Author: Mike Carey

Monroe Woodbury and Minisink Valley Both Top-5; Wallkill Honorable Mention

The NYS Sportswriters Association has released their dual meet team rankings and Section 9 is very well represented!  Monroe Woodbury came in at #3, Minisink Valley is at #4, and Wallkill received an Honorable Mention!  Congrats to all 3 teams!

Top 10 Division 1 Teams
1. Hilton – S5
2. Long Beach – S8
3. Monroe Woodbury – S9
4. Minisink Valley – S9
5. Wantagh – S8
6. Shenendehowa – S2
7. Hauppauge – S11
8. Rocky Point – S11
9. Penfield – S5
10. Fairport – S5
HM. Wallkill – S9

Top 10 Division 2 Teams
1. Warsaw – S5
2. Adirondack – S3
3. Mattituck – S11
4. Bainbridge-Guilford/Afton – S4
5. Pioneer – S6
6. Central Valley Academy – S3
7. Locust Valley – S8
8. Phoenix – S3
9. General Brown – S3
10. Keshequa – S5

Minisink Valley Freshman To Compete in Sweden!

Help Send Mia to Sweden GoFundMe Page 

Congratulations to Minisink Valley freshman Mia Macaluso for being selected by USA Wrestling to compete for the Cadet World Team in Sweden from February 19 to February 22.  This incredible opportunity will allow Macaluso to train with Team USA’s Olympic coach Terry Steiner for 3 days!  The trip to Sweden will also include 4 days of additional training with Russian and Japanese Olympic coaches!  This is a self funded trip so any contributions to offset the cost are greatly appreciated!

Help Send Mia to Sweden GoFundMe Page 

Impressive results at several different events helped Macaluso get onto the radar of the USA Wrestling Cadet Team. She is a NYS Girls Folkstyle state champion, a Mohawk Valley Freestyle Festival finalist, a NYC Gotham finalist, and a New England Girls Freestyle champion. Macaluso also finished 2nd at the prestigious Body Bar Nationals in Irvine, TX in May – this is likely the result that punched her ticket to Team USA!  Prior to her trip to Sweden she will go to the New York Athletic Club in NYC from February 9-12 where she will be trained by Coach Steiner as well as Assistant National Coaches Erin Tomeo and Emma Randall.

Mia is a two year varsity wrestler for Minisink Valley.  She competed at 106 lbs. last season and will likely be at 113 lbs this year.  She trains freestyle with the Venom Girls Wrestling Club based out of Otisville, NY.  Venom Girls is run by Mia’s father, Heath Macaluso, who is a 1990 Minisink Valley graduate who wrestled for long time Minisink Coach John Bell.  Macaluso finished 6th in NYS as a senior before wrestling D1 in college for Wagner where he was coached by current MV wrestling coach Kevin Gallagher. When asked about coaching Mia Macaluso Coach Gallagher said, “Mia is a pleasure to coach on and off the mat. She is one of our hardest workers, and I am proud to have her on our team.”

Congratulations Mia for this tremendous honor!  Section 9 Girls Wrestling is officially on the map!!!

Help Send Mia to Sweden GoFundMe Page 

Well it’s that time of the the year wrestling fans!  We are less than a week away from the beginning of the 2016-2017 Section 9 wrestling season so I say it’s time we roll out some preseason individual rankings!

Please keep in mind, these ranking are just for fun.  They are posted for the sole purpose of generating some “buzz” about the upcoming season.  As you can imagine, preseason rankings are the toughest to complete accurately.  There is little to no recent body of work to use as a barometer, plus kids often move up a few weights from one season to the next – not everyone handles the jump in weight as well as others.

I welcome any and all comments about these rankings – as long as they are done in a respectful manner.  Please feel free to email me at sectionixwrestling@gmail.com. Enjoy!

Section 9 will be represented by 25 former wrestlers from 16 local high schools at Sunday’s NYS Intercollegiate Championships at Cornell University…very impressive!

Match-by-match results will be posted below!  Good luck men!

“A” Division
133 – Vinny Vespa (Hofstra, Monroe Woodury)
Vespa maj. 8-0 Ocasio (RIT)
Vespa maj 16-6 Sisco (Oneonta)
Vespa dec 7-3 Kelly (Columbia)
Eckles (Niagara CC) wbf 6:57 Vespa…Vinny takes 2nd!!!
165 – Ryan Sebesta (Niagara CC, Wallkill)
Wallace (Oneonta) maj 14-6 Sebesta
Lombardi (Oswego) dec 9-3 Sebesta
174 – Daniel DeCarlo (Oneonta, Port Jervis)
Garcia (Cornell) maj 10-2 DeCarlo
Lupicello (Brockport) dec 6-4 DeCarlo
174 – Austin Weigel (Buffalo, Onteora)
Weigel dec 8-6 Arkow (LIU)
Heller (Hofstra) dec 7-3 Weigel
McBryde (Buffalo) dec 6-4 Weigel
285 – James Bethel (Oneonta, Saugerties)
Bethel wbf 2:27 Paterson (NYU)
Bethel dec 5-0 Walter (Merchant Marine)
Bethel dec 5-3 O’Brein (Ithaca)
Ryan (Columbia) dec Bethel 8-5…James takes 2nd!!!
285 – Sam Weinger (RIT, Washingtonville)
Raigoza (Merchant Marine) dec 8-6 Weinger
Weinger inj def Haddad (Hofstra)
Farr (Army) dec 4-2 Weinger

“B” Division
125 – Johnny Stramiello  (Finger Lakes WC, Pine Bush)
Haas (Brockport) dec 7-4 Stramiello
Stramiello wbf 2:00 Berge (Jamestown CC)
Lauricella (Brockport) wbf 1:58 Stramiello
125 – Mohammed Kahn (Ulster, New Paltz)
Hetrick (Army Prep) wbf :19 Kahn
Meloni (Nassau) maj 18-5 Kahn
133 – Kevin Kelly (Binghamton, Monroe Woodbury)
Kelly wbf 1:19 Ray (Sullivan)
Damon (Hofstra) dec 5-2 Kelly
Kelly dec 8-5 Demuner (RIT)
Kelly maj 10-0 Raymond (Oneonta)
Walsh (LIU) dec 12-8 Kelly
Kelly fft Damon (Hofstra)…Kevin takes 5th place!!!
141 – Josh Santiago (Ulster, Rondout Valley)
Kutsepau (Oswego) wbf 1:59 Santiago
Rioux (RPI) wbf 6:35 Santiago
141 – Brian Vaughn (Sullivan, Pine Bush)
Miers (Columbia) wbf 1:48 Vaughn
Wilson (RPI) tech 16-0 Vaughn
149 – Richard Dennison (Unrostered, Minisink Valley)
Prince (RIT) dec 3-1 Dennison
Dennison dec 7-5 LaRuffa (Brockport)
Schoenherr (Cornell) maj 15-2 Dennison
149 – Michael LaRuffa (Brockport, Monticello)
Ward (Columbia) wbf 2:12 LaRuffa
Dennison dec 7-5 LaRuffa (Brockport)
149 – Dominick Massaro (Ulster, New Paltz)
Phelps (Niagara CC) wbf 4:53 Massaro
Gross (Oneonta) wbf 2:44 Massaro
157 – Patrick Carroll (Ulster, Kingston)
Jean (Niagara) wbf 2:34 Carroll
Nolan (Jamestown) wbf 2:20 Carroll
157 – Kyle Torre (Oswego, Red Hook)
Palmer (Brockport) dec 5-0 Torre
Fano (Ithaco) wbf 2:08 Torre
157 – Karl Linneman (Cortland, New Paltz)
McMillan (Army) tec 17-1 Linneman
Linneman maj 19-7 Ritterback (Brockport)
Jean (Niagara CC) dec 8-4 Linneman
165 – Mike DeCapua (Oswego, Newburgh Free Academy)
Farrar (Cortland) dec 7-5 DeCapua
DeCapua wbf :28 Cipolla (LIU)
Carr (Finger Lakes WC) tech 20-1 DeCapua
174 – Mark Milisci (Oswego, Washingtonville)
Karmen (Finger Lakes WC) dec 7-1 Milisci
Dolorit (NYU) dec 6-5 Milisci
174 – Miles Whitmore-Parr (Ulster,  New Paltz)
Calderelli (Buffalo) wbf :46 Whitmore-Parr
Oliver (NYU) wbf :43 Whitmore-Parr
174 – Lakell Martin (Ulster, Kingston)
Karmen (Finger Lakes WC) wbf :52 Martin
Southwick (Oswego) wbf :35 Martin
184 – Travis Kelly (Sullivan, Monticello)
Kelly tech 16-0 Cortes (Ulster)
Dean (Finger Lakes WC) wbf 2:07 Kelly
Kelly mff Munoz (Ulster)
Paterson (NYU) wbf 2:26 Kelly
184 – Javier Cortes (Ulster, Ellenville)
Kelly tech 16-0 Cortes (Ulster)
Pease (LIU) wbf 2:09 Cortes
184 – Alex Munoz (Ulster, Saugerties)
Pease (LIU) wbf 2:42 Munoz
Kelly mff Munoz (Ulster)
197 – Kevin Morgans (Cortland, Liberty)
Messare (RIT) dec 4-0 Morgans
Morgans dec 5-0 McKeown (St. Vincent)
Shoop (Army) wbf 6:38 Morgans

Barczak, Elfstrum, and Ellefsen All Crack the Top 20!

For the first time in recent memory, Section 9 has three wrestlers who are ranked in the top 20 in the nation at their respective weight class.  FloWrestling ranks Monroe Woodbury senior Evan Barczak at the #18 152 pounder in the nation while his teammate, Kendall Elfstum, is ranked #20 at 182 by The Open Mat.  Last but not least is Goshen senior and recent Clarion commit Ryan Ellefsen who is #20 at 220 according to Intermat! Congratulations to all three young men!

Jonathan Kaloust Bearcat Open
Section 9 was very well represented here with several S9 alum as well as wrestlers from Army, Army Prep, and SUNY Sullivan.  At 133, Pine Bush grad Johnny Stramiello went 1-2 wrestling for the Finger Lakes Wrestling Club while Monroe Woodbury grad Vinny Vespa went 0-2 wrestling at the same weight for Hofstra.  Another MW grad, Nick McShea, wrestled in the Bearcat going 2-2 at 197 for Maryland. SUNY Sullivan was perhaps the only 2 year school at the tournament and the 5 young men wrestled hard but were unable to notch a win going a combined 0-10.  Army wrestling had four placewinners at the Bearcat in Cael McCormick (4th at 157), Lance Peters (6th at 133), Anthony Risaliti (6th at 184) and Bennett Baulson (6th at 197).

Journeymen Wrestling Collegiate Classic
Three former Section 9 wrestlers competed in the inaugural Journeymen Wrestling Collegiate Classic.  Similar to the preseason HS event, The Journeymen Classic, this tournament is a pooled individual tourney.  Onteora graduate Austin Weigel went 3-0 and won the 184C pool wrestling for Buffalo.  NFA grad Da’mani Burns went 0-3 at 141D and MW alum Rob Kelly went 1-2 at 285D.  Burns and Kelly both wrestle for SUNY Cortland. As part of High School All-Star matches, MW senior Evan Barczak defeated Florida’s Jake Brindley 5-1.  Brindley is the 13th ranked 145 pound wrestler on the nation according to FloWrestling!

Electric City Duals in Scranton
SUNY Oneonta heavyweight James Bethel went 4-0 with four pins.  The Saugerties grad is currently ranked #2 in the Division III rankings at 285! Port Jervis graduate Dan DeCarlo went 2-1 wrestling for Oneonta at 174 pounds.

Roger Williams Invitational
Minisink Valley graduate AJ Aeberli came in 4th place at 165 wrestling for the Coast Guard Academy.  Aeberli was the 160 pound NYS champion during his senior year in high school.

Trine Invitational
Freshman Liam Heslin wrestling at D3 Baldwin-Wallace wrestled at the Trine Inviatational @ Trine University going 3-2 on the day coming up one match short of placing.  Heslin placed 6th in NYS last season wrestling for Chester!

SUNY Ulster Duals
The resurrected SUNY Ulster wrestling program opened up their 2016-2017 campaign by hosting the SUNY Ulster Duals.  Results will be posted shortly.