Two Americans won gold at the Canada Cup Junior Championship on July 5. North Rockland’s own Joe Slane was one of them.

Slane beat an American, a Canadian, and two Koreans to win the 58 kg (127 pound) championship. The toughest match was against Canada’s Duncan Moffat. Moffat beat Slane 5-0 in the first round before [...]

John Jay is hosting a 24-hour wrestling camp for all kids of high school age or below. Five-time New York State champion Troy Nickerson is the featured guest. Joe Mazzurco, Section 1’s all-time wins leader, will also be there. Camp begins June 29.

You can get more information or sign up by following this link.

For those who didn’t see Sunday’s newspaper, I’m proud to announce that James Brundage is the Journal News Westchester/Putnam Winter Athlete of the Season. This means that of all the premier athletes in every winter sport (basketball, hockey, swimming, etc) Brundage was the most impressive.

I’d like to say I fought hard for his nomination but [...]

James Brundage today signed a letter of intent with Rider University. The Ossining senior will wrestle for the Lawrenceville, NJ school next season.

He told me yesterday that the final college list came down to three choices: Virginia, Boston University, and Rider. Virginia was probably his top choice since he grew up down there and his [...]

Last time I spoke to the wrestlers, which was during or just after the season, nobody had made up their minds about college. I figure those decisions have to be made soon, no?

So I’m putting out a call to all parents, fans, and wrestlers in Section 1. Are you a senior who’s going to wrestle [...]

Jon Bonilla-Bowman was decisioned by Chattanooga’s Joseph Knox, 15-12, in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. He will wrestleback against West Virginia’s Ryan Goodman tonight.

In the earlier post I referred to national rankings by WrestlingReport.com. I thought you might be interested in the full rankings for every weight class.

125:
1) Paul Donahoe-Edinboro-Sr (EWL – 1st)
2) Troy Nickerson-Cornell-Jr (EIWA – 1st)
3) Angel Escobedo-Indiana-Jr (Big X – 1st)
4) Brandon Precin-Northwestern-Jr (Big X – 2nd)
5) James Nicholson-Old Dominion-So (CAA – 1st)
6) Charlie Falck-Iowa-Sr [...]

The NCAA wrestling tournament begins tomorrow at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis. One of the participants will be Pomona’s own Jonny Bonilla-Bowman. Bonilla-Bowman, a redshirt junior from Hofstra, is making his third NCAA appearance.

He recently claimed his second Colonial Athletic Association championship at 157 pounds. In two years at Hofstra he has two championships, [...]

Former Pearl River coach Hayes Yorks, 71, passed away early yesterday morning. He suffered a stroke while vacationing in Florida with wife Jane that sent him into a coma. His son and three daughters were called down to be at his bedside. He was then taken off life support.

It was his second stroke. Fourteen years [...]

Greeley coach Mike DeBellis asked me to pass along some information about his team dinner. In addition to the usual festivities (honoring the seniors, telling stories, stuffing their faces with eggplant Rollatini) they will have special guests: the 1968 Greeley wrestling team. The fightin’ 68ers went 12-1 and placed second in the section. Here is [...]

There are three youth tournaments happening in the north country over the next three weekends. They’re for young wrestlers in grades K-8.

The first is at Beacon’s Rombout Middle School on Saturday. The following weekend is at Carmel High School followed by Brewster on the 21st.

Additional information is available here.

Vinnie DiGravio was minding his own business when Joey Grippi fell from the ceiling.

Steve Rodrigues gets his world turned upside down.

Stephen Dutton keeps Andrew Lenzi firmly on bottom.

The antelope is fast, but not fast enough to avoid the lion’s pounce.

Ever wonder what the bottom of Genta Murayama’s shoes look like?

Think Brian Realbuto’s happy about winning [...]

A couple championship-related links to pass along. First is the new Gameface poll, which only features athletes who have won a championship in the last week. Realbuto and Brundage are on there as two of the better ones. But my vote is going to Albertus girls basketball player Alaina Walker.

The other link is a special [...]

It’s funny when people still vote in the old poll even after the answer has been determined. The last poll asked who would go furthest in states. Turned out to be Brundage and Realbuto. Now, those two were doing well in the poll anyway, along with Joe Grippi. But after states was over people kept [...]

Bill Swertfager and the Section 1 coaches set four numerical goals when they brought the kids together for practice last week.

1) Two state champions: Check. First Brian Realbuto won the 103-pound title and James Brundage the 160-pound title in Division I. Realbuto’s was the first finals match for Section 1 and got the proceedings off [...]

9:18 Gotta write my story now. I’ll be back tomorrow with a wrapup.

9:04 Section 1 has a second champion! Brundage beats Neidhart 17-10.

8:59 Brundage appears to have Neidhart pinned but the ref sticks his hand under and says no. Still, the near fall gives him a 12-3 advantage.

8:57: Brundage gets a reversal just before the [...]

4:10 They kicked us out of the arena while they rearranged the floor, including the media seating. But I’m back for the duration.

The latest Division I team standings are follows:

Section 11 – 219.5
Section 1 – 178.5
Section 2 – 177
Section 8 – 148
Section 9 – 146.5
Section 5 – 146
Section 6 – 103
Section 4 – 92
CHSAA – [...]

Turns out I was overly optimistic about the internet at the Times Union Center. It was on and off all day. Mostly off. For some reason the computers around me got better reception, although theirs wasn’t perfect either. I ended up calling results into the office, which my editors then posted on the blog.

For people [...]

Huge day for Section 1. The hugest, in fact.

Never in the 67-year history of the state wrestling tournament has Section 1 been poised to do as well as it is right now. Eleven wrestlers have guaranteed themselves a place finish, even if they don’t win another match. That’s already matched a record. The previous high [...]

In Division 2, only six of the 17 local wrestlers made it out of the first round. The lucky ones were Anthony Calvano of Nanuet, Ryan Osleeb of North Salem, Genta Murayama of Edgemont, Derrick Longo of Ardsley, Will Carter of Westlake and wild card Chris Orlando of Putnam Valley.

Will be back soon with Division [...]

I haven’t had much luck getting internet at high schools this year. Check that—make it any luck. Pace only had limited access. I have higher hopes for the Times Union Center. If it does indeed have internet, and I have a place to put my computer (less likely), I’ll provide regular updates on the Section [...]

In terms of facing proven opponents in the first round, Section 1 lucked out. Only four locals—Ryan Osleeb, Dan Manley, Greg Canaparo, Kevin Davidson—will see first-round opponents that placed in the state last year. Two of them, however, are state champions.

Kevin Davidson drew the toughest assignment. His prize for upsetting Udit Thakur in the 135 [...]

I added everybody’s seed. In parenthesis after the opponent’s name is their school and section number. If there is an A1-A4 after that it means the kid was a wild card.

I’ll be back with more thoughts on the matchups later.

Divison I

96 – No. 8 ASHER KRAMER VS No. 9 MAX SORIA (KINGS PARK  11) A3

96 [...]