The Friends of Section 9 held their annual end of the year awards banquet on Sunday night at Kuhl’s Highland House in Middletown. The top 4 D1 and top 2 D2 wrestlers in each weight class were recognized for their outstanding 2014-2015 wrestling season. There were also several “special” awards given out. A complete list of all the award winners is available by clicking on the below link. Some of the winners included:
Wade Harris, Red Hook – Cpt. Stephen Leslie Most Courageous Wrestler
Gunnar DeYong – John Bell Section 9 Lifetime Achievement Award
Sal Interdonato – Friends of Section 9 Person of the Year
Frank Tschan Team of the Year – Minisink Valley – finished #1 in NYS
Friends of Section 9 Coach of the Year – Kevin Gallagher, Minisink Valley
Mark Faller Coach of the Year, Championship Tournament Team – John Gartiser, MW
Troy Bouzakis Senior Wrestler of the Year – Michael Raccioppi, Minisink Valley
Troy Bouzakis Senior Wrestler of the Year – Da’mani Burns, Newburgh Free Academy
D’Aliso Scholarship – Quinn Zsido, Cornwall
DeCapua Scholarships – Matt Lopez (MV), Mike Raccioppi (MV), Da’mani Burns (NFA), Hunter Curreri (PJ), Alec Guevara (Wallkill), Thomas Wighman (Warwick)
2015 Section 9 Banquet Award Winners
Perhaps the most important announcement of the evening came at the very end when Wallkill Coach Jeff Cuilty announced the launch of a brand new training opportunity right here in Section 9 – The Friends of Section 9 Wrestling Club! A thriving wrestling club is something that is sorely missing in our region. As a wrestling community, we need to embrace the concept of working together during the off season. The purpose of this club is not to replace any of the team-based clubs that exist in Section 9. They are also important and should continue. The FS9 Wrestling Club will serve as an additional training option to allow wrestlers to improve individually by training with other top-notch wrestlers from around the Section! If you need some evidence of the effectiveness of working together during the off season, take a quick look at the top 5 Sectional teams at this year’s NYS wrestling championship.
Section 11 – Ascend Wrestling Club (and others)
Section 8 – Vougar’s Honor Wrestling
Section 5 – G2 Wrestling Academy
Section 1 – Iowa Style Wrestling
Section 9 – ????
Training together works for all of the other top wrestling sections around the state. If we give it a chance, it will work for us as well. Steel Sharpens Steel!!!
