Caption
Close
Schenectady
Everything Columbia and Ballston Spa were in the regular season, it showed in the Class A wrestling tournament Saturday.
Ballston Spa won the team title, leveraging massive depth into reaching nine of the 15 championship rounds after taking the Suburban Council crown last week. Meanwhile, Columbia and Niskayuna matched the Scotties by reeling off four individual champions at Schenectady High.
“It’s been amazing,” said Ballston Spa 220-pounder Jake Stangle, who took a 5-2 decision against Columbia’s David Wingate in a showdown that matched the intensity of last week’s dual-match encounter. Stangle, a sophomore, won that one, too, as he’s reeled off a strong season after competing most of his freshman year on JV before a late promotion to the heavyweight slot, after a teammate’s injury. He finished sixth in last year’s Class A meet, not even advancing to Glens Falls for the Section II Tournament. Now, he’s a favorite to get to the state tournament Feb. 24-25 at Times Union Center, a key cog in a team loaded with skill.
“We’re always making sure we help each other improve,” Stangle said after getting a few stitches following a title-match cut above his right eye. “All of the work revolves around the room.”
It just seemed early at least that a lot of the glamor revolved around Columbia.
As expected, it dominated three straight weight classes — Michael Gonyea (113) and Trent Nadeau (120) needed a combined 3:31 to earn championship pins. John Devine followed them (126) with a 15-5 outcome against Ballston Spa’s Will Gorman.
“That’s the best part, having tough workout partners every day,” Nadeau said. “I have great ones below (his weight) and above, so it’s great. We do three-man ‘shark groups’ … gets you real tired. We’re all competitors and no one wants to lose.”
Nadeau fell just short of placing top-6 at last year’s state meet, so he’s trying to make a deep run like his teammates. Gonyea has placed twice and Devine has been in the final.
So this time of year is all about confidence, and building it.
A few wrestlers received a boost in the lead-up to next Saturday’s sectional tournament at Glens Falls.
Ballston Spa also had Nick Palso (99) open the title round with a pin. Tyler Barnes (170) won by forfeit while Jake Cook (182) won by a major decision.
The Blue Devils like that their light-but-big three were joined by Dylan Dubuque at 195.
The 132-pound champ may have been the feel-good story of the evening. Schenectady’s Deyker Edwards earned a 12-5 decision (over Wyatt Gorman, Ballston Spa) that made him a champ in his home gym — the first time the Patriots have hosted the class tournament in 21 years, as told to Edwards by a school official.
“I had to make a statement, set an example for the younger kids,” the senior Edwards said.
He was second in this round last year before placing fourth at sectionals.
Of note, Shenendehowa’s Kiernan Shanahan earned career victory No. 100 with a pin 46 seconds into his final against Guilderland’s Kevin Ochs. The 145-pound sophomore gets teased by teammates often, he said, for a style that includes not a whole lot of offensive “shooting” (attacks). But it works.
“I just need to keep training as I’ve been training,” said Shanahan, who uses judo training as his base. “I’m getting more confidence. Going to Glens Falls, I just need to ride this wave I’ve got going on right now.”
Also noteworthy, Shenendehowa heavyweight Shane Walpole, Niskayuna’s duo of Eoghan Sweeney (160) and Thomas Minahan (138), Shanahan, Nadeau and Gonyea all advanced through the one-day tournament with three pins.
Gonyea was particularly efficient, needing just 3 minutes, 8 seconds to get to the first-place spot.
jfranchuk@timesunion.com
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
