By Patrick Newell

Sun Sports Editor

Thanks to the wild-card system and the emergence of Sherburne-Earlville’s wrestling program, a Chenango County-record 11 grapplers lace up their wrestling shoes for the New York State Division I and Division II championships Saturday morning at Blue Cross Arena in Rochester.

Preliminary action begins at 10:30 a.m. and semifinals are Sunday morning at 10 a.m. Finals are slated for 6 p.m. Sunday evening.

“It’s great to have three guys going to the tournament,” said S-E assistant coach Brian Hicks. The Marauders did not have a state qualifier for several years until Chris Pike earned a Section III title last year. “Our first goal is to get through Saturday and have guys wrestling on Sunday morning.”

B-G/Afton sports a four-person contingent led by returning sectional titlists Danny Gormley (112) and Kris Stafford (160). Gormley lost an early-round match to eventual state title winner Kyle Crisafulli of Section III before placing fifth. Gormley’s teammate, Wayne Cirigliano – a first-time state tourney representative – could match up with Crisafulli if he wins his opening match.

“Crisafulli is the returning state champion, but he wasn’t his section winner,” said B-G/A coach Brandon MacNaught. “We were fortunate to have seen Crisafulli last year, and he did what he had to do to win, but I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion that (Cirigliano) is headed to wrestlebacks. I always wonder how kids will respond in these types of tournaments. Wayne seemed to be okay at the Arena (site of the sectional championships), and not only was he not overwhelmed, it was by far the best tournament he wrestled this year.”

Other returning sectional title winners include Greg DuVall (112) of Sherburne-Earlville, Tyler Beckwith (171) of Greene, and Chris Pike (285) of Sherburne-Earlville, all in division two.

Newcomers include Tyler Peet (119) and T.J. Brownell (160) of Unadilla Valley, who will wrestle in the division one tournament. Division two first-timers are Chris Burnett (119), B-GA; Kurt Shear (145), Greene; and Wheeler Brunschmid (171), Sherburne-Earlville.

Section IV, which includes all of the aforementioned wrestlers aside from S-E, had one of its weaker showings in recent memory at last year’s tournament. MacNaught isn’t sure much will change this year.

“With so many of our D-2 teams moving up to D-1, it hurts our depth big-time,” he said, while citing the switch of smaller schools such as Chenango Forks to the larger division. “If our smaller schools stay down, we win the team title by 50 points.”

First-round matchups

(by weight class, Division)

Division II