Three defending champions are eligible to return for the 41st annual New York State Wrestling Championships this season. The Empire State will be led by two-time champion, Troy Nickerson (100-5 career mark) of Chenago Forks. Nickerson, only a sophmore, has a chance to become New York's first ever five-time state champion and will probably compete in the 112 pound weight class. Other returning champions are senior Ryan Needle (191-12 career record) of Newfane at 135-140 pounds and junior Chris Hand (134-14 career) of Whitney Point. Hand will probably wrestle at 145 or 152 and at 6 foot 3 inches he has an unorthodox style to contend with, he will be tough to beat. Other top contenders include six state finalists, junior Scott Prutzman (101-17 career) of Valley Central at 103 lbs., sophomore Tom Magnani (32-3) of Islip at 112 lbs., sophomore Gregor Gillespie (43-3) of Webster at 119-125 pounds, tough junior Trevor Chinn (40-2) of Canandaigua could battle the aforementioned Needle for the 135 or 140 pound title. Also finishing as runnerups were; senior Dwayne Hash-Barberis (39-1) of Scotia at 160 lbs., and Mike Patterson (38-2) of Wayne at 215 pounds. Third place finishers that will be in the hunt for state titles will be freshman J.P. O'Connor (96-103) of Oxford, rugged senior Lorne McCallum (119-125) of Lancaster, senior Tom Cupperwell (152) of Canandaigua, senior Sherwood Fendryk (160) of Greene, senior Gian Villante (215) of MacArthur and senior Chris Cowen of Mexico at 275 pounds. MAT NOTES... Section Eleven (Suffolk County) has crowned a state leading 111 NYS champions, followed by Section Eight (Nassau County) with 89 and Section Four (Binghampton) with 87 individual winners. The Empire State's only four-time champion was the heralded Jesse Jantzen (1997-98-99-00) of Shoreham-Wading River. He finished third at the 2002 NCAA meet while competing for Harvard and is currently the second ranked wrestler in the nation at 149 pounds. The Empire State's and Nations winningest scholastic wrestler was Matt Herrington (243-9 career mark) of Troy LaSalle, who now competes at the University of Pennsylvania in the 165-174 weight class. Only four states have a single classification for the state championships, California, Indiana, New Jersey and New York... 12/12/02 |
| 2002-2003 NEW YORK STATE PREVIEW |
| by Jim and Tony Nordland |