2019 NEW YORK STATE TOURNAMENT FINALS
99 lbs.- Gregor McNeil (Hilton-5) maj.dec. Killian Foy (MacArthur-8) 17-5
106 lbs.- Stevo Poulin (Shenendehowa-2) dec. Zack Ryder (Minisink Valley-9) 4-3
113 lbs. - Greg Diakomihalis (Hilton-5) pinned Josiah Encarnacion (Wantagh-8) 1:09
120 lbs.- Jimmy Ryan (Monsignor Farrell-C) dec. Sean Carter (North Babylon-11) 3-0
126 lbs.- Ryan Burgos (Hilton-5) dec. Tyler Kellison (Jamesville-DeWitt-3) 5-4
132 lbs.- Alex Samson (Victor-5) dec. Xavier Pommels (Uniondale-8) 8-5
138 lbs.- Adam Busiello (Eastport-South Manor-11) pinned Willie McDougald (Niagara Falls-6) 3:29
145 lbs.- AJ Kovacs (Iona Prep-C) dec. Jonathan Spadafora (Hills East-11) 3-2
152 lbs.- Dan Mauriello (Hauppauge-11) dec. Warren McDougald (Niagara Wheatfield-6) 3-2 OT
160 lbs. - Kyle Mosher (South Side-8) dec. Cooper Kropman (Penfield-5) 8-0
170 lbs.- Aaron Wolk (Horace Greeley-1) pinned Joe Gannone (Eastport-South Manor-11) :59
182 lbs.- Jake Logan (New Rochelle-1) tech fall Angelo Petrakis (Massapequa-8) 19-3
195 lbs.- Sam DePrez (Hilton-5) dec. Liam McIntrye (Westhampton Beach-11) 4-2
220 lbs. - Will Leonard (Cornwall-9) dec. Lucas Scott (Chenango Forks-4) 6-1
285 lbs. - Joey Slackman (Commack-11) dec. Myles Norris (Freeport-8) 4-2
Sectional Team Scores:
1. Section Five (236 points)
2. Section Eleven (223)
3. Section Eight (209.5)
4. Section One (143.5)
5. Section CHSAA (143)
Individual Team Scores:
1. Hilton (134 points)
2. Massapequa (76)
3. Eastport-South Manor (66)
4. Hauppauge (52)
5. St. Anthony's (44.5)
Mat Notes:
The MOW Award went to five-time state champion Adam Busiello (49-0, 280-8) of ESM-11 who pinned all four opponents en route to the 138-pound title. In the championship bout he clamped defending state champion junior Willie McDougald (43-2) of Niagara Falls-6. The six-time state place-winner and Arizona State-bound Busiello (2-1-1-1-1-1) became the first Suffolk County wrestler to win five state crowns and joins the list of legendary five-timers: Troy Nickerson (Chenango Forks-4) and recently Jacori Teemer (Long Beach-8). Busiello and Teemer will be teammates next season for the Sun Devils and collectively, will soon make an impact on the NCAA wrestling landscape. Cornell NCAA champion sophomore Yianni Diakomihalis (Hilton) won four state titles in high school and was sidelined by injury his senior year- he finished with a spectacular mark of 243-3 - and most likely would have made the elite five-time champion ledger.
Other Long Islander winners were: Jordan Titus (40-1, 119-6) of Center Moriches at 120, who became the school's first state champion, Dan Mauriello (43-2, 167-17) of Hauppauge at 152, incidentally Mauriello posted four overtime victories for his state crown and became the first wrestler in state history to accomplish that feat. Mauriello also needed overtime to win the Suffolk County title and as veteran Eagles coach Chris Messina stated about Mauriello: "He finds a way to win." Nassau's lone winner was Columbia-bound Kyle Mosher (45-1, 244-35) of South Side who coasted to the 160-pound state crown. Mosher posted two pins, a tech fall and a solid 8-0 major decision over highly-touted Cooper Kropman (33-3) of Penfield-5 in the finals, he was unscored upon in the tournament. Penn-bound senior Joey Slackman (46-0, 133-13) of Commack concluded an illustrious career with three first period falls and a solid 4-2 decision over tough junior Myles Norris (25-2, 85-10) of Freeport in the 285-pound final.
Section Five won the Division I sectional team title and snapped Section Eleven (Suffolk County) record of ten consecutive Division I sectional team titles. The Rochester area squad amassed 236 points to outdistance Section Eleven (223) and Section Eight (209.5) at the 57th NYSPHSAA Wrestling Championships before 5,268 fans at the Times-Union Center in Albany. In Division I the purple-clad group crowned five champions and were powered by Hilton HS who garnered four individual titles and set a record for individual state winners at a state meet eclipsing the mark of three winners- set by Mepham (1964), Brentwood (1971), Longwood (1992) and Islip (2005) over the years. The Cadets also tallied the most points by an individual team with 115 points to easily outdistanced runner-up and rival Massapequa-8, who finished with 73 points. Hilton's champions were sophomore Gregor McNeil (46-2), a foreign exchange student from Toronto at 99 pounds, who most likely will not be in Hilton's line-up next season, four-time titlist junior Greg Diakomihalis (55-0, 192-2) at 113, Ryan Burgos (50-2) at 126 and Binghamton-bound Sam DePrez (52-0) at 195 pounds. Iona Prep junior AJ Kovacs (50-1) was a former Connecticut state champion from Danbury and now can boast two state titles from two different states. In the Division Two Tournament Section Five outpointed Section Four, 223.5 points to 209. They added two additional champions; Jace Schafer (55-3) of Pal-Mac at 99 and MOW Anthony Noto (39-1, 232-5) of Honeoye Falls-Lima at 113. Section Five had a sweep back in 2007.
Long Island had an impressive 46 wrestlers earn All-State honors; with 33 wrestlers in Div.-1 and 13 in Div-2. LI finalists were; Killian Foy (39-8), Josiah Encarnacion (49-3), Sean Carter (40-3, 145-21), Xavier Pommels (43-2), Jonathan Spadafora (41-2, 189-23), Joe Gannone (41-4, 132-23), along with Angelo Petrakis (48-3) and Liam McIntrye (38-1,171-37). Massapequa's 2018 runner-up sophomore Chase Liardi (45-3, 115-12) landed in fourth place in the loaded 106-pound bracket. Earning third place bronze medals were: freshman Anthony Conetta, 8th-grader Max Gallagher, two-time bronze medalist Luke Smith, Joe Costantano, 2018 state champion junior Zach Redding (50-5, 182-23), Preston Maucere, Kyle Althenn, along with the Rocky Point tandem of Kris Ketchum and Corey Connolly.
A look back at the first New York State Championships held at Barton Hall (Cornell University) in Ithaca on March 9th, 1963. There were only twelve weight classes and eight sections. Section Eight won the first title with 121 points over runner-up Section Three (Syracuse area) with 75 and Suffolk (74) finished third . The quarterfinals (on four mats) was at 1PM - the semi-finals (two mats) was at 3PM and the consolations (one mat) was at 7PM - with the championship finals afterwards. A very interesting format - a wrestler needed to win three matches in less than 8 hours to become a state champion. New York's first winner was Wantagh's Pete Henning (27-1) in the 95-pound class. Back then there were only 259 high schools in New York State with wrestling programs - now there are over 500 programs in the Empire State. In the nation today - there are only three states with individual classifications - California, Indiana and New Jersey. Interesting to note - at the CA state meet there are 40 qualifiers in a single bracket and the winner needs to win six matches over the three-day tournament.
Suffolk County has won 26 sectional team titles (the most in the state) and also have a state leading 196 NYS champions, followed by Section Four (Binghamton area) with 161 and Nassau County with 131 individual winners. Seven champions remained unbeaten: Stevo Poulin (44-0), the aforementioned Diakomihalis, Busiello, DePrez and Slackman, along with Lehigh-bound Jake Logan (39-0, 173-29) and Will Leonard (42-0). The combined record of the Division I champions was an unbelievable 701 victories and just 16 losses.
Sectional Team Scores: (Division Two)
1. Section Five (223.5 points)
2. Section Four (209)
3. Section Three (203)
4. Section Two (177)
5. Section Six (164)
Individual Team Scores: (Division Two)
1. Tioga (76)
2. CVA (69)
3. Warsaw (54.5)
4. Canisteo-Greenwood (50)
5. Norwich (48)
Division Two Finals:
99- Jace Schafer (Pal-Mac-5) dec. Andrew Lucinski (Newfane-6) 2-0
106- Dante Geislinger (Norwich-4) dec. Caleb Svingala (Maple Hill-2) 3-0
113- Anthony Noto (HFL-5) pinned Micah Roes (Lowville-3) 3:44
120- Jordan Titus (Center Moriches-11) dec. Matt Garland (SJSC-3) 5-1
126- Chandler Merwin (Walton-4) dec. Bradley Cheek (Canisteo-5) 7-2
132- Brady Worthing (Tioga-4) dec. Victor Perlleshi (Pleasantville-1) 5-1
138- John Worthing (Tioga-4) dec. Zach Braddell (Tonawanda-6) 4-2
145- Hunter Schaut (CVA-3) dec. Chase Runfola (Letchworth-5) 3-2
152- Zack Lawrence (Duanesburg-2) dec. Mikey Squires (Norwich-4) 3-2
160- Cory Day (Iroquois-6) dec. Jacob Null (Carthage-3) 8-3
170- Jacob Nolan (Saranac-7) dec. Sam Wolf (Warsaw-5) 8-4
182- Nicholas Meglino (Edgemont-1) def. Ross McFarland (Phoenix-3) disq.
195- Robbie Penhollow (Falconer-6) dec. Jace Filion (North Adirondack-7) 8-1
220- Michael Rigerman (Pioneer-6) dec. Keagan Carmentatty (SSeneca-5) 5-3
285- Dylan Houseknecht (Odessa-Montour-4) dec. Trentyn Rupert (Newark Valley-4) 4-2 OT