Head Coach Kevin Gallagher and his Varsity Assistant Scott Hendershot knew that the 2019-2020 Minisink Valley wrestling team would be good…really good! On New Year’s morning the coaches and wrestlers will be boarding a jet in Newark,NJ and flying out to Rochester, MN to see just how good they are! The Warriors have been invited to compete in The Clash, one of the toughest dual meet tournaments in the nation! The tournament takes place on Friday 1/3 and Saturday 1/4. Minisink Valley is the only team from New York in this year’s Clash which features teams from Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Missouri, Arizona, California, South Dakota, and Hawaii.
The Clash is two-day bracketed dual meet tournament. Day 1 has four brackets with eight teams in each bracket. The top two teams in each bracket advance to the Day 2 championship bracket to determine the top eight teams in the tournament. Minisink’s Day 1 bracket will definitely test their mettle – the Warriors face perennial power Apple Valley, MN right out of the gate. Apple Valley has a proud history with star-studded alumni including NCAA champions Mark Hall (Penn State) and Seth Gross (South Dakota State/Wisconsin) as well as NCAA finalist Gable Steveson (Minnesota). Take a look at Minisink Valley’s Day 1 bracket.
Important for Minisink Valley…Important for NYS Wrestling
It goes without saying that The Warriors are taking this trip to see how they perform on a national stage. They are a proud program that would love to see their school’s name and logo appear on the national team rankings put out by top wrestling media outlets such as FloWrestling and InterMat. However a strong performance at The Clash by the Warriors could have a ripple effect that reaches beyond Slate Hill, NY. Wrestling in New York state has always struggled in garnering national recognition largely in part of NYSPHSAA restrictions which have prevented New York teams from participating in certain national level tournaments. These restrictions have recently been lifted and NYS state is beginning to flex their muscles. Back in mid-December NYS had a champion at the Walsh Ironman when Jordan Titus from Section 11 D2 Center Moriches won the title at 120 pounds. The Ironman is generally considered the toughest in-season high school wrestling tournament in the nation. The following week, Stevo Poulin from Section 2 D1 Shenendehowa rolled through the competition at the ultra tough Beast of the East and won the title at 113 pounds! A strong showing by Minisink Valley this weekend can…excuse me…WILL show that NYS not only has a handful of individual studs, but we are a state that has tough teams that can compete with some of the top programs in the country!
This tournament can be watched live all day Friday and Saturday on FloWrestling. Best of luck Warriors! Section 9 and NYS are behind you 100%!!! Let’s take a look at the Warriors who will be making the trip to The Clash!
106 – Zak McKernan, freshman
113 – Luke Greiner, 8th grade
120 – Sofia Macaluso, sophomore
120 – Nick Picariello, senior *2019 S9 Champ*
126 – Zack Ryder, 8th grade *2019 2nd NYS*
132 – Jordan Suarez, senior *2019 S9 Champ*
138 – Sean Savacool, senior *2019 S9 Champ*
138 – Brian Lombardi, junior
145 – Jaccob Gonzalez, junior
152 – Andrew Filip, freshman
160 – Jace Hirsch, junior
170 – Chris McLaughlin, senior
182 – Ethan Gallo, freshman
195 – Scott Geysen, junior
195 – Carson Henry, junior
220 – JC Cabrera, senior
285 – Adam Fenner, junior *2019 5th NYS*
Go Warriors! Best of luck.
Mike: Was there some sort of seeding for the brackets or were the brackets done randomly? If there was a true seeding, where was Minisink seeded? If you know.
Thanks
I am sure that it wasn’t randomly but I do not know the seeding formula that they use. Fingers crossed!
The Clash is seed by a committee of National wrestling writers, State writers and Clash committee members.
The Warriors earned a No. #1 seed from the writers.
The brackets are built to balance national and state entrants.
Is that a #1 overall seed or #1 for their bracket?
#1 in their day 1 pool
They made it to day 2! I’m so proud to have been part of that program and excited to see them put themselves, section ix and NYS on the national map