OXFORD – Bainbridge-Guilford/Afton placed all 12 wrestlers it entered in the 47th Annual Clyde Cole Tournament this past Saturday at Oxford. The Bears racked up 231 points – 65 more than last year – and still weren’t even close to winning the title.
The top spot was reserved for Greene, who totaled 270.5 points, 39 better than defending champion Queensbury, and 86 points more than last year’s winning team score.
“Usually 231 points is enough to win here,” said B-G/A coach Brandon MacNaught, whose club was a half-point behind Queensbury to finish third. “(Greene) is extremely well balanced from top to bottom, and their kids are tougher than nails.”
Greene had eight of its entries reach the finals with Nick Wilcox (130), a returning state champion, beating the Bears’ Danny Gormley, 4-2, in one of the marquis matches of the tourney. Gormley is a three-time Section IV champion and state place winner a year ago. “Gormley had an excellent match,” MacNaught said. “We went for a takedown, and (Wilcox) countered awesomely, which you expect. He also rode us tough on top, that was the biggest difference.”
Greene’s other champion, Tyler Beckwith (189) took home a first-place medalbeating teammate Kurt Shear, 7-0.
The Bears grabbed title wins from sectional champion Wayne Cirigliano (119), Justin Cirigliano (130), and Vinnie Buttice (160). The three B-G/A champs were the most of any team in the tournament.
Norwich made positive strides over recent performances at the tournament, and seventh-grader Tristan Rifanburg (96) gave the Tornado their first Clyde Cole champion in several years.
Rifanburg won all of his matches with ease giving up just one point, and he rolled past Lansing’s William Koll, 8-0, for what could be the first of several Clyde Cole titles for Rifanburg. Overall, Norwich placed six of its wrestlers and was in the middle of the field in team scoring placing seventh out of 13 teams.
“We wrestled extremely well compared to recent years,” said Norwich first-year coach Joe Downey. “Tanner Cummings (112) and Cameron Turner (145) had tough weight classes, but wrestled back well. Our team set individual goals, and the majority of the kids met or exceeded those goals.”
