Eagles senior Jordan Joslyn controls his opponent in the 138-pound final of the state qualifier. OBSERVER photo by Christian Storms

ANGOLA — The Section VI qualifiers for the New York State Public High School Athletic Association wrestling championships are events to point out the best individual boys wrestlers in the section, but there is no doubt that the Southwestern Trojans stood out as a team.

Competing in the Division II qualifier at Lake Shore High School on Saturday, Southwestern had nine athletes qualify for the tournament with eight placing in the top four and four earning spots in the state championships in Albany.

“We had nine qualify and eight place top four today,” Southwestern head coach John Vogan stated. “So it was a really great day for our team. I don’t know if we’ve had a better sectional tournament in 15, 16 years. Everybody wrestled really well.”

Of those four heading states, three of them won their weight class, while the second-place finish came at the hands of a Trojans teammate.

Returning state champion, sophomore Tavio Hoose, stood out moving up to the 190-pound weight class as he dominated his way to the finals. A huge 11-4 victory over Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Panama/Clymer junior Jayden Malecki got him back to states.

Gowanda/Pine Valley senior Michael Horth controls his opponent in the True Second bout to clinch a spot in the state finals. OBSERVER photo by Christian Storms

Then, both sophomore Carmine Calimeri and senior Kenji Walters secured spots back in the state championships, this time competing in the same weight class. Calimeri and Walters both worked their way to the finals at 131 pounds, but it was top-seeded Calimeri edging No. 3 Walters in the final with a 9-4 decision.

“It didn’t feel the best winning it over a teammate,” Calimeri said jokingly about qualifying for states. “But at least we’re both still going. This year I’m going for the win, I’m going for first.”

The Southwestern pair has wrestled each other for a while and constant practice against each other has pushed them to this point where they are going to states together again, but this time at the same weight class.

“It means a lot,” Calimeri said about going to states with Walters. “It’s his senior year, I’ve known him for most of my life and he knows what I do. That match was a bit difficult, but at least we’re both still going.”

While Hoose, Calimeri and Walters have all qualified for states, the one that might mean the most is senior Neves Hoose qualifying for the first time on his final try. After years of coming up short of his goal, Neves will join his younger brother Tavio in Albany, fighting at 170 pounds after running the table as the top seed at Lake Shore.

Falconer/Cassadaga Valley freshman Dylan Newman doesn’t allow Eagles’ Thandon Bensink to escape in the 116-pound finals. OBSERVER photo by Christian Storms

“Neves Hoose has fallen short four years at this tournament,” Vogan said. “Had some heartbreaking losses, but finally in his senior year became a sectional champ. I’m really proud of him.”

Neves breezed through the first two rounds, pinning teammate Peter Conley in 50 seconds, then pinning Newfane’s Colin Doxey in the semifinals before facing Franklinville senior Evan Leonard. The championship bout was tied after the first period, but in the second Neves scored all his points with an escape then takedown to go up 3-0. Then, from there, Neves gave Leonard an escape in the third period and great body positioning allowed him to maintain the 3-1 lead for his spot in Albany.

“I think Neves has taken a step forward this year in his practice habits,” Vogan stated. “He’s gone and done the things outside of our wrestling room and extra that his brother has done. He’s chased great practice partners, he’s chased great competition and I think that was the difference in him having the year he’s had in being pretty dominant as far as our section goes at that 170 weight class.”

Almost as impressive, Conley joined Neves on the podium in fourth place, despite being unseeded coming into the event.

“Peter Conley ending his career, unseeded, taking top four was a heck of an accomplishment for a great kid,” Vogan added. “Kenji Walters wrestled an unbelievable tournament coming up from 124 to take second. Carmine and Kenji to qualify together is awesome, they’ve been practice partners for many years.”

Southwestern’s Carmine Calimeri holds onto teammate Kenji Walters in the 131-pound final at the state qualifiers. OBSERVER photo by Christian Storms

Also finishing strong for the Trojans are Adrian Torres in third at 101 pounds, Miles Torres in fourth at 116 pounds and Brayden Potter in third at 215 pounds.

“It was just a great day for our team and our program,” Vogan added. “Everybody we brought here, Miles Torres in particular, to take fourth moving up a weight class, that was a great accomplishment. We have two sets of brothers in our wrestling room, Tavio and Neves, Miles and Adrian, and when we go, we go hard. Those guys have to be separated at times, because they go so hard those two sets. Carmine and Kenji, they’ve been practice partners for years and both of them now are three-time state qualifiers. Having those types of partners in the wrestling room is really a blessing and all of our guys, Brayden Potter right around the weight class of Neves and Tavio, and Bohdan Wendell who qualified today at 145 is right around the weight of Carmine and Kenji. It’s definitely a great example of iron sharpens iron.”

Southwestern may have had the most local first-place finishes, but powerhouse Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Panama/Clymer matched them with four athletes qualifying for states; none better than returning state champion senior Jordan Joslyn.

Joslyn once again finished atop the podium, securing the 6-4 victory at 138 pounds against Newfane junior Aidan Gillings.

“It feels great, it’s awesome,” Joslyn said about heading back to states. “I gotta repeat, can’t fall short of what I did last year.”

Joslyn breezed his way to the finals with pins over Fredonia/Forestville/Silver Creek junior Cameron Ingram in the quarterfinals at 1:30 and Lackawanna sophomore Abdulhamis Albanna in the semifinals at 46 seconds. Joslyn was then put to the test in an intense final which required great poise to close out the final period holding onto a 6-4 lead after being up 6-2 and surrendering a reversal.

“The two of us have wrestled a ton of times,” Joslyn added about Gillings. “I knew it was going to be close, but I also knew what I needed to do, just had to execute. Tough practices from the coaches make sure I don’t gas in those matches.”

While Joslyn is no stranger to states, teammates Mason Maring, Jayden Malecki and Thandon Bensink will be representing the Eagles for the first time in Albany. Maring’s semifinal pin against Southwestern’s Potter automatically put him into the state final after his loss to Maple Grove senior Matt Trim at 215 pounds. But Malecki and Bensink had the longer road to states, battling in true second-place bouts against third-place finishers.

Malecki made easy work of his opponent at 190 pounds, earning a technical fall over Medina junior Brody Fry 18-3 and Bensink secured a 6-0 decision over Iroquois sophomore Josh Pfeiffer.

The Eagles came close to a fifth state qualifier, but suffered heartbreak at 108 pounds when Medina junior Reece Senske rallied for a 5-3 decision in sudden victory of their true-second matchup. Alex Bourgeois also reached the podium for the Eagles at 101 pounds, first earning a 7-3 decision over eventual fifth-place finisher Fredonia/Forestville/Silver Creek eighth-grader Rocco Muscarella, then a pin over Olean/Allegany-Limestone freshman Camren Driscoll at 2:34 before being dropping the 8-4 decision to Adrian Torres to finish in fourth.

A pair of Eagles had to prove themselves in true-second match, while Gowanda/Pine Valley senior Michael Horth used it as an opportunity to work his way from the consolation bracket all the way to qualifying spot in Albany. Starting as the No. 3 seed at 152 pounds, Horth opened with a 9-4 decision over Falconer/Cassadaga Valley senior Mason Kilmer before losing a major decision 12-2 against eventual champion Randolph junior Caden Inkley.

Horth then went on to post three straight wins to earn his spot alongside first-time state qualifier Inkley at 152 pounds, defeating Portville senior Samuel Zeigler 6-1, then Akron senior Christian Klonowksi in third place 10-1 by major decision and then finally an emphatic 8-2 decision over top-seeded Iroquois sophomore Alex Schiffhauer in the true-second matchup. Kilmer also reached the podium at 152 pounds for the Golden Cougars, winning the fifth-place bout 3-1 against Zeigler.

The Golden Cougars had several strong finishes to go along with Kilmer reaching the podium at 152 pounds, but none greater than freshman Dylan Newman headed back to states.

Newman moved up two weight classes since entering the high school ranks, but had no problem at all getting back to Albany with a pair of pins and a major decision in the final at 116 pounds. He first pinned Randolph sophomore Parker Paterson at 1:03, then he pinned Iroquois sophomore Josh Pfeiffer at 3:06 before earning a 17-6 major decision over Bensink.

Falconer/Cassadaga Valley senior Evan Newman nabbed fifth place at 108 pounds with a pin over Lackawanna freshman Hand Nashir at 4:18, junior Gabe Lundmark placed fifth at 124 pounds with a pin over Fredonia/Forestville/Silver Creek sophomore Issiah Ruiz at 2:36, junior Charlie Reichenbach took fifth at 145 with a 5-4 decision against Maryvale junior Cody Freyburger, freshman Patrick Braley claimed fifth at 160 with a medical forfeit against Williamsville South’s Treyden Saxer, and Kilmer also took fifth to round out the Golden Cougars’ day.

Matt Trim was the final returnee to states from the area as the Maple Grove senior pinned Malecki in the 215-pound finals. Maple Grove teammate Kolden McCall came up short of the podium at 190 pounds, losing the fifth-place bout Williamsville South senior Austin Knab 4-2.

On top of seeing a junior in Inkley qualify for states for the first time, Randolph also reached the podium with Domanik Clark taking fourth place at 131 pounds. Likewise, Gowanda/Pine Valley’s state-qualifying performance from Horth was added to with a fifth-place finish by sophomore Nathan Warrior at 138 pounds.

Then, top finishes for their schools were Frewsburg’s Logan Fuller claiming fourth at 108 pounds and Salamanca senior Keegan Hardy taking fourth at 285 pounds.

DIVISION 1

ZWALD, LITTLE PUNCH TICKETS TO ALBANY

WILLIAMSVILLE — Coming in as the seventh-seeded sophomore at 108 pounds the expectations were not very high for Jamestown’s Zachary Little. However, he did not let that low seeding hold him back at the Division I state qualifiers at Williamsville North High School.

Little opened the event against the second seed in Amherst’s Mustafa Natiq and squeaked out a huge 3-2 decision and then from there it didn’t get much easier as he was tasked with No. 3 Grand Island freshman Zak Massaro.

Little fought Massaro until the second round, picking up a pin at 3:20. Having defeated two of the top three seeds, Little put himself in great position to punch a ticket for states.

Little’s final bout was against top-seeded Starpoint sophomore Sean McDonald and Little gave all he could, but McDonald secured a third-round pin at 5:21 to get to states. With victories over Massaro and Natiq, Little secured the second spot at 108 pounds.

Little was not the only Jamestown wrestler to make his way to the finals as junior Tyler Zwald worked his way as the No. 3 seed at 131 pounds.

Zwald found little trouble getting to the finals, securing a pair of second-round pins, first defeating Orchard Park’s Evan Dorsheimer at 2:59 and then No. 2 Amherst senior Riley Kirst at 3:01.

Zwald came up short in the championship against top-seeded Clarence eighth-grader Trevor Mueller, who secured a 4-1 decision. Zwald’s semifinal victory over Kirst punched his ticket to Albany as the second Division I representative at 131 pounds.

Picking up the victories against Kirst and Dorsheimer were significant, securing Zwald at least second place and a trip to the state championships in two weeks.

While Little and Zwald will be the only members of the Red & Green in Albany, Jamestown picked up a few more wins at the state qualifiers.

Junior Cole Bloomquist began with a quarterfinal win over Sweet Home senior John Lopez at 152 pounds, pinning him in the final seconds at 5:51. Bloomquist then was pinned by eventual champion, top-seeded Williamsville North/East senior Cameron Catrabone at 1:16.

Bloomquist still had a path to states, needing wins in the third-place bracket, but came up short to Niagara Falls senior Vincenzo Falsetti 3-0 and was relegated to the fifth-place match.

Bloomquist finished strong with a 13-0 major decision over Lancaster senior Joey Freiberg for fifth place.

Sophomore Nicholas Melendez dropped his first match, but in the third-place bracket was able to secure a pin over Hamburg’s Mason Mitchell at 116 pounds. Melendez also found himself in a fifth-place bout after losing to Frontier freshman Trey Abrams 4-2, but he ended on a high note securing a sudden victory 6-4 decision against Frontier eighth-grader Ali Hamideh for fifth place.

Senior Keith Miller narrowly lost his opening bout at 170 pounds to Amherst senior Killian Simonson 2-1, but he turned around with a pin in the third-place bracket against Grand Island’s Tim Bentley 2:48. He then took on Williamsville North/East senior Hussein Zenki for a spot in the third-place bout, defeating him by 5-3 decision.

Miller notched a 7-4 decision in the third-place bout against Clarence’s Clayton Feltz, setting up a potential shot at the second spot. Miller’s senior season came just short of a trip to the state finals, finishing in third place after being pinned by Hamburg junior Evan Braunscheidel in the true-second match at 5:42.