Tyrone traveled to Sullivan County Community College in Liberty, New York for the Third Annual Eastern States Wrestling Classic on Friday and Saturday. The Eagles had just two wrestlers placing, although another gained a historic win. Tyrone gained valuable experience in a top-notch tournament that included 42 teams from seven different states. There were 34 teams from New York, two each from PA and Virginia and one each from New Hampshire, Connecticut, New Jersey and one from Massachusetts.
New York teams took the top three places with Valley Central winning the team crown with a total of 218.5 points, followed by Islip with 203.5, and Wayne with 198. Timberlane, New Hampshire broke the New York stranglehold with 193 points, for a fourth-place tie with MacArthur of New York. Danbury, Connecticut was sixth with 135.5 points followed by Shenendehowa with 134 and Monroe-Woodbury, both of New York and Tyrone, in ninth place with 117.5 points. The only other Pennsylvania team in the tournament, Upper Darby finished 16th with 93 points.
Terry Tate won five straight matches to claim the 275-pound weight class and move his undefeated mark to 22-0. picking up his third straight Eastern States title. Tate decisioned Christian Wintods of Islip, 5-0, pinned LaSalle, NY, wrestler Colin Russell in 0:58, and Mo Ghayor of Westfield, Virginia, in 2:09, majored Jake Mender of Glen Falls, NY 15-5 and then in the championship finals decked Grand Gurnett of Wayne, NY, in 1:41 for the title.
Wintods went undefeated in the consolation bracket to come back to finish third.
“Terry had a third eastern States championship as one of his goals before the season,” said Tyrone coach Blair Packer. “He went out on the mat with all the confidence in the world.”
Brice Mertiff was the Eagles’ only other place winner. Mertiff finished fourth at 160, dropping his consolation final to Eric Decker of Bainbridge-Gilford-Afton, NY by fall in 1:33. Decker was the top seed at 160, entering the tournament and is a two-time New York state champion. Brice (24-2) got to the finals by decisioning Mike VanHouten of Monroe-Woodbury, NY, 9-2 and pinning Jonathan Burnham of Hayfield, VA, in 0:36, Justin Cordero of Glenn Falls, NY, in 0:45, Will Esposito of Danbury, Connecticut in 4:21. In the semifinals, Mertiff lost 13-3 to Josh Patterson of Wayne, NY. Brice set up the consifinal match with Decker by pinning Mike Leighton of Sagerties, NY in 0:55.
Dave Miller (23-3) missed out on placing in the tournament, but snuck close to the milestone of becoming the fourth wrestler at Tyrone ever to post 100 career wins. Miller who was 23-11 as a freshman, 30-14 as a sophomore and 23-10 last year, dropped a slim 5-4 decision to Paul Florio of LaSalle, NY, in the first round, then defeated Justin Diesel of Minisink, NY, 9-4, James Forsyth of Harpursville, NY, 15-8 and won by a 15-0 technical fall over Ryan Barrington of Hayfield, VA, in 2:44. In his final win of the day, Miller decisioned Pat Doherty of Chaminade, NY, 11-4 for his 99th career win. In the following round, Miller ran into Florio again, this time, Florio won a 7-2 decision to sideline Miller from the tourney. Miller will be looking for his 100th career victory in the Tyrone-West Branch dual meet at Tyrone on Wednesday.
“This was a very, very tough tournament,” exclaimed Packer. “Much tougher than last year, especially with the young wrestlers we have in the lineup this year. With more teams, this year’s tournament was really loaded with talent.”
Other Tyrone wrestlers in the tournament included Anthony Romano, 3-2 at 103; Josh Hunter, 3-2 at 130; T. J. Albright 2-2 at 112; Jacob Smerekar, 2-2 at 145, Heath Walk, 2-2 at 171, Robert Waite, 1-2 at 119; Sam McCloskey, 1-2 at 140, Justin Schopp at 152; Donnie Conrad at 215; and Shayne Tate, 0-2 at 125; and James Updike, 0-2 at 189.
Romano (5-5 overall) opened with a 15-2 major decision over P. J. Hubman of Oxford Academy, NY, but then was pinned by Shenedehowa, NY, wrestler Austin Meys in 5:19. In the consolation bracket, Romano pinned Joey Keys of Middletown, NY, and edged George Madkour of Danbury CT. before getting pinned by Steve Singley of Wayne, NY, to fall out of the tournament.
Hunter (11-13) dropped a 10-1 major decision to Steve Trippe of Wallkill, NY, to open his tournament, then fought back with three straight wins in the consolation bracket, before getting eliminated. Hunter started out with an easy win by forfeit over Joe Wilson of Monroe-Woodbury, then pinned Russell Davis of Kingston, NY, in 2:50 and decisioned Kevin Turco of Middletown, NY, 4-1. Dan Woodworth of Timberlane, NH, pinned Hunter in 3:30, to knock him out of the tournament.
T. J. Albright (18-5) won two straight by fall, getting Dan Brickner of LaSalle, NY, in 1:05, and Jay Bermudez of Sagerties, NY, in 1:23, but then lost two decisions in a row. Albright lost to Torsten Gillispie of Webster-Schroeder, NY, 7-2 and Matt Lewis of Upper Darby 5-4.
Smerekar (10-9) lost in the opening round to Andrew Mundo of Massapequa, NY, 10-7, then pinned Carson Gates of Gouverneur, NY, in 1:58 and Jeff Smith of Cornwall, NY, in 4:30. In his final match, Jacob dropped a 9-1 major decision to Dana Presto of Port Jervis, NY.
Walk (19-5) opened with two pins, then was pinned and dropped out of the tournament with a 4-1 loss to Matt Hodge of Webster-Schroeder. Walk pinned Joe Pesce of Port Jervis, NY, in 0:52 and Vinny Delgado of Wallkill, NY, in 1:44, before getting decked in 5:32 by Ricky Scott of team champ Valley Central.
Robert Waite (13-3) defeated James Brain of Minisink Valley, NY, by fall in 3:44, to open his tourney, then lost two straight. Sam McCloskey ( 9-11) decisioned Timmy O’Connell of Middletown, NY, 6-2 sandwiched around two losses. Justin Schopp (8-12) pinned Jared Rosado of Middletown, NY, in 1:34, before dropping two straight. Donnie Conrad (6-9) doubled up Dave Carletta of Webster-Schroeder, 4-2 in the first round, then slipped out of the tournament with a pair of losses.
