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Colom, Jones, Ball and Poff all earn top spots at Catt-LV tournament

CATTARAUGUS — Fredonia had six wrestlers earn top-four finishes Saturday at the Cattaraugus-Little Valley Tournament, led by Hector Colom, who took the top spot at 138 pounds.

“I thought Hector stepped up his game and was more active,” Fredonia head coach Joe Santilli said of Colom, who defeated Dunkirk’s Billy Seiders in the finals. “He was spread a bit wider, but it was still a well-wrestled match by Billy (Seiders).”

Also placing for the Hillbillies, which took seventh place in the 16-team tournament, were Dalton Gardner (second, 113), Jake Skinner (third, 220), Antonio Pagan (fourth, 106), Jin Kim (fourth, 132) and Ceric Kristan (fourth, 152).

“He’s feeling a lot better,” Santilli said of Gardner, who was hurt last weekend in the Lockport Tournament. “We left two of our starters back with the flu — Giovani Russo and Jake Stebbins — so if it’s not one thing it’s another. But Dalton lost a tight 5-3 match to Shane Hetrick of Maple Grove. It was a good match.”

“He’s a freshman and he’s wrestled extremely well,” Santilli added of Skinner. “I was very pleased with his mat sense, his movement and his activity. It took him a bit of time in a big-man’s weight, but he’s starting to get the hang of it and it’s very exciting.”

For Dunkirk, which took eighth place, Nick Jones earned the top spot at 285 while Billy Seiders was second at 138. Brad Yochum was third at 126 and Kenny Pisa earned a third-place finish at 152.

Gowanda, the fifth-place team, got a first-place finish from David Ball at 99 pounds and another first-place finish from David Poff at 120.

Attica-Batavia earned the top spot in the team standings and was followed by Olean, Maple Grove and Randolph. St. Francis (sixth), Letchworth (ninth) and Falconer-Cassadaga Valley (10th) rounded out the Top 10. Meanwhile, Franklinville, Warren, Cattaraugus-Little Valley, Salamanca, St. Mary’s and Frewsburg finished 11th through 16th, respectively.

“Some of the weight classes were quite competitive,” Santilli said. “A few teams from Section V came over that had some talent and made the pools a bit tougher, but some of the younger guys are starting to come along. Antonio (Pagan) is starting to find his way and Skinner, too. We only had eight wrestlers and we finished fifth overall, so that was pretty good.”

Fredonia is back in action on Wednesday when it will host Gowanda for its Senior Night.

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