It was a good day for the Colonie and Shaker wrestling teams.
Colonie had two individual champions and placed fourth in the team standings, while Shaker had four finalists and finished fifth as a team at the Section 2 Class A wrestling championships Saturday, Feb. 7, at Columbia High School.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve had four in the finals in the same year,” said Shaker coach Kevin Retell.
One final pitted Colonie against Shaker. Colonie’s John Mulally squared off against Shaker’s Jake Parker in the 220-pound championship match, which Mulally won 12-2.
“John’s a tough kid,” said Colonie coach Jeremy Eggleston. “He’s put the time in, (and) he’s wrestled a lot of years. He’s wrestling with a lot of confidence.”
Sophomore Austin Lewis also earned an individual title for Colonie. Lewis edged Columbia’s Dominic Poggoli 6-4 to win the 113-pound division championship – his first at the varsity level.
Eggleston said the experience Lewis and fellow finalist Jake Kimble (99 pounds) gained by wrestling primarily at the junior varsity level last season helped them prepare for making a run at the Sectional finals this year.
“They wrestled a lot, and they gained some experience in the limited time they were on varsity last year,” said Eggleston.
Kimble had a tougher time in the finals than his two Colonie teammates. Columbia’s Michael Gonyea pinned Kimble in 11 seconds to win the match.
Shaker’s four finalists had their own difficulties. Besides Parker’s loss to Mulally, Guilderland’s Andy Cummings scored two back points in overtime to edge Chris MacDonald 3-1 in the 195-pound final, while Niskayuna’s Khaled Abdoun shut out Ryan Eustace 9-0 for the 285-pound division title. Saratoga’s Dominic Inzanna pinned Chris Pavlec 35 seconds into their championship bout to win the 126-pound division.
Still, Retell said he was pleased with Shaker’s performance.
“They work hard,” said Retell, who took over for Dan Gibson this season. “I’ve got a group of seniors that I’m going to miss terribly.”
Shaker and Colonie will each have 10 wrestlers competing in this weekend’s Section 2 Division 1 championships at the Glens Falls Civic Center – the last step towards qualifying for the state tournament at Albany’s Times Union Center.
Besides its four Class A finalists, Shaker has Andrew Horval and Andrew Peterson heading to Glens Falls after they each won their third-place bouts. Horval pinned Columbia’s Eli Martin in the 170-pound third-place match, while Peterson defeated Shenendehowa’s Nick Joseph 5-2 at 182 pounds.
Shaker’s Anthony Mandigo (106 pounds), Ethan Hartlage (160), Robert Weidman (113) and Josh Bennett (138) also qualified for Sectionals after finishing in the top six at the Class A tournament.
Colonie’s list of qualifiers include Jake DiSanto (138 pounds), Brandon Brothers (195), Noah Fyan (285), Caleb Tolleson (145), Taylor Pfaff (152), Gerson Murillo (170) and Luke Weis (182). Brothers finished third in his weight class with a 6-4 consolation final victory over Columbia’s Rob Merrill.
