Frank Speziale Photo

OXFORD –On Saturday 15 wrestlers were crowned champions at the 56th annual Clyde Cole Wrestling Tournament, co-sponsored by the Oxford Rotary Club and Oxford Academy and Central School District.

Chenango County athletes represented 13 of the 15 finals matches with eight winning their respective weight classes.

Norwich saw five in the finals – Dante Geislinger, Andrew Brown, Nick Glanville, Mikey Squires and Tyler Rice. Brown won his first Clyde Cole Championship at 120 pounds in an extra period after wrestling by picking up a reversal. Geislinger, Squires and Rice repeated at title winners from a year ago.

Glanville saw a tough opponent in Trevor Robbins from Queensbury in the 126 pound finals match. Robbins took the early lead in the match the call was questioned and the points were taken off after being reversed. Shortly after, Glanville score two point of his own to lead going into the second period.

Stalling points turned out to Glanville’s downfall in the match as he was called for three through out the match, giving Robbins the upper hand. Leading 3-2 after getting an escaped to start the third period, Glanville was called for his third stalling point, allowing Robbins to tie the match up at 3-3.

With 22.7 left, Robbins was able to pick up the reversal points to lead 5-3 on his way to the 126 pound championship.

Another local team that had several wrestlers in the finals were the Bainbridge-Guilford-Afton-Harpursville Bears. Having four in the finals, hopes for the Bears were to walk away with four titles. Brody Oleksak and Shane Hoover were the lone BGAH wrestlers to take championships home, both repeat winners from the 2017 Clyde Cole Tournament.

Joey Florence of the Bears was defeated in the 99 pound class by Carthridge’s Frank Downing by a last second reversal to take the title in the weight class.

Also being defeated in the finals was BGAH’s Hayden Lewis in the 160 pound match. Kiernan Shanahan from Shenendehowa won the the weight class and his victory gave aided in his win of the Most Outstanding Wrestler for the Tournament.

The Greene/Oxford and Sherburne-Earlville teams both saw two of their wrestlers in the finals. Each school saw one of their own stand at the top of the podium.

Noah Kennedy of the Greene/Oxford team took home the title in the 195 pound weight class after what was considered the most exciting match of the night by many of the coaches and other wrestlers.

Facing Devin VanLengen of Carthridge, Kennedy took a 2-0 lead right before the buzzer sounded at the end of the first. To start the second, he landed another two points with a reversal to go up 4-0.

VanLengen scored three with a reversal of his own and an escape to close Kennedy’s advantage down to two points. Kennedy than gave an escaped point to VanLengen to make it 5-4. The Carthridge wrestler used the point to take a 6-5 lead with little time remaining but Kennedy tied the score with an escape.

As the two went into overtime, Kennedy took a shot to score points but didn’t land his move as the both wrestlers went out of bounds. In the second extra period of action, Kennedy pulled off a reversal after starting on bottom then pinned VanLengen to take the 195 pound crown.

At 220 pounds, Sherburne-Earlville’s Alex Thompson needed just 56 seconds to stand at the top of the podium, pinning Carthridge’s Collin Null.

In the final match of the championship evening, Rice won by a decision of 4-2.

With their lead before the finals starting being 10 points ahead of the Purple Tornado, Shenendehowa was able to capture the team title after winning three weight classes and gaining bonus points for their wins by pin, finishing the weekend with 248 points. Norwich came in second place with 239 and Carthridge landed in third with 191.

Max Morris of Norwich, a seventh-grader in his first year on varsity, took third in the 99 pound weight class while teammate Mason Edwards – also a first-year Tornado seventh-grader – claimed fifth place.

All Chenango County teams except BGAH are in action on the mat again on Wednesday. Norwich is at Windsor, Greene/Oxford travels to Chenango Valley, and Sherburne-Earlville is on the road to Unatego/Unadilla Valley. All dual meet matches start at 6 p.m.

The results for the third, fourth, fifth and six place are below along with the final team standings. A photo page of all finals matches will be in Tuesday’s edition of The Evening Sun.

Championship Matches

99 Frank Downing, Carthage Dec Joey Florence, Bainbridge Guilford Afton Harpursville, 7-6

106 Stevo Poulin, Shenendehowa Fall David Ensminger, Shenendehowa, 2:56

113 Dante Geislinger, Norwich T-Fall Ryan Sleezer, Queensbury, 18-3

120 Andrew Brown, Norwich Dec Dylan Sleezer, Queensbury, 6-4 OT

126 Trevor Robbins, Queensbury Dec Nick Glanville, Norwich, 5-3

132 Zach Harrington, Sidney Fall Damien Hitt, Greene Oxford, 3:20

138 Brody Oleksak, Bainbridge Guilford Afton Harpursville M-Dec John Brady, Queensbury, 10-1

145 Brock Delsignore, Shenendehowa T-Fall Morgan Lakin, Sherburne Earlville, 18-3

152 Mikey Squires, Norwich M-Dec Colden Dorfman, Shenendehowa, 13-1

160 Kiernan Shanahan, Shene dehowa

170 Shane Hoover, Bainbridge Guilford Afton Harpursville Dec Will Fraser, Queensbury, 7-0

182 Fombo Azah, Carthage Dflt Mark Mullen, Spencer-Van Etten Candor, lNG

195 Noah Kennedy, Greene Oxford Fall Devin VanLengen, Carthage, 7:58 OT

220 Alex Thompson, Sherburne Earlville Fall Luke Smith, Carthage, :56

285 Tyler Rice, Norwich Dec Collin Null, Carthage, 4-2

Consolation (3rd/4th Place matches)

99 Max Morris, Norwich Dec Sam Albright, Carthage, 2-0

106 Dylan Thomas, Carthage Dec Davin Leavey, Shenendehowa, 3-2

113 Dylan Decker, Bainbridge Guilford Afton Harpursville Fall Ousmane Duncanson, Spencer-Van E

120 Kaiden LaLora, Queensbury Dec Andrew Lee, Averil Park, 11-5

126 Justyn Begley, Carthage Fall Antonio Lomascolo, Shenendehowa, 1:56