| 2006 NEW YORK STATE PREVIEW By Jim & Tony Nordland www.thematslap.com Now in the third year with the two-division NYS Tournament format a total of twelve defending champions and one former state winner are eligible for the 44th annual New York State Intersectional Championships this season. The new site is the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island and a total of 360 grapplers from high schools around the Empire State will congregate for the two day competition scheduled for February 24th and 25th, 2006. Defending Division I champions include a trio of blue chip seniors; three-time champion J.P.O'Connor (36-0, 226-12 career) of Oxford-4 at 145 pounds, two-time titlist Lou Ruggirello (42-1, 168-9) of Valley Central-9 at 119 and Ryan Patrovich (36-0, 201-12) of Islip-11 at 160 pounds. O'Connor was a double place-winner at the Junior Nationals (2nd in Greco and 6th in Freestyle), Ruggirello was runner-up at the inaugural NHSCA Juniors Tournament and Patrovich finished second in Freestyle at the Juniors, after he dropped a close, 3-0 decision, to Florida standout, Rocky Cozart. Patrovich will lead defending sectional team champions Section Eleven (Suffolk County) in their quest for the team title. The other returning Division I state king is freshman Austin Mays (33-3) of Shenendehowa-2 at 125 pounds, which could be the toughest weight class in the tournament. Eight defending champions head the field in the Division II Tournament including two-time titlist senior Eric Decker (38-2, 212-16) of Bainbridge GAfton-4 at 160 pounds, he will lead the defending team champion Section Four, along with Colin McDonald (42-3) of Waverly at 152 and former 2004 state champion Trevor Franklin (19-1) of Unadilla Valley 125 pounds.The Paddock brothers from Warsaw will return to defend their crowns; freshman Ian (41-0) at 103 and junior Paul (41-1) at 160, both were place-winners at the Junior Nationals in Fargo, ND, and will be tough to beat. Look for a frenetic final with Decker vs Paddock. Section Three (Syracuse area) were team runners-up at the 2005 state meet and return state king, unbeaten senior Anwar Goeres (46-0, 232-15) of Phoenix at 125. Other returning winners are; senior Mike Aris (36-2) of Barker-6 at 130, Josh Denesha (33-2) of Gouvern-10 at 140, and senior Jim Almy (32-3) of Duanesburg-2. State finalists that return in Division I include senior Mike Daly (25-6) of MacArthur-8 at 112, junior Kevin Smith (38-1) of Mexico-3 at 125, Cadet Greco champion junior Michael Chaires (42-1) of CBA-2 who defeated 2005 state meet qualifier, Hunter Meys, 3-1 overtime at the Section Two finals, he will compete at 152 and tough Matt Ferber (34-0, 29 pins, 101-17 ), of Sachem East-11 at 215 pounds. Division II runners-up include a pair of freshmen Ken Kampnich (39-1) of Watertown IHC-3 at 103 and Ken Betts (43-7) of Fredonia-6 at 119. Four seniors that will be seeking redemption are; Mike McInally (39-0) of(Byron-Bergen-5 at 119, Corey Barber (36-0) o fHudson Falls-2 at 145 and Nick Clark (28-0) of Canisteo-Greenwood-5 at 215 pounds. Also to watch is returning state finalist, junior Brandon Gould (36-0) of Windsor-4 at 145 pounds. Bronze medallists from Division I that will vie for state crowns include; the aforementioned Trevor Franklin at 125, he was pinned by Lou Ruggirello in the semi-finals at the 2004 state meet. Other seniors are Ryan McCormick (36-1) of Johnson City-4 at 140, Chris Iorio (30-2, 125-16) of Sachem North-11 at 130, he finished third in Freestyle at the Juniors last summer and National Junior HS Champion, Josh Patterson (44-0) at 171. Also to challenge will be two-time state placewinner, junior PJ Gillespie (31-0) Long Beach-8 at 125, and Ryan LaMagra (43-1) of Section Five power Wayne at 189 pounds. Also to watch from Section Five, is two-time medallist Kyle Borshoff (41-0, 217 wins) of Pittsford, he could face Sachem North's Chris Iorio in the 130-pound final... MAT NOTES... At the 2005 NYS Championships, in Division I, Section Eleven tallied 255.5 points, a half-point shy of the all-time state record set by Suffolk in 2002. At last year's state meet, Suffolk placed all of its 15 wrestlers and claimed their 16th sectional team title and now have 120 NYS champions, followed by Section Four with 108 individual winners and Section Eight with 92 titles. Their quest for an unprecedented 17th title could happen as they return state champion Ryan Patrovich, finalist Matt Ferber, along with Chris Iorio (3rd at 125), along with a quartet of state place-winners;Tyler Mashkow (34-3) of Islip at 112, OSW winner, Mike Piccirillo(139-16) at 119, of Commack, junior Corey Jantzen (36-0, 128-7) of Shoreham-Wading River, now back in Div.I and Dave Ingram (37-0, 152-17) East Islip at 135 pounds. Jantzen handed Ruggirillo his only setback of the season, a 7-4 decision, at the Eastern States Classic.Two years ago, Ruggirillo pinned Jantzen in the 96-pound final, now they are both at different weights...Wayne HS has two potential state champions with cousins Josh Patterson and Ryan Lamagra, they're both hoping to capture state crowns this season... Valley Central, a perennial state power amassed 129 points for the unofficial individual team title at the 2005 state meet and in the process crowned three champions, as did Long Island power Islip. Those schools now share the record for three individual state crowns with Mepham (1964), Brentwood (1971), Longwood (1992) and Huntington (2002)...In Division II competition, Anwar Goeres of Phoenix set the single season record for victories with a perfect 54-0 mark and claimed the 119-pound crown, he will compete at 125 pounds this season and is coached by the legendary Gene Mills. Goeres will lead a strong Section Three squad that has seven unbeaten grapplers,the aforementioned Goeres, Justin Seifried (43-0) at 119, Shane Roggie (48-0) at 135, Greg Hurd (36-0) at 160, Chris Adams (41-0) and Derrick Smith (46-0),both at 171, along with Skylar Tuttle (25-0) at 275 pounds... Outstanding seniors Lou Ruggirello (Valley Central) and Ryan Patrovich (Islip) have signed with Hofstra University and JP O'Connor will attend Harvard University....Troy Nickerson (29-1) now at Cornell University and competing in the 125-pound class is having an unbelievable freshman season, he is training with former NCAA champion Travis Lee everyday at practice and is currently ranked fifth in the country by Amateur Wrestling News...The last time the NYS meet was held on Long Island was in 1966 and 1964 at Walt Whitman HS, which is located in South Huntington (Suffolk County). At both of those meets, Section Eight (Nassau) won the team titles and there were only eight sections represented in the competition. The Nassau contingent looks to four unbeatens this year , two-time state place-winner PJ Gillespie who is in the loaded 125-pound class, freshman Paul Liquori (35-0) at 96, Maciej Jochym (39-0) at 189 and tough Joe Goetz (29-1) at 275, along with state placewinners, Andre Harrison (130) and Eric Burnett (34-1) at 215 pounds.Gillespie will face Jantzen and Harrison will meet Iorio in two LI opening round bouts... CHSAA OSW winner Pat Doherty (41-0, 122 wins) of Chaminade is a solid contender at 145, as is, Section Eight MOW Mike Palmer (26-2) of Clarke... Last year, state finals attendance at the Pepsi Arena (Albany) had 8,242 spectators and that should be surpassed at the 2006 state meet at the Nassau Coliseum, which has a capacity of close to 16,000...At the 2007 NYS meet, tentatively scheduled for the Pepsi Arena, there will be wild card selections for the first time in New York State... Now there are only three states that have a single classification for their state championships, California (over 800 high schools), Indiana and New Jersey...Best of Luck to all the wrestlers that have qualified for the NYS Intersectionals, also known as the Tournament of Champions... |