Top seeds on form at sectionals
GLENS FALLS — Saturday night’s Section II wrestling championships proved to be a colossal festival of form as No. 1 seed after No. 1 seed emerged with titles at Cool Insuring Arena. Hudson Falls junior Jesse Mullis, with one hellacious move, finally changed that dynamic in the 20th final of the evening when he body-slammed Catskill’s Daniel Forbes and scored the pin at 172 pounds in the Division II title match.
“He took a shot and I took him over,” said Mullis, who was seeded No. 2. “It does feel pretty good.”
Forbes, who captured a 2022 Division II title at 160, entered the title match at 30-0. With one large thud orchestrated on his own school’s wrestling mat, Mullis slammed the Catskill standout and registered the stunning pin seconds later.
The remainder of the evening ’s title matches were dominated by the top seeds as the other 25 finals were captured by the No. 1 seeds.
Earlier in the day, all 26 No. 1 seeds advanced to title matches. The biggest seeding upset to advance to a final occurred in Division I when senior Vito Spataora (Saratoga Springs) reached the title match at 172 pounds as a No. 6 seed. He lost via pin to Shenendehowa’s Armen Hashimee in the final.
Besides Spatafora, every other wrestler that advanced to a final that was not a No. 1 seed either was rated No. 2 or 3 in their weight class. There were 17 No. 2 seeds and eight No. 3 seeds to reach a title match.
There were 12 champions from 2022 to advance to the
finals, three in the same weight class as a year ago. Nine captured a second straight sectional championship: Ralph Keeney (Ballston Spa), Gabriel Goss (Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake), Josh Warland (Burnt HillsBallston Lake), Connor Gregory (Ballston Spa) and Will Hotaling (Colonie) in Division I and Trevor Bishop (Tamarac), Dylan Devine (Schalmont), Owen Hicks (Fonda/Johnstown), and Tristen Hitchcock (Warrensburg/Lake George) in Division II.
Hitchcock, a senior 285pound star headed to Army to wrestle, is the lone Section II competitor that returned after winning a state title in 2022. He repeated as he pinned Lansingburgh’s Jonah Aquier in 18 seconds.
There were four 2023 champions that dropped tough title matches in 2022. The first wrestler to prevail in that scenario was Saturday’s first champion as Mohonasen
senior Vincent Graulau, who dropped a 7-5 verdict to Ballston Spa’s Ralph Keeney at 102 pounds last year, posted a 13-4 decision over Colonie’s Vincent Mastrianni.
“This feels amazing,” Graulau said. “Every minute that I cut weight and working hard, well, it was all worth it.”
Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake entered Saturday’s action with four No. 1 seeds and won the Division I team title with 166 points. Sophomore standout Liam Carlin dropped his 126-pound title match 1-0 against Shen’s Ayden Robles in 2022. This time, Carlin posted a 15-4 triumph over Shen’s Vincent Grembocki.
Amsterdam senior Renso Montalvo, who dropped a 3-2 verdict against Warland at 145 in 2022, defeated Colin Carlin 11-2 to prevail in the same weight class.
Goss, who was named 2022 Most Outstanding Wrestler, improved to 30-2 with a 12-2 decision against Shen’s David Ensminger in the 138-pound final.
“It means a lot to win it again,” Goss said. “There was an article saying how tough my bracket was with David and Tabriz (Khetab from Albany, the No. 3 seed). I took that personally.”
Warland improved to 16-2 this season when he pinned Averill Park’s John Welcome in 54 seconds in the 152pound final to repeat as champion.
“It was unfortunate I had to sit out part of this season, but it ended with being able to sit in the coaches’ box during matches,” Warland said. “I learned so much and I really think it helped with winning again.”
Gregory joined Keeney (who won at 110 pounds) and senior Darrien Insogna as champions for the Scotties.
“It feels great to have a win again,” Gregory said.
Insogna, who fell to Shaker’s Ryan Stein in the 2022 Division I final at 215, registered a win against Pat McKinley (Saratoga Springs) in this season’s 215 final.
Another competitor who reversed a 2022 title match loss was Whitehall senior Troy Austin, who rallied from behind to beat No. 2 seed Brent Perry (Granville/ Fort Ann).
“I’m glad I came through,” Austin said. “It was a hard match. He’s a tough kid.”
Salem/Cambridge senior star Evan Day won at 215 pounds in Division II after falling to Hitchcock in the 2022 title match at 285.
Salem/Cambridge won the Division II team title.