Bainbridge-Guilford/Afton's Kris Stafford and Danny Gormley were the only area athletes to place this past weekend at the Division II state wrestling tournament at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester.
Stafford (34-9), a senior, took the area's top finish by placing fourth in the D-II tournament at 160 pounds. Freshman teammate Gormley (31-9) was the lone wrestler of eight from the area to reach Sunday's semifinals. Still, he wound up sixth at 112 in the D-II.
The eight wrestlers combined for a 15-17 record at the tournament, with six competing in D-II and two in D-I.
Stafford, a two-time Section Four champion, opened with a 2-0 victory over Pat Carter of Section Five's Attica. He then dropped a 10-5 decision to Ryan Black of Section Two's Warrensburg in the quarterfinals.
Stafford won his next three matches, including an 11-5 decision over Section One's Will Carter of Westlake in a wrestleback semifinal that gave Stafford a chance at placing third. Stafford missed out, however, with a 12-3 loss to Mike Gresh of Section Six's Ripley.
Gormley, also a two-time Section Four champion, opened with a 15-0 technical fall victory over Corey Farrell of Section Nine's Red Hook. Gormley then beat Dan Walts of Section Three's Vernon-Verona-Sherrill in the quarterfinals, 6-0.
But Gormley lost his last three matches, including a 13-1 decision to Rob Broda of Section Six's Eden in the semifinals and an 11-9 setback to Ryan Osleeb of Section One's North Salem in the fifth-place match.
Gormley placed fifth at 96 pounds last season.
Broda won the state championship with a 5-4 victory over Joe Smaldone of Section Five's Geneva.
The possibility of a third meeting this season between Gormley and Unatego senior Cody Dill fell one match short of happening.
Dill (34-4), who finished 2-2 at the tournament and failed to place, lost to Tyler Marlow of Section Five's Palmyra-Macedon in the third round of wrestlebacks, 9-2. It was the second straight year the two met at states as Marlow beat Dill, 10-7, en route to the 103-pound state title last season. Dill finished third last year.
Marlow, who placed third this year, advanced past Dill to meet Gormley and earned a 10-2 decision to reach the third-place match.
Dill beat Curt Thompson of Section Two's Whitehall, 13-6, in the opening round. He then fell to Osleeb, 6-5, in the quarters. After beating Jacob Demmon of Section 10's Clifton Fine, he was eliminated with the loss to Marlow.
Walton senior Richard Fletcher (43-5), a two-time Section Four champion at 215 pounds, opened with a victory over Michael Vaccaro before dropping his next two matches. He lost to Logan Rock of Section Two's Warrensburg, 4-3, in the quarterfinals, then was eliminated in his first wrestleback match, 5-1, to Windsor's Noah Sibley. Fletcher had beaten Sibley, 3-1, in the past two sectional finals.
B-G/A freshman Wayne Cirigliano (103) and sophomore Chris Burnett (119) each reached the quarterfinals before losing.
Cirigliano (24-7) went 2-2 and was eliminated by Candor's Corey Spires in the third round of wrestlebacks, getting pinned in 4 minutes, 3 seconds. The two also met in the Section Four final, with Cirigliano winning 9-3.
Burnett (28-12) beat Abram Rowe of Section Six's Ripley, 1-0, in the opening round but dropped his next two matches to finish 1-2.
In D-I, Unadilla Valley senior T.J. Brownell went 2-2 at 160 and sophomore Tyler Peet finished 1-2.
Brownell (33-6) lost his opener to Bryan Bourne of Section Five's Spencerport, 8-1. He followed with a pin of PSAL's Jakub Pawlowski of Midwood in 3:21 and a 2-1 victory over Keith Corley of Section Nine's Valley Central but was eliminated in the third round of wrestlebacks by Michael Hernandez of Section 11's Brentwood, 5-3.
Peet (32-6), who won his first sectional title this year, beat Section Six's Alex Bagne, 2-0, of Maryvale in the first round before dropping a 10-5 decision to Ricardo Gomez of Section 11's Brentwood in the quarterfinals. He was eliminated by Section Five's Alex Marianetti of Greece Athena, 6-3.
Full brackets are available at the website http://www.nysphsaawrestling.com/results.html.
STATE WRESTLING TOURNAMENT
Area results
Results for area wrestlers at the state tournament Saturday and Sunday at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester.
DIVISION II
103 _ Wayne Cirigliano (Bainbridge-Guilford/Afton, 2-2, did not place): pinned Sam Patterson (Cold Spring Harbor-5), 3:51; lost to Kyle Crisafulli (Phoenix-3), 11-0; def. Sarah Anderson (Schuylerville-2), 3-1; pinned by Corey Spires (Candor-4), 4:03.
112 _ Danny Gormley (B-G/A, 2-3, placed sixth): technical fall Corey Farrell (Red Hook-9), 15-0; def. Dan Walts (Vernon-Verona-Sherrill-3), 6-0; lost to Rob Broda (Eden-6), 13-1; lost to Tyler Marlow (Palmyra-Macedon), 9-2; lost to Ryan Odleeb (North Salem-1), 11-9.
112 _ Cody Dill (Unatego, 2-2, did not place): def. Curt Thompson (Whitehall-2), 13-6; lost to Ryan Osleeb (North Salem-1), 6-5; pinned Jacob Demmon (Clifton Fine-10), 2:28; lost to Tyler Marlow (Palmyra-Macedon-5), 9-2.
119 _ Chris Burnett (B-G/A, 1-2, did not place): def. Adam Rowe (Ripley-6), 1-0; lost to Christopher Conti (Fredonia-6), 5-0; lost to Tim Banks (Holley-5), 3-1.
160 _ Kris Stafford (B-G/A, 4-2, placed fourth): def. Pat Carter (Attica-5), 2-0; lost to Ryan Black (Warrensburg-2), 10-5; def. John Wratten (Little Falls-3), 6-4; def. Kyle Gale (Onteora-9), 3-1; def. Will Carter (Westlake-1), 11-5; lost to Mike Gresh (Ripley-6), 12-3.
215 _ Richard Fletcher (Walton, 1-2, did not place): def. Michael Vaccaro (Petrides-PSAL), 8-1; lost to Logan Rock (Warrensburg-2), 4-3; lost to Noah Sibley (Windsor-4), 5-1.
DIVISION I
119 _ Tyler Peet (Unadilla Valley, 1-2, did not place): def. Alex Bagne (Maryvale-6), 2-0; lost to Ricardo Gomez (Brentwood-11), 10-5; lost to Alex Marianetti (Greece Athena-5), 6-3.
160 _ T.J. Brownell (Unadilla Valley (2-2, did not place): lost to Bryan Bourne (Spencerport-5), 8-1); pinned Jakub Pawlowski (Midwood-PSAL), 3:21; def. Keith Corley (Valley Central-9), 2-1; lost to Michael Hernanez (Brentwood-11), 5-3.
