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.
WrestlerCollege/Weight Local Connection2012 RecordFirst 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)
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!
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.
I would like to begin this article by stating, without hesitation, that I am extremely proud to be part of the Section 9 Wrestling community. This past weekend at the NYS Wrestling Championships in Albany, our section was represented by 36 student-athletes who poured their hearts and souls into every match they wrestled. They put it all on the line and gave it their best. They competed hard; however, win or lose, when the match was over, they composed themselves, shook hands, and behaved with class, dignity, and respect. I hope you are all proud of yourselves…I know that I am.
When all was said and done, S9 had six wrestlers place in the top six in their weight class thus special congratulations are in order for: Ryan Bedross (12) Warwick – 4th at 152 D1 Ethan Stanley (12) Saugerties – 4th at 285 D1 Justin Corradino (12) Warwick – 5th at 120 D1 Paul Sommer (12) Rondout Valley – 5th at 152 D2 Johnny Stramiello (10) Pine Bush – 6th at 106 D1 TJ Kreider (12) Cornwall – 6th at 113 D1 Andy Martinez (11) Liberty – 6th at 182 D2. Great Job Guys!!!!!
I believe, though, that NOW is the time to address and fix two “issues” which, in my opinion, exist in Section 9 Wrestling. The first problem is quite obvious. As a section, we finished near (or at) the bottom in both divisions. D1 finished 9th of 12 and D2 finished 12th of 12. I understand that S9 is a rather small section in comparison to some of the other sections, but I think we can all agree that we can do better.
The second problem is not quite as obvious, but, arguably, is the root of problem #1. Those who attended the state tournament this weekend can vouch for what I am about to say… Section 9 Wrestling needs to unite. Our fan base was, by far, the most fragmented of all of the sections in the arena this weekend. When a S9 wrestler did something great, applause was usually heard from a small, defined area of the arena….safe to assume the applause was coming from the fans of a particular “school. ” When wrestlers from other sections did something special, a loud applause from a rather large section of arena was heard. Fans from the entire “section” were cheering the event. Please do not take what I have said as a criticism of our fans…it is not. Those of you who know me, know that finger-pointing is not my style. My goal is simple…to unite our section thus making us stronger. Fortunately, if what I am saying is true, there may be one solution to help fix both problems.
Off-Season Club Wrestling May “Point” Us In The Right Direction
In comparing S9 to some of the more successful wrestling sections around NYS, one glaring difference is that we are one of the few sections that does not have a strong “club” presence. Most other sections have several club options. Many of our elite S9 wrestlers travel to other clubs to hone and sharpen their skills in the off-season. Do not misunderstand me….I am all for it. It is awesome that these athletes and their parents are willing to go the extra mile to improve their skills. What I am suggesting, however, it would be great if we had a wrestling club option right here in our back yard. A club where scores of S9 wrestlers would attend. A club that would provide an opportunity for our wrestlers to work out and practice with each other during the off season. A club that could provide a platform for our parents to get to know one another thus creating a more unified fan base at the state tournament.
Over the next few weeks I will be posting articles to help promote some of the off-season wrestling options that exist for our S9 athletes. Today, I will start by writing about the option that I feel has the greatest potential for success… The West Point Wrestling Club!
For the life of me, I cannot figure out why there is not a stronger “link” between Section 9 Wrestling and Army Wrestling. Trying to figure out “why” this is the case is an absolute waste of time….let’s just change it….starting today! The Army program is on the rise. Second year Army Head Coach Joe Heskett has a motto for his Division 1 program, “Build and Believe.” Is there a more appropriate motto for S9 Wrestling? For the past few days, I have had several discussions with Army Assistant Coach Terry Madden. Coach Madden, a Pine Bush graduate, is a 2X Section 9 Champ and a Division III National Champion. He and I share the same vision and he assures me that Coach Heskett and the rest of the Army staff feel the same way…we would all like to see The West Point Wrestling Club become “the place” where Section 9 wrestlers train during the off season . Take a look at what this club has to offer.
Coaches: Joe Heskett: NCAA Champion, World Team Member Daniel Mitcheff: NCAA ALL American, World Team Trials, 4th Place Terry Madden: Former 2x Section 9 Champ, NCAA DIII National Champion, World Team Trials, 4th place Paul Young: 2x Indiana State Champion, 3x NCAA Qualifier Location / Times: The club currently practices on Mondays and Wednesdays from 7:00 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. at the Arvin Gymnasium on the beautiful campus of the United States Military Academy at West Point.The club is currently exploring the possibility adding other locations as well. Cost: The West Point Wrestling Club is offering an introductory rate of $75 per month! That is less than $10 per practice session!!! A Message From Coach Terry Madden: Come train with an elite Division I coaching staff right in your area. With Coach Heskett’s motto of “Build and Believe”, set your goals and let us help you make them become a reality! Come train not only with fellow peers, but also Army cadets! Remember, what you do with yourself on the off season, always reflects the upcoming year. Come work out where training is taken serious, Army serious!
