third class title as the 152-pound champion. The Red Devils also had Kody Foster in the finals at 145. Seven others had top six finishes.

Whitesboro and New Hartford placed seventh and eighth as teams. New Hartford freshman Charlie Belmonte won the 285-pound title in overtime and four teammates joijned him with top six finishes.

Joe Dare was Whitesboro's top finisher in third place at 132 while Brady Murphy was fourth at 172 and Noah Long fifth at 189.

Class B

Central Valley Academy and Tri-Valley Academy rival Camden were the top teams Saturday in Ilion, placing first and second with the only team scores over 200 points. Central Valley Academy's Thunder placed wrestlers in the finals for eight of the 13 classes while Camden's Blue Devils had seven; the Thunder won three of the four head-to-head finals.

Ethan Randall (right), Central Valley Academy's 189-pounder, battles Maddox Johnson from Homer at Section III's Class B Tournament Saturday in Ilion.
Ethan Randall (right), Central Valley Academy's 189-pounder, battles Maddox Johnson from Homer at Section III's Class B Tournament Saturday in Ilion.

In all, Central Valley Academy had 10 wrestlers place with all advancing to Division II competition. Thirteen Blue Devils placed in the top six and matched the Thunder with 10 in the top four.

Senior Sixx Cook won his third class championship for Central Valley Academy. Eighth-grader Jacob Hurd won at 102 pounds in his first class tournament, freshman Gene Edwards and senior Ethan Randall repeated as a class champion, and senior Cole Wheet earned his first title at 160. Cooper Reed and Jeremy McRedmond were the other finalists.

Trey Kimball, competing for the first time in a month, won his third class title in his fourth trip to the finals for Camden. Classmate Joshua Salsman repeated at 285 pounds, and five other Blue Devils reached the finals: Talon Kimball, Keith Seaton, Kolton Kelley, Sean Seymore and Lyle Walker. Walker, Seymore and Seaton were beaten by Central Valley Academy's Wheet, Cook and Edwards. Salsman defeated McRedmond in the finals.

Central Valley Academy eighth-grader Jacob Hurd works to finish his 102-pound bout with Noah Becker from Mexico Academy at Section III's Class B tournament Saturday. Hurd won by major decision to claim an individual title.
Central Valley Academy eighth-grader Jacob Hurd works to finish his 102-pound bout with Noah Becker from Mexico Academy at Section III's Class B tournament Saturday. Hurd won by major decision to claim an individual title.

Class C

Fifteen points separated the top three teams in Little Falls and Adirondack, up from Class D last season, had pins against the other contenders in the last two matches of the night to secure the team title.

Adirondack Wildcat Isaac Croneiser (top) competes with Holland Patent Golden Knight Nick DeForrest in the 215-pound title match Saturday at Section III's Class C tournament.
Adirondack Wildcat Isaac Croneiser (top) competes with Holland Patent Golden Knight Nick DeForrest in the 215-pound title match Saturday at Section III's Class C tournament.

Adirondack's Isaac Croneiser pinned Holland Patent's Nick DeForrest in the 215-pound title bout and Colin White needed only 26 seconds to pin Charles Vonwal from Lowville Academy at 285.

In fact, the final four bouts featured wrestlers from those three teams. Adirondack finished with 189 points to 184 1/2 for Lowville Academy and 174 for Holland Patent, the runner-up last year to General Brown, Saturday's fourth-place team.

Holland Patent's Jordan Koenig decisioned Lowville Academy's Sean Kelly to win the title at 172 pounds, and Lowville's Keegan Crenshaw pinned Adirondack's Mason Sturtevant at 189.

Lowville Academy had six finalists to four each for Adirondack and Holland Patent but each team had two winners. Patrick Grimsey beat Holland Patent's Anthomy Phan at 132 pounds while Holland Patent's Trent True, the tournament's most outstanding wrestler, scored a 12-7 decision against a wrestler from Altmar-Parish-Williamstown to claim the 160-pound title.

Matt Verri of Little Falls grapples with Landen Moshier from Lowville Academy in the 138-pound title bout Saturday at Section III's Class C tournament.
Matt Verri of Little Falls grapples with Landen Moshier from Lowville Academy in the 138-pound title bout Saturday at Section III's Class C tournament.

Nate and Matt Verri were finalists for Little Falls at 102 and 138 pounds and both win individual titles. Three other Mounties reached the consolation finals and advanced to the Division II tournament.

Adirondack had 11 wrestlers place in the top six, including 110-pound finalist Cole Croniser.

Holland Patent placed 12 wrestlers on the awards platform.

Class D

Canastota sent five wrestlers to the finals and saw Culley Bellino, Logan Mead and Scott Winchell win titles at 132, 152 and 160 pounds, respectively.

Bellino, a senior, also won at 132 when the Raiders won the team championship over Beaver River and Adirondack at Beaver River. Beaver River finished fifth this year while Adirondack moved up one class.

Dolgeville had a pair of individual champions - Grayson Eggleston at 126 pounds and Jared Bilinski at 189 - while second-place Morrisville-Eaton (Davin Peck, 110), Mt. Markham Dominic Jones, 189) and Sherburne-Earlville (Landon Andrade, 285) each had one.

Cooperstown/Milford had six entries place with TJ O'Connor advancing to the finals at 145. O'Connor was beaten by Bellino in the finals last year; he was beaten in overtime Saturday by Tavian Camper, the most outstanding wrestler from Copenhagen.

Canastota had two other finalists and nine top four finishers earned spots in Syracuse. Morrisville-Eaton and Dolgeville each had three finalists.

This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: Section 3 crowns class champions in wrestling