Cover photo courtesy of Jeff Pataky
St. Francis sophomore Griffin LaPlante went 4-0 on the way to the 152-pound title at the rugged 20th Annual Eastern States Wrestling Classic on Friday and Saturday at Sullivan County Community College in Loch Sheldrake, NY. Ten total WNY wrestlers representing Section VI and Msgr. Martin schools placed at the tournament including runner-up finishes from Williamsville North’s Cam Catrabone and Southwestern’s Tavio Hoose.
The 2-seed LaPlante had a bye and won his only contested bout on Friday to reach the Saturday quarterfinal. Griffin was a winner by technical fall in only the second period over Pittsford’s (V) Samuel Renica to advance to the Eastern States semifinal for the second straight year.
In the Saturday semifinal, Griffin met past foe 3-seeded Liam Carlin from Section II’s Burnt Hills, a returning state finalist and two-time NYS place winner. LaPlante earned the first takedown of the match in the first period and added three points in the second period with an escape and takedown to advance to the final with an impressive 5-0 decision.
In the title match, LaPlante met top seeded Jason Kwaak from Brentwood (XI), a past NYS 3rd place winner and returning Eastern States finalist.
LaPlante again got the first points of the match with a takedown with around thirty seconds remaining in the first period. An escape early in the second period gave Griffin a 3-0 lead going into the final two minutes. An escape by Kwaak cut into Griffin’s lead, but a takedown with twenty seconds remaining all but sealed the win for LaPlante as he would hold on to win 5-1 for the 152-pound Eastern States title.
“Griffin, again, proved why he is not just one of the best wrestlers at his weight, but one of the best wrestlers overall in New York State,” said St. Francis assistant coach Steve Hart after the final. “Just today, he beat two NYS Division I top-3 place winners and did so outscoring them a combined 10-1 in those matches. He works extremely hard every single day to be at the level he has been this entire season.”
LaPlante was also named the tournament’s Middle Weight Most Outstanding Wrestler for his efforts.
Photo shared by @SFHSWrestlingNY on X
LaPlante’s place finish also helped to lead St. Francis to a 2nd place finish in the team standings with 83.5 points behind Section IX power house Minsink Valley with 97 points. Section IX’s Newburgh was 3rd with 78 points followed by Section V’s Palmyra-Macedon with 76.5, and Section VIII’s Long Beach and Plainedge each with 76 points to round out the top-5 place finishing teams.
North’s Catrabone and Southwestern’s Hoose each wrestled to runner-up finishes in their respective brackets.
Returning NYS and Eastern States champion Catrabone met top seeded and #1 nationally ranked Minisink Valley senior PJ Duke in the 160-pound title match for the tournament’s only bout featuring nationally ranked wrestlers; Catrabone is currently ranked 8th in the nation (via FloWrestling).
The final was to this point in the season one of the most anticipated head to head meetings in the state. Catrabone earned an escape in the second period for the first point of the match but Duke earned a crucial takedown with only eight seconds left in the period for a 2-1 lead. A scoreless third period ended with a 2-1 final in favor of Duke who is headed to Pennsylvania State University next fall while Catrabone heads to Ann Arbor to the University of Michigan. Cam posted a 4-1 record over the course of the tournament.
A battle of defending NYS tournament finalists (and current favorites) highlighted the 190-pound Eastern States final as returning small school champion Tavio Hoose took on 2023 big school runner-up Elijah Diakomihalis from Section V power house Hilton in the title match. The appearance at Eastern States was the first for the Southwestern sophomore.
Prior to the final, Hoose was a 6-5 decision winner in the semifinal over Cold Spring Harbor’s (VIII) Grayson Meak for a rematch of the 2023 NYS tournament Div. II 172-pound final where Hoose was a 5-4 winner for the state title.
In the final, Diakomihalis jumped out to a 7-0 lead before Tavio got his first point in the match with an escape late in the second period. Another escape for Hoose to start the third made it a five point differential, but the Cornell bound Hilton junior earned a late takedown and would hold on to win the 190-pound Eastern States title 9-2.
Seven more WNY area place winners landed top-8 finishes at Eastern States including four total place winners from St. Francis. The Red Raiders entered seven wrestlers in the tournament, all of whom scored points for the runner-up team effort.
Returning Eastern States champion Gage LaPlante finished 4th at 170 for the Raiders going 5-2 on the weekend while sophomores Cullen Edwards (5th, 108) and Zach Caldwell (7th, 190) landed important podium finishes for St. Francis as well. LaPlante and Edwards each reached their respective brackets’ semifinals. Both Edwards (5th) and Caldwell (8th) returned to Eastern States carrying place finishes from 2023.
St. Francis is the second WNY team since the 2003 and 2004 Niagara Falls teams to place at least four wrestlers in one weekend at Eastern States, joining the 2022-2023 3rd place Starpoint squad with that milestone. The Raiders' 2nd place team finish is the highest among all WNY teams in Eastern States tournament history.
St. Joe’s senior Austin Zimmerman followed up his 8th place finish at the 2023 Eastern States with a 5th place finish over the weekend posting a 4-2 total record and reaching the semifinals in the 116-pound bracket. Austin’s finish is the 3rd Eastern States placement in program history.
Lewiston-Porter senior Caden Barrientos landed a 7th place finish at 124-pounds as the 17-seed in the bracket, the lowest seeded wrestler in the bracket by nearly ten spots to earn a top-8 finish. Barrientos was a 7-4 winner over Shoreham-Wading River’s (XI) 5-seed Chris Colon in the 7th place bout. Caden is the first Lancer to place at Eastern States in tournament history.
Defending NYS tournament finalist and Eastern States 3rd place winner Aidan Gillings finished 5th in the 138-pound bracket at Eastern States as the 4-seed in the weight class. Gillings met Mt. Sinai’s (XI) top seeded Brayden Fahrbach for a rematch of last years’ 132-pound state small school final in the semifinal, but fell by decision 9-5 on Saturday. Aidan fell only to returning NYS 4th place winner Amir Avazov (James Madiso-PSAL) thereafter as the Newfane junior posted a 5-2 tournament record for a second straight Eastern States podium finish.
Frontier senior Mike Welsh wrestled to a 6th place finish in the 285-pound bracket posting a 4-3 record over the course of the tournament. After falling in the pre-quarterfinal round, Welsh won four straight consolation matches including two pins to land a spot in the 5th place match at the 12-seed in the weight class, the lowest seed in the bracket to reach the podium.