2009 Port Jervis graduate JD Zitone lost his quarterfinal bout but won his first wrestle-back match so he is guaranteed a spot on the All-American podium. Zitone wrestles at 285 for Centenary College in New Jersey. Congrats JD!!! Link below to coverage provided by themat.com.
UPDATE: Congratulations JD Zitone for finishing 7th at this weekends NCAA DIII Championships!!!! He won his 7th place match by a score of 3-2 over fellow NY native Joe Giaramita (John Glenn, 2011). Great job JD!!!
Delaware Valley 126 pound wrestler CJ Palmer has won both of his consolation matches and is still alive in the PIAA Wrestling Championships. After losing his opening round match, Palmer has posted victories over Tyler Clapp 0f Strath Haven (maj. dec. 11-0) and Dustin Rook of Big Spring (dec. 6-2). With one more victory, Palmer will be guaranteed a top-6 placing. His next match will take place on Saturday morning where he will take on Josh DiSanto (34-2) of Pennsbury.
Delaware Valley’s two other participants in the tournament, Marc Wagner and Martin Strenk, have both been eliminated. Wagner, a 170 pound senior, dropped two straight matched after an opening round victory. His tournament began with a 9-4 victory over Chris Kurkian of Marple Newton in the opening round. Wagner was then defeated by Zach Towers of Meadville by a 9-0 score in the quarters before being eliminated by Geno Morelli of DuBois in the consies via a 2-1 UTB decision. Strenk also won his opening match defeating Danny Hockensmith of Big Spring 3-1. The 182 pound junior was then pinned in the quarterfinal round in 3:16 by Kiski Area’s Matt McCutcheon (37-1) before losing his wrestle-back match by a 5-1 margin to Tyler Greene of Easton.
The NCAA website is providing outstanding coverage of the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships this weekend. Click on the link below for access to both video coverage of the tournament as well as updated brackets.
2009 Port Jervis graduate JD Zitone is the #3 seed at 285 pounds. Zitone, who wrestles for Centenary College in New Jersey, is undefeated on the season sporting an impressive record of 26-0. Good luck JD!
(Note: NCAA site not working well….now linked to Themat.com’s coverage page.)
The PIAA wrestling tournament began on Thursday at the Giant Center in Hershey, PA and SectionIXWrestling.com will be will help you follow all of the action. Delaware Valley HS sent three wrestlers to Hershey and two have won their opening round matches. 170 pound senior Marc Wagner won his opening round match with a 9-4 victory over Chris Kurkian of Marple Newtown. At 182, Martin Strenk defeated Danny Hockensmith of Big Spring by a 3-1 margin. 126 pound senior CJ Palmer had the toughest opening round draw having to face Tyson Dippery (45-2) of Central Dauphin. Palmer gave Dippery all he could handle, however dropped a 2-0 decision and must now wrestle through the consolation bracket in order to place. Palmer won his first wrestle-back by an 11-0 score over Tyler Clapp of Strath Haven. Below are links to the brackets for both AAA and AA divisions; DV competes in the AAA division.
Brackets for the Division 1 NCAA Wrestling Championships have been released and Section 9 is rather well represented. Below is a chart of the wrestlers with local ties who will be competing next week at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, MO. I have also provided a link to the brackets for all 10 weight classes.
Wrestler College/Weight Local Connection 2012 Record First Round Opponent
Jamie Franco Hofstra / 133 2009 MW graduate 21-11 #10 C. Dardanes (Minn)
Derek Stanley Army / 197 2008 Saugerties graduate 23-15 #7 Mario Gonzalez (Ill)
#12 Joe Kennedy Lehigh / 197 2008 DV (PA) graduate 21-5 Richard Perry (Bloom)
Jordan Thome Army / 133 Army wrestler 26-11 Garrett Drucker (Or. St)
Coleman Gracey Army / 165 Army wrestler 24-12 Mike Ottinger (C.Mich)
2012 NCAA Wrestling Championship Brackets
The Friends of Section 9 will be hosting the 11th Annual Banquet of Champions on Sunday, March 11th at The Meadowbrook in New Windsor. Doors open at 5:00 and dinner will be served at 6:00. Anyone interested in attending must RSVP by Friday, March 9th. Please click below for the banquet flyer which has all reservation information.
Congratulations to Jamie Franco (Monroe Woodbury, 2009) and Derek Stanley (Saugerties, 2008) for earning automatic births to the 2012 NCCA Division 1 Wrestling Championships. Franco, who wrestles at 133 for Hofstra, finished 2nd at the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) tournament on Saturday. Stanley, who wrestles at 197 for Army, finished fifth in his conference tournament (EIWAs) to earn his pass to the NCAAs. Stanley’ s teammate Coleman Gracey, only a freshman, has also qualified for the nationals by finishing 3rd at 165. This year’s NCAA Championships are being held on March 15-17 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, MO.
Also of local interest, Delaware Valley (PA) graduate Joe Kennedy, who wrestles at 197 for Lehigh, will be competing at the NCAA D1 tournament for the 3rd consecutive year.
Congratulations to all three wrestlers….Section 9 will be rooting hard for you!!!!
Warrior Elite in Otisville is offering a special 8-week course for the serious wrestler. They are holding a free open house on March 7th to show a sample of the intense training sessions. Classes begin on March 14th. You must pre-register for the open house. Click below for all of the information.
There are several NCAA Conference Championships taking place this weekend. These tournaments serve as qualifiers for the NCAA Championships held later this month in St. Louis, MO. Check out the links below to follow the action!
CAA Tournament (Franco takes 2nd!!!)
EIWA Tournament (Army Wrestling, Stanley @ 197, Kennedy @ 197)
ACC Tournament (Steve Garland is Head Coach of Virginia)
EWL Tournament (Parlier @ 197)
Big Ten Tournament (Minnesota takes lead over Iowa, PSU!)
Coverage of all conference champioships at Intermatwrestle.com!!!
Sad but true….the high school wrestling season has come to an end in NY. So I guess we’re just going to put our heads in the sand and wait until next year’s Section 9 Duals…..not!!!! There is plenty of regional wrestling still going on and SectionIXWrestling.com is going to be following it every step of the way!
Let’s start in New Jersey were the state championship tournament is taking place this weekend in Atlantic City. Off the top of my head, I’m aware of 5 wrestlers from Kittatinny and 3 from High Point that are attending. Unfortunately I will not be attending the tournament personally but I am going to provide a link to the online arm of The Star Ledger. They do an outstanding job of providing developing stories, live updates as well as videos.
The 2012 New Jersey State Wrestling Championships
Pennsylvania’s state tournament does not take place until next week in Hershey, PA. In order to qualify for the “big dance,” wrestlers need to finish in the top-3 of their respective regional tournaments which take place this weekend. Of local interest, Delaware Valley High School, located in Milford, PA, is sending 10 wrestlers to the Northeast Regional AAA Tournament in Allentown, PA. The brackets are set for this region so I will post them below. I am assuming they will be kept up-to-date. If not, I will search for another source to post.