wrestling

When Rick Stewart took over the Batavia wrestling team in 2002-2003, there were only six kids on the roster and the city had very little interest in the sport.

 But Stewart started a youth program and recruited some good athletes that had the potential to be good wrestlers. Now there are 27 wrestlers listed on the roster and the Blue Devils ended the season with an 18-6 record.

Stewart was named Monroe County League Division III Coach of the Year this week because of the record-setting year for the program.

"It is nice being recognized for the year that we had," Stewart said. "It isn't just me, it's the entire coaching staff. Kenny (Darch) was as big a part of this as I am. This is a team thing here. I was kind of surprised when I found out we were given the award."

It really has been an amazing year for Batavia as the team had a Monroe County League champion in Nick Lazarony for the first time in 23 years and both he and Ryan Darch repeated as sectional champions last weekend.

"This group of kids we have now, I have to thank Kenny for that," Stewart said. "They came up through the youth program and Kenny grabbed these kids and got them into wrestling. He was down coaching modified and he came up with them. He's a big part of this class."

But winning was far from the norm when Stewart became coach.

With just six wrestlers on the roster, wins were impossible and it looked like the sport was on the verge of being dropped at the school because of a lack of interest.

"We started with just six kids and we had very little success," said Stewart, who is a 1996 graduate of Batavia that finished his wrestling career with a 117-16 record. "We had six tough kids with Bobby Darch winning sectionals and Rich Lovria and Brian Greening. We had tough kids, but not a lot of them. We were going into dual meets knowing we weren't going to win. It was an individual sport then. Now it is a team thing."

Getting the young kids involved is how Stewart is going to keep the program growing and hopefully produce more sectional champions in the future. The kids in the youth program get to work with the top wrestlers on the varsity squad.

"The youth program we are running has 36-37 kids from ages five through 11," Stewart said. "We have some good athletes out there and seeing Batavia wrestling doing so well is going to spark more interest. Hopefully we can keep replenishing the youth and keep a nice feeder program going."

A total of nine Batavia grapplers are going to be competing in the SuperSectionals this weekend at Rochester Institute of Technology. That is the highest number the school has ever sent to the event and there are several wrestlers with a chance to move on to the state tournament.

Those numbers show why Stewart won the award, and shows the progress Batavia wrestling has made since he became coach.

"This is the most amount of kids Batavia has ever sent to Supers and we have high seeds and kids with a legitimate shot to go to states," Stewart said. "There are vetarans like (Josh) Mase, Darch, (Troy) Ireland, (Anthony) D'Aurizio, Lazarony and (Dylan) Goodsell as well as the younger kids like (Will) Ely that are going to get good experience wrestling at this level. They are getting a taste of the big show and they know they can get there based on this week's performance."

 There are not any major changes in this week's New York State Sports Writers Association wrestling rankings.

Batavia is our highest ranked team in the small school division and remains at No. 17, even with a win at the Ken-Ton Tournament this weekend.

Attica dropped from No. 23 to No. 24 and Holley went down from No. 32 to No. 33.

Sectionals are being held this Friday and Saturday at Bath Haverling, Warsaw, Byron-Bergen, Wayne and Fairport.

 It looks like the Batavia wrestling team is ready for the post season.

The Blue Devils traveled to Section 6 territory on Saturday and captured first place in the Ken-Ton Tournament.

Batavia scored 148.5 points to top host Kenmore West, which scored 125.5 points. Pembroke took third with 86 points in the 12 team field with 86 points.

Dylan Goodsell of Batavia won the Aggregate Pin Award as he rolled to the title at 215 pounds. He pinned Alex Fumerella of Kenmore West in the finals at the 5:34 mark.

Ryan Darch and Troy Ireland also won titles for the Blue Devils.

Darch won a decision in the 160 pound finals and Ireland pinned Kenmore's Joe Amoia in 3:23 in the 171 pound finals.

Adam Hill (119 pounds), Colby Sanner (125) and Graham Jensen (189) had titles for Pembroke.

 The Democrat & Chronicle released its newest polls today and several of our local teams are listed.

The Batavia boys basketball team is ranked ninth in the large school poll while Oakfield-Alabama is ranked No. 10 in the small school version.

The Elba girls basketball team received a spot at No. 9 in the small school poll with Notre Dame also getting votes, but not making the list. Jasper-Troupsburg is one spot ahead of the Lancers, even though Elba is currently the No. 1 ranked team in Class DD with J-T coming in second.

Attica is tied with Letchworth at No. 4 in the small school wrestling poll, with Batavia coming in at six and Holley coming in at eight.

Batavia's hockey team did not crack the top 10, but did receive votes in this week's poll.

 Attica captured the Genesee Region League wrestling title for the second straight season last night, beating Holley 41-33.

Vinnie Napierski pinned Tim Butler in 48 seconds at 125 pounds and Spencer Ford took down Nathan Jenks at 152 pounds in 4:37.

Troy Colton won a major decision over Jessi Kimmerly at 112 with a score of 14-5.

Quinton Murphy and Sean Baylor had pins for the Hawks.

Both squads are state ranked.

 The Batavia wrestling team jumped up a spot in this week's NYSSWA polls.

An impressive showing at the Monroe County Championships, that included four wrestlers in the finals, must be the reason why. The Blue Devils (18-5) moved up from No. 18 to No. 17.

Attica dipped from No. 19 to No. 23 and has an 18-11 record. Holley (19-5) fell from No. 29 to No. 32.

 The cuts made by the NYSPHSAA this week are upsetting a lot of people. 

I went through the details of the cuts yesterday and the one that is upsetting the most is the cuts in amount of games being played.

5. Support the reduction of the maximum number of contests permitted during the regular season. Sports with 24 contests will be reduced to 20, sports with 20 contests will be reduced to 18 and sports with 18 contests will be reduced to 16. Wrestling will be reduced to 20 points. Football will be reduced from 10 to 9. The 9th game is permitted, with section approval, for teams who do not qualify for sectional play. For the teams involved in the sectional tournament the maximum number of contests shall be 10. For the sections involved in the state championship three additional games are permitted for a total of 13 games for the season: 1 game for regionals, 1 game for semifinals, and 1 game for championships. Effective for 2009-2010 and 2010-2011. APPROVED

I know that coaches Mike Rapone of Notre Dame and Jim Burke of Prattsburgh were upset that if the cuts went through it would end the home-and-away tradition between the two programs.

The 500-plus win coaches were very much against cutting the number of games from 20 to 18.

But in John Moriello's blog today, he goes into more detail and has quotes from all over the state.

   Grand Island AD Jon Roth: "I really don’t know what two or four contests is going to do for anybody. I don’t think they should penalize the kids. I know cuts have to be made somewhere, but cutting games is not the answer.”

   Section 2 football chairman Gary VanDerzee: "In all honesty, football made out the best of all of them. It's just a horrible, horrible decision, made by people afraid to make the decision in their own (leagues or sections).

   Section 2 boys soccer chairman Jim Gillis: "I'm not surprised by this, but I think it is absurd. There are other things that could have been done state-wide, section-wide and league-wise that could have avoided cutting of games. Unfortunately, we weren't given that opportunity. We had no say in these moves."

   Section 2 baseball chairman Al Roy: "I know when we just had a baseball meeting, everyone felt this is something that leagues, sections and individual schools should address. This vote seems like a knee-jerk reaction."

 Section 4 interscholastic sports coordinator Ben Nelson: "I'm not really surprised they reduced the number of games, it just doesn't make a lot of sense to me, or to most of the AD's (in Section 4)."

It is evident that these changes are upsetting to people all throughout the state, not just Section 5. The NYSPHSAA is taking away some great experiences that high school athletes could have. Next year, Notre Dame and Prattsburgh will probably not get a chance to play. That is a shame and not the only traditions that are going to die because of these cuts.

 The petition to try and save the Empire State Games doesn't mean a thing to the organizers of the games in Hudson Valley.

There are currently 3131 signatures on the online petition, but there will still be no summer games for area athletes to compete in.

But Alan Wechsler of The Times Union reports that the petition will not save the games:

The state has paid about $2.7 million per year to run the annual games, but balked this year due to budget problems. The $285 pays for entry fees, food and dorm rooms at colleges near the venues.

The petition is addressed to Gov. David Paterson and Carol Ash, commissioner of the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and seeks to reverse the changes.

"The Summer Games as a whole entity brings in $10 to $15 Million to the local economy of the host city," the petition says. "At a cost to the state of only $2 million, we feel this is a very wise investment."

Local volunteers had even raised $300,000 to keep the games alive, but it that didn't matter to Hudson Valley either.

"That was very troublesome to all of the volunteers that were involved," said committee member Denise VanBuren of Poughkeepsie. "We felt unable to stage the games as we had committed."

The decision was made despite having raised about $300,000 from local sponsors. The petition wouldn't change their minds, she said.

A few weeks ago, we wrote about a petition out there to try and save the Empire State Games. The petition is growing and now has 3003 signatures. I signed it in hopes of saving the games, which have been a tremendous thing for a lot of people for three decades.

Messenger Post writer Mike Bailey jumps on board in the fight today and writes a very good column on the topic.

There will be no Empire State Games in 2009 as of right now, as state budget cuts are forcing the annual Olympic-style competition to the back burner. The word “unfortunate” is an understatement when it comes to this decision.

It’s more like a travesty. 

Apparently, I am not the only one who feels this way, and one woman, Arlene Feil, decided to do something about it. She has set up an online petition at www.petitiononline.com — a link also can be found on the wrestling site www.armdrag.com — aimed at New York Gov. David Paterson pleading with him to re-institute the games immediately.

Basically the letter states that events such as the games help stimulate the economy rather than hurt it, due to all the travel and expenses that athletes face over the course of the weekend. She says that the ESG generate $10 million to $15 million for the local economy of the host city and points out how much of that revenue is returned to the state.

It took me about a minute to sign the petition and if you are a supporter of local sports or giving kids a chance to compete during the summer, I would recommend spending a minute to sign the petition.

In John Moriello's blog today, he is talking money and sports. 

New York has already lost the Empire State Games as Hudson Valley said there was no way they could host the game this summer if athletes are going to be forced to play $300 each to participate and there will be cuts in some of the "smaller sports".

The New York State Public High School Athletic Association is also looking into cuts, a story that was broken on The Batavian. There is talks of regionalizing state games, eliminating the amount of games played in the regular season and post season for some sports and cutting down on the amount of champions in individual sports.

Moriello thinks that the NYSPHSAA is moving too fast:

More often, however, issues are resolved incrementally and painfully. Quick, easy fixes just do not exist.

   That's where the state of New York stands today. The economic downturn has shredded the economy, and elected officials in Albany face a deficit in excess of $15 billion in next year's budget. Among the casualties is the education budget, with proposed state aid being pared back considerably from what local school districts were anticipating when they started the annual planning process in the fall.

   And that has everything to do with why the executive committee of the state Public High School Athletic Association will vote on more than a dozen cost-cutting proposals at its quarterly meeting at the end of the week.

    The NYSPHSAA officials are trying to be proactive in dealing with financial issues. They rightly recognize that cuts are coming in virtually all aspects of the education budget and want to take the initiative in setting priorities and finding solutions lest someone not as well informed try doing it for them. That's their right, and I would even say it's their responsibility.

Moriello also talks about the cost of teams that travel to our border states for games. It is a good read, well worth checking out.

 Something is up with state-ranked Oakfield-Alabama. 

They were upset earlier in the week and nearly lost to visiting Kendall 58-55 Friday night.

The Eagles poured in 23 points in the fourth quarter and nearly pulled the upset off. Josh Laureano scored 16 of his game-high 39 points in the final period to almost guide his team to victory. He dropped in two 3-pointers to turn a 15 point deficit to a 1-point deficit. 

After O-A's Sam McCracken hit a pair of free throws with 11 seconds left, Laureano had one last chance to tie the game. But he missed the three-point shot.

Noah Seward led the Hornets with 15 points with Tim Smith scoring 12 and Josh Athoe adding 10.

McCracken had eight points for O-A, which improves to 11-2.

Laureano had a dominant night, with just Chad Bently and Colt Tooley adding five points apiece. Kendall falls to 7-4.

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Batavia never trailed in downing Victor 59-43. 

The Blue Devils were on fire from beyond the 3-point line, connecting on 10 of 18 attempts, with Andrew Hoy hitting three trifectas to score a team-high 15 points.

Marcus Hoy and Dakota Irvin added 10 points apiece as Batavia improves to 11-2.

Victor (10-4) committed 17 turnovers and was led by Lee Lomenzo with 12 points.

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Kevin Francis had 17 points to lead Notre Dame to a 68-51 win over Attica's basketball team.

Gianni Zambito scored a career-high 11 points and Gregg Barr scored 10 of his 11 points in the first quarter, giving the Fighting Irish a 19-4 advantage.

Bryan Thompson had 13 points and Tate Westermeier added nine for the Blue Devils (6-6).

Notre Dame improves to 10-2.

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Mike Humphrey scored 24 points with five rebounds, five steals and three dimes to lead Le Roy to a 54-47 win over visiting York.

Quentin Humphrey had five points and four assists while Eric Stella chipped in six points, nine boards and a pair of blocks for the Oatkan Knights (7-7).

Travis Fenstermaker had eight points and Jordan Casper chipped in seven.

Eric Hann had 19 points and nine rebounds for York (8-6).

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Tyler Sass had a game-high 12 points to lead Byron-Bergen past Wheatland-Chili 39-33.

David Garnish had six points and a pair of blocked shots  with Kevin Rickard and Tess Schramm adding eight points apiece for the Bees (3-9).

Rick Agosto and Andy Lund each scored nine points for the Wildcats (3-10).

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Holley's Tim Banks, Tim Butler and Ryan VanGuilder each had a pin for the Holley wrestling team, which dropped Kenmore East 65-15.

The Batavia hockey team scored three times in the third period to come from behind and beat Brighton/East Rochester/Honeoye Falls-Lima 4-2.

Will Mulcahy, Tim Finnell and Corey Kocent had those third period goals. Pat Finnell scored the other goal and handed out two assists.

Erik Pokornowski had three helpers and Adam Kurek had 14 saves in net.

Batavia improves to 9-6-1. 

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Le Roy crushed Dansville in wrestling action, 61-24.

Don Pangrazio had a pin over Andy Graves at 130 pounds in 1:12 and Tyler Fenstermaker added a pin in 4:37 at 145 pounds, over Jason Boots-Lovetro.

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Batavia's wrestling team improved to 17-5 with a 66-24 thumping of Greece Athena.

Ryan Darch had no problem keeping his undefeated record with a pin over Mike LoFoso in :24.

Josh Mase, Nick Lazarony and Joe Muoio all won via pin.

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Attica picked up a 51-24 victory over Alexander on the mat.

Lance Compton pinned Brandon Toporczyk in 1:10 at 135 and Doug Beitz dropped Dan Ognibene in 1:53 at 285 pounds.

Dave Jennings also had a pin at 189 for the Blue Devils.

 I received some updated individual records for Batavia's wrestling team, which is ranked 18th in the state at 16-5. Wins come easy when you have a roster putting up individual records like this.

Ryan Darch easily leads the way with a perfect 29-0 record.

Joe Muoio leads the team with 17 pins and has a solid 23-8 record.

Nick Lazarony is 26-2 and Troy Ireland is 22-3, with Anthony D'Aurizio currently at 27-4 and Ryan Goodsell at 24-5.

Josh Mase is 23-5 and Trey Henderson is 20-9.

 Jon Casper had a dominant performance Tuesday helping to lead his Le Roy wrestling team to a 59-27 win over Hornell.

Casper pinned Tyler Warriner in just 23 seconds at 215 pounds.

Jesse Brennan also had a pin for the Oatkan Knights at 119.

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Batavia downed Kendall on the mat with ease, winning 59-30 to improve to 16-5.

Nick Lazaroni pinned James Klafehn in just 1:15 at 112 pounds and Will Ely droppe Lance Requa in 5:10 at 125 pounds.

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Byron-Bergen (2-9) was able to hang with Northstar Christian, but a 21-8 third quarter allowed Northstar (9-3) to get the 56-40 boys basketball win.

Donald Harris had 13 points with seven rebounds, assists and steals while David Miller pitched in 11 points for Northstar.

David Garnish had a double-double for the Bees, scoring 11 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Tyler Sass added 10 points.

 Mike McInally, a Byron-Bergen grad and current RIT junior was the only Division III grappler to win a state title over this past weekend.

Now, he's won the Empire Conference Wrestler of the Week for the second week in a row and third time this season.

McInally, seeded first at 125 lbs. at the 2009 New York State Championships went 5-0 the weekend. He was the only Division III wrestler to win a championship.  McInally opened Friday's action with a pin over Pete Cole of Alfred State in 1:34, then scored a technical fall victory over Anthony Lebbad of Ithaca, 17-0. McInally advanced to the semifinals after defeating Shawn Haney of Brockport by pin in 3:20. McInally defeated Kyle Gilchrist of Columbia, 6-2 in the semifinals. He defeated #2 Dan Bishop of Buffalo, 3-1 in the championship. McInally is now 22-0 this season and ranked fourth in Division III at 125 lbs. 

McInally is ranked fourth in Division III at 125 pounds, but that bound to change. With a state title and perfect record, he could become on of the top ranked D3 wrestlers.

The Batavian has been all over the Empire State Games problems and recently wrote that the games scheduled to be in Hudson Valley were called off for financial reasons.

We had previously reported that there was plans to cut sports and start charging athletes up to $300 to compete. 

 There is currently an online petition that is being sent to Governor Patterson and Commissioner Ash, trying to bring the games back.

We, the undersigned, believe that canceling the Open, Scholastic and Masters divisions, the Senior Games and the Physically Challenged Games of the Empire State Games is something that needs to be reviewed. We believe that ALL divisions of the Summer Games and Winter Games, along with the entirety of the Senior Games and Games for the Physically Challenged should be reviewed on their merits and what they provide to New Yorkers. 

We have a very good understanding of the economic crisis New York State and the entire country are facing. However, we do not feel that the programs offered through the Empire State Games are a drain on the economy, rather we feel they help increase revenue in the regions where they are held, and they promote a healthy living style to ALL New Yorkers, some of the reasons for this follow. 

The Summer Games as a WHOLE entity brings in $10 to $15 Million to the local economy of the host city. The Winter Games brings in $1.5 Million to Lake Placid. If we add the $10 Million (low end) to the $1.5 million, the State tax on this comes to $460,000 directly back to the State in tax revenue. At a cost to the State of only $2 million, we feel this is a VERY wise investment. The Senior Games are Vital to the health of our maturing population and the Physically Challenged Games are the ONLY avenue these special kids have to participate in. In a time where you, yourself have shown interest in a healthy NY, what better way than these Games? The Masters division and the Senior Games already have a participation fee which should cover most if not all costs associated with their competition. Let the Scholastic, Open and Physically challenged kids continue to be assured a spot in these Games with no fee, to assure NO NEW YORKER IS LEFT OUT due to financial situation. 

In conclusion, we the undersigned, are not asking New York State to reinvest tax dollars in an event which is detrimental to the states long term (or short term) economic future, however, we are asking that someone looks at the WHOLE program called the Empire State Games and truly measures the economic impact these Games have on New York States overall economic plan as well as providing an opportunity for ALL New Yorkers to train and stay healthy. We do hope you will do the right thing here and re-institute these GREAT Games!!

It is great to see that there is a group out there trying save the ESG tradition. 155 people have signed the petition so far, and if you feel inclined to help keep our local athletes competing for Western New York, here is the link to sign the petition.