2008 NEW YORK STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
By Jim & Tony Nordland
Section Two (Albany) won the 46th annual NYSPHSAA Wrestling Championships at the Blue Cross Arena in snowy Rochester. The maroon-clad contingent tallied 238 points to outdistanced runner-up Section Eight (Nassau) who had 190 and Section Eleven (Suffolk) who finished with 168.5 points. The Albany area squad crowned four champions including the Meys brothers, Austin (48-0, 218-8), a junior at 171 and Hunter ( 47-0, 254-10, 212 pins) at 189, along with LaSalle teammates Zach Clemente (52-0) at 140, and Ken Altarac (49-4) at 285 pounds. Long Islanders that captured gold medals were Nassau's Nick Arujau (42-0, 101 wins) of Syosset in the loaded 112-pound class, Wantagh teammates Steven Bonanno (43-0, 140-28) at 119 and junior John Greisheimer (49-1, 141-14) at 145. Bonanno defeated defending state champion Cody Ruggirello (48-2) of Valley Central-9, in an exciting 5-4 overtime decision. Suffolk's lone titlist was sophomore Ken Collado (38-4, 73-17) of Hauppauge, who edged Luke Popolizio (Shenendehowa-2) with a 4-2 overtime victory at 103. Long Island's returning champions, juniors Steven Keith (43-2, 126-15) of SWR, and Paul Liguori (41-1, 172-13) of Wantagh dropped decisions, then battled back and earned bronze medals.
The championship finals opened with non-stop action as two freshmen, Bob Dierna (41-0, 84-4) of Wayne-5 and Sean McCormick (Johnson City-4) squared off in the 96-pound bout. Dierna scored with a key third period reversal for an exciting 11-8 decsion. In another exciting bout, Spencerport's Bryan Bourne (41-0, 184-19) went against Matt Bogardus (52-2, 178-33) of Fulton-3. Bourne opened the scoring with his patented single leg takedown and batlled with Bogardus throughout their match. As the bout was waning down, and with seven seconds remaining, Bogardus shot in on a low single and was embroiled in a wild scramble, but, Bourne held him off and emerged with a close 5-3 decision and the coveted 160-pound championship.
In the Divison II Tournament, Section Three (Syracuse) edged Section Five, 209 to 203.5 points. The Central area team garnered three champions, including IHC teammates Antonio Doldo (45-1) at 140 and Derek Brenon (47-1) at 152, along with Hank Penree (31-2) of Frankfort Schuyler at 215 pounds. In the marquee match of match of the finals, two-time champion Ian Paddock (53-1, 214-6) of Warsaw-5, defeated defending titlist Kyle Dake (43-1, 174-14) of Lansing-4. Both are juniors, Fargo placers, and nationally ranked. Paddock scored with an early takedown but Dake responded with an escape and a firemans carry/scramble to emerge with a takedown and pull within a point. Paddock coverted a takedown attempt into an overhead cradle and emerged with a solid 9-4 decision and the 130-crown. Other reigning champions that successfully defended their titles were three-time winner Alex Ekstrom (50-2, 176-17) of Palmyra-Macedon-5 at 135, junior Mike Nevinger (51-4, 206-20) of Letchworth-5 at 140, and Dustin Frederick (32-0, 138-13) of Ausable Valley-7, who recorded a second period pin to claim the 285-pound title.
MAT NOTES...
The state leader in sectional team titles is Section Eleven with 16, and at the 2008 state meet, they garnered 17 place-winners, which was the most of all sections. Section Eleven now has crowned 129 NYS champions, followed by Section Four with 119 titles, and Section Eight with 101 individual champions.Two sets of brothers have earned the Outstanding Wrestler Award, the Jantzens; Jesse (1999/2000) and Corey (2006), along with the Meys', Austin and Hunter. Austin posted three falls en route to the title to earn the 2008 OSW Award. The Meys' became the first brothers to win that award in consecutive years. The youngest entrant in this year's tournament was 13 year old 7th-grader Austin Keough from Warsaw-5 in the 103-pound class. Ian Paddock's lone loss this season was to three-time champion Alex Ekstrom, a 4-3 setback in their dual meet at 140 pounds. Hauppauge's Ken Collado was paid a visit from legendary coach, Joe "The Gov" Campo of Brentwood before his championship match. Coach Campo spoke to Collado and gave him his "Words of Wisdom", Collado must have listened, because he went on to win the 103-pound title. Congratulations to the three father-son combinations that have won NYS Championships, John & Matt Sorochinsky (Union-Endicott), Lou Sr., Lou Jr. & Cody Ruggirello (Valley Central) and Pete & Peter Capone (Watertown/Johnson City). The Capone's uncle,Tom, won a state title back in 1972 for Watertown. The famed DeStefanis Family from Locust Valley-8 claimed six state titles from three brothers, Bob (1976-77), Al (1978-79) and Carl (1979-1980). Carl went on to win an NCAA title for Penn State at 118 pounds in 1984. In Division I, individual team honors went to Shenendehowa with 72.5 points, followed by Wantagh (63), Spencerport (62), Johnson City (61) and LaSalle with 49 points. In Division II, the top team was Immaculate Heart Central with 80 points, then Palmyra-Macedon (70.5), Fredonia (63.5), Waverly (59.5) and Warsaw with 49.5 points. Also, Congratulations to 2008 NYS Hall-of-Fame member Don Debadts and his lifetime service to wrestling, along with his tenure as NYS Chairman. Best of Luck to you and your family. The combined record of the 15 Division I champions was 662 victories and only 18 losses. In the United States there are 49 states that have wrestling programs, only the state of Mississippi doesn't have wrestling. Now only three states have single classification for their state championships, California, Indiana and New Jersey. The 2009 NYSPHSAA State Tournament will return to Albany's Times Union Center the weekend of March 6,7, and 8. |
