WNY Wrestling Weekend Roundup Five

**Saturday, 1/7**

**31st Annual Ahonen Takedown Cancer Duals** @ Victor HS (V)

Section V small school heavyweight Canisteo-Greenwood cruised past the field on Saturday at Victor HS that included at least seven of the best teams in the Rochester/Genesee region. St. Francis was the lone representative from the Buffalo area. The Raiders met Section V big school powerhouses Hilton, Victor, and Rush-Henrietta’s A and B teams, and Section IV’s Corning in pool action. Overall, St. Francis went 1-4 on the day and were led by Sean Gordon and Brandon Drummond who posted 4-1 individual records for the tournament.

**29th Annual Ripley Invitational Wrestling Tournament**

Despite the host school competing at the Section VI Duals, the annual Ripley Invite was still held but at Chautauqua Lake HS. Ten local teams and three north western Pennsylvania squads competed in the event. Individual champions Austin Zimmerman (110) and Luke Ventresca (160) along four more place winners helped pace St. Joe’s to a 2nd place team finish with 140 points behind only North East (PA) HS 175.5 who claimed the team title. Randolph rounded out the top three teams with 115 points and three individual champions in Caden Inkley (132), Domanik Clark (138), and Ryan Carpenter (285). Four more WNY teams crowned one champion with Fredonia’s Lucas Hoffman (118), West Seneca’s Nathaniel Tirado (172), Maple Grove’s Matt Trim (189), and Dunkirk’s Christian Hernandez (215).

**Chautauqua Lake Girls Invitational Wrestling Tournament**

Chautauqua Lake hosted the Girls Invitational, team scored, round robin style tournament in parallel with the boys’ Ripley Tournament on Saturday in Mayville. The host Lady Thunderbirds entered a tournament high 18 wrestlers and claimed the team title with 194 points, two individual champions, and eight total place winners. The combined Niagara Frontier League girl’s squad was 2nd overall in the team standings with 87 points and one champion, while Lockport landed in 3rd place with 84 points and a tournament high three individual champions out of six total Lions entered in the event.

Weight class champions:

100: Leah Waite – Fredonia

114: Maleah McKinney-Updegraph – Lockport

120: Gracie Hostetler – Warsaw (V)

126: Gabriella Testa – Chautauqua Lake

132: Mia Smith – Chautauqua Lake

138: Christina Evans – West Seneca

145: Meghan Edwards – NFLG

152: Michaela Thomas – Iroquois

165: Ava Bragg – Lockport

235: J’Maxwell Khamya – Lockport

Top 10 team scores:

1. Chautauqua Lake 194 2. NFLG 87 3. Lockport 84 4. Fredonia 55 5. Warsaw 51 6. West Seneca 33 7. Olean 30 8. Lake Shore 28 9. Dunkirk 27, Gowanda 27 (tie)

**Lancer Duals** @ St. Mary’s Lancaster HS

North Tonawanda captured the Lancer Duals team title at on Saturday posting a 5-0 record against St. Mary’s, Maryvale, Akron, East Aurora/Holland, and Lackawanna to improve to 12-4 overall this season. Dylan Gagnon, Mohamed Abdullah, Bilal Mukhtasimov, and Mason Evarts all posted 5-0 individual records to lead the ‘Jacks. East Aurora/Holland finished 2-3 overall on the day while the host Lancers went 1-4 but were led by Quinn Martin and Andrew Carlson who each had 5-0 performances. Martin was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler.

**6th Section VI Dual Meet Wrestling Championships**

Starpoint and Chautauqua Lake captured the Section VI Div. I and II (respectively) sectional dual meet titles on Saturday, a program first for each team. Both squads will move on to the 5th NYSPHSAA Wrestling Dual Meet Championships in Syracuse on Sat. 1/28.

Top four teams by division

D1 1. Starpoint 2. Niagara Wheatfield 3. Niagara Falls 4. Amherst

D2 1. Chautauqua Lake 2. Newfane 3. Falconer/Cassadaga Valley 4. Southwestern

For a full tournament recap, please visit the link to this article (via WNYAthletics):

https://wnyathletics.com/article/starpoint-chautauqua-lake-capture-first-sectional-wrestling-crowns-section-vi-dual-meet-championships-roundup-2022-2023