wrestling

 Jon Casper had a dominant performance Tuesday helping to lead his Le Roy wrestling team to a 59-27 win over Hornell.

Casper pinned Tyler Warriner in just 23 seconds at 215 pounds.

Jesse Brennan also had a pin for the Oatkan Knights at 119.

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Batavia downed Kendall on the mat with ease, winning 59-30 to improve to 16-5.

Nick Lazaroni pinned James Klafehn in just 1:15 at 112 pounds and Will Ely droppe Lance Requa in 5:10 at 125 pounds.

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Byron-Bergen (2-9) was able to hang with Northstar Christian, but a 21-8 third quarter allowed Northstar (9-3) to get the 56-40 boys basketball win.

Donald Harris had 13 points with seven rebounds, assists and steals while David Miller pitched in 11 points for Northstar.

David Garnish had a double-double for the Bees, scoring 11 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Tyler Sass added 10 points.

 Mike McInally, a Byron-Bergen grad and current RIT junior was the only Division III grappler to win a state title over this past weekend.

Now, he's won the Empire Conference Wrestler of the Week for the second week in a row and third time this season.

McInally, seeded first at 125 lbs. at the 2009 New York State Championships went 5-0 the weekend. He was the only Division III wrestler to win a championship.  McInally opened Friday's action with a pin over Pete Cole of Alfred State in 1:34, then scored a technical fall victory over Anthony Lebbad of Ithaca, 17-0. McInally advanced to the semifinals after defeating Shawn Haney of Brockport by pin in 3:20. McInally defeated Kyle Gilchrist of Columbia, 6-2 in the semifinals. He defeated #2 Dan Bishop of Buffalo, 3-1 in the championship. McInally is now 22-0 this season and ranked fourth in Division III at 125 lbs. 

McInally is ranked fourth in Division III at 125 pounds, but that bound to change. With a state title and perfect record, he could become on of the top ranked D3 wrestlers.

The Batavian has been all over the Empire State Games problems and recently wrote that the games scheduled to be in Hudson Valley were called off for financial reasons.

We had previously reported that there was plans to cut sports and start charging athletes up to $300 to compete. 

 There is currently an online petition that is being sent to Governor Patterson and Commissioner Ash, trying to bring the games back.

We, the undersigned, believe that canceling the Open, Scholastic and Masters divisions, the Senior Games and the Physically Challenged Games of the Empire State Games is something that needs to be reviewed. We believe that ALL divisions of the Summer Games and Winter Games, along with the entirety of the Senior Games and Games for the Physically Challenged should be reviewed on their merits and what they provide to New Yorkers. 

We have a very good understanding of the economic crisis New York State and the entire country are facing. However, we do not feel that the programs offered through the Empire State Games are a drain on the economy, rather we feel they help increase revenue in the regions where they are held, and they promote a healthy living style to ALL New Yorkers, some of the reasons for this follow. 

The Summer Games as a WHOLE entity brings in $10 to $15 Million to the local economy of the host city. The Winter Games brings in $1.5 Million to Lake Placid. If we add the $10 Million (low end) to the $1.5 million, the State tax on this comes to $460,000 directly back to the State in tax revenue. At a cost to the State of only $2 million, we feel this is a VERY wise investment. The Senior Games are Vital to the health of our maturing population and the Physically Challenged Games are the ONLY avenue these special kids have to participate in. In a time where you, yourself have shown interest in a healthy NY, what better way than these Games? The Masters division and the Senior Games already have a participation fee which should cover most if not all costs associated with their competition. Let the Scholastic, Open and Physically challenged kids continue to be assured a spot in these Games with no fee, to assure NO NEW YORKER IS LEFT OUT due to financial situation. 

In conclusion, we the undersigned, are not asking New York State to reinvest tax dollars in an event which is detrimental to the states long term (or short term) economic future, however, we are asking that someone looks at the WHOLE program called the Empire State Games and truly measures the economic impact these Games have on New York States overall economic plan as well as providing an opportunity for ALL New Yorkers to train and stay healthy. We do hope you will do the right thing here and re-institute these GREAT Games!!

It is great to see that there is a group out there trying save the ESG tradition. 155 people have signed the petition so far, and if you feel inclined to help keep our local athletes competing for Western New York, here is the link to sign the petition.

 The Batavia girls basketball team is 11-1, defeated every Monroe County League team its faced other than Pittsford Mendon, took down every non-league opponent and still is getting no love from the Democrat & Chronicle. 

The new polls are out and still no Blue Devils in the large or small school category for girls basketball. People question Batavia's non-league schedule, yet they have defeated Dansville, which is ranked sixth. They also beat local powerhouse Elba, which received a No. 9 ranking.

Alexander got an honorable mention.

The Batavia boys basketball team is 9-1, and also not ranked. The only loss for the boys was at Pittsford Sutherland, which they will get a chance to avenge next week at home.

We do have a couple of ranked small schools.

Oakfield-Alabama is at No. 7 and Notre Dame is at No. 9. The two battled last night, with the Hornets winning 9-1.

We have tons of schools ranked in the small school category for wrestling.

Attica is having a great season and is currently at No. 3, Holley is No. 6 and Batavia is No. 7.

Wheatland-Chili is ranked eighth for small school swimming.

There is no easy way to put this. The Batavia wrestling team had a 34-23 lead with two matches to go, meaning they could lose the final two by anything less than a pin they win the match.

The Blue Devils received an honorable mention and a victory over Letchworth would have given the team a state ranking.

But the Indians won the final two matches with pins and came away with a 35-34 win, crushing a Batavia team that had came back from a large deficit early on to take the big lead.

Batavia's Garrett Egglebrecht matched up with Letchworth's Anthony Harding at 119 pounds and Egglebrecht fell behind 2-0 early. He trailed 5-0 after two periods, but had not been pinned, even though he was saved by the bell in the second period. But Harding got him on his back in the third period and made the score 34-29.

The Blue Devils had a solid grappler in Will Ely going at 125 pounds, and Letchworth put Austin Hedges out there with him in the final match.

Hedges led 5-0 at one point before Ely battled back to make it 5-4, but was avoiding the pin. Ely was just trying to hang on and take the decision loss, giving his team a victory.

Then, Hedges flipped him and put him on his back, scoring the pin with just 30 seconds left in the match.

Letchworth's big lead had a lot to do with the victory as it was 23-3 before you even knew it.

Batavia started well at 130 pounds with Trey Henderson winning a 10-8 decision over Anthony Harding. But Letchworth's Bucky Hendrickson captured an easy 16-0 win over Joe Muoio.

Mike Nevinger pinned Matt Leaton in 1:08, Frank Day downed Scot Shea in 1:12 and Chris Nevinger dispostd of John Pestillo in 1:33 to give the Indians the huge early lead.

But one of the best wrestling teams in the history of Batavia wasn't going to get crushed. They battled back.

Ryan Darch kicked things off with a 12-3 win over Dave Woolley to start the comeback.

Anthony D'Aurizio followed with an epic battle against a strong Evan Sylor. D'Aurizio nearly had a pin in the second period, but didn't get it and had a 7-2 advantage after two frames. Sylor scored some late points, but D'Aurizio walked away with a 9-6 victory.

Darch and D'Aurizio are two of Batavia's top grapplers and if either would have had a pin, the dramatics at the end would not have been an issue. So while both picked up victories, a few more points from either one of those two could have been huge, something coach Rick Stewart hopes his team learns come sectional time - every point matters.

Troy Ireland scored a pin and then Dylan Goodsell pinned Cody Waite with just 14 seconds left in the match. After Josh Mase took care of his opponent in 32 seconds and Nick Lazaroni had a pin in 54 seconds, Batavia was up 34-23.

That was before the Indians had the final two pins for the shocking victory.

It's time to sign up for the Batavia Youth Wrestling Clinic.

The Blue Devils are having an amazing season and the program is on the verge of becoming a powerhouse program. Now is the time for the kids to get involved and start learning.

The sign-ups are on Thursday from 5-7:30 p.m. at Batavia High School, and is for kids ages 5-11 in the Batavia public schools. 

The cost is just $10 and includes a t-shirt and an entree into the tournament.

Practices are on Sunday from 2-4 p.m. and Thursday from 7-8:30 p.m. in the auxillary gym. 

Kids will receive direct instruction from head coach Rick Stewart as well as assistants Ken Darch, Vinny Romanatto, Kelly Boyle and Rich Lovria.

For questions or concerns, please contact coach Rick Stewart at 409-1742.

 The Attica wrestling program is definitely one of the tops in the area, and they flexed their muscles yesterday at the 34th annual Robert Bradshaw Memorial Invitational Saturday.

The tournament didn't wrap up until 10 p.m. last night, but Attica wound up on top of the team standings, finishing ahead of many of the biggest and best schools from in and out of Section 5.

Bradshaw Top 20

Attica, 187
Rush-Henrietta, 174
Northport, 165.5 
Queensbury, 145
Batavia, 140.5
Guilderland, 130
Canandaigua, 129
Churchville-Chili, 119
Brockport, 117.5
Greene, 108
Newark, 95
Gates Chili, 78
Geneva, 71
Irondequoit, 68
Byron-Bergen, 67
Webster Schroeder, 67
Bishop Kearney, 66.5
Palmyra-Macedon, 66
Waterloo, 62
Livonia, 56

“We were hoping to pick up a top five,” head coach Eric Romesser told the Daily Messanger, “but I didn’t expect to win. I’m happy to squeak it out.”

Lance Compton surprised everybody and won the 125-pound weight class and sectional contender Luke Pariso surprised nobody with a 171-pound title, beating Byron-Bergen's Zack Green 9-0 in the finals. Vinnie Napierski and Doug Beitz had second place finishes.

Batavia also had a champion in Ryan Darch, who beat his teammate Troy Ireland 6-1 in the finals.

You can see the complete results here. 

 The Section 5 rankings were just released and we have several local individuals that are ranked high in their perspective weight classes.

Batavia's Ryan Darch is the top ranked grappler at 160 pounds and Pembroke's Graham Jensen is tops at 189 pounds.

There are many others ranked in the top five in Section 5 through the different weight classes, which can be checked out here. 

 How close is Genesee Region League girls basketball?

Pretty close.

Both Pembroke and Byron-Bergen have solid squads, but the Bees improve to 5-4 with a 49-47 win over the Dragons, who fall to 5-3.

The game was within five points the entire way, with Pembroke missing a pair of shots to win at the end.

Mary Cocking led Byron-Bergen with 16 points with Rory Partridge chipping in eight

Nicole Sharick led the Dragons with 10 points, six boards and four steals. Kelsey Lewis also had 10 points and Jackie Dubois dished out five dimes.

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Geneseo flat out shocked Elba 40-36.

The Lancers are highly ranked in the state and came into the game 7-1. But it was Geneseo that jumped out to a 5-2 first quarter lead and held on the rest of the way.

Kat Olverd scored 14 points with five dimes and hit the critical shot, a 3-pointer with two minutes left that gave Geneseo an eight point advantage.

Katie Dewar had three points with eight rebounds.

Nobody took over the scoring for the Lancers, with Sarah Schwartzmeyer leading the way with just nine points. Cassy Engle and Julie Webster had seven points apiece.

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Julie Brooks had a huge game for the Hawks as Holley beat Attica 38-23.

Brooks dropped in 20 points with 16 rebounds and four steals. Sh was helped out by Emily Troupe, who had 10 points.

Margaret LaFleur had 10 points for the Blue Devils.

Holley is now 2-5.

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Batavia wrestling continues to win.

The Blue Devils thumped East Irondquoit/Eastridge 72-6 and are now 14-5.

Scott Shea, Troy Ireland, Ryan Darch, Anthony D'Aurizio, Josh Mase, Will Ely, Trey Hendersonm Matt Leaton and Joe Muoio all had wins for  Batavia.

 The newest team rankings are out for the New York Sportswriters Association and there are some intriguing choices. 

While Section 5 is well represented, Warsaw is 15-3 and ranked eighth while Waverly of Section 4 is the top small school with a 7-4 record.

Attica is 16th at 9-9, Letchworth is 21st (13-5) and Holley comes in at 25th (17-5). I would think that the history Holley has would get the squad a higher ranking.

And how does Batavia get just an honorable mention? The Blue Devils are loaded with sectional contenders and just went 6-3 in the Brett D. Dixon Memorial.

 We don't do a lot on Warsaw here at The Batavian, but I must congratulate one of the most classy athletes I've covered in my years of local sports journalism.

Warsaw's Ian Paddock pinned Spencerport's Roy Daniels in just 50 seconds in the second round of the Teike-Bernabi Tournament, making some serious history.

The three-time state champion tied the state's all-time record for wins. He jumped one ahead of Webster Schroeder's Gregor Gillespie - another stud grappler - for career wins at  No. 239. That is the largest amount of victories anybody has had in Section 5.

"It's a pretty good feeling, and it's a nice record to hold because there were a bunch of good wrestlers before me who held the mark," Paddock told the Democrat & Chronicle. 

Paddock has gone 25-0 so far this year, was 53-1 last year and has compiled an insanely impressive 239-6 record seventh-grade.

Ian broke the school record of 235 earlier in the year, a mark that was originally set by his brother Paul.

Ian will be wrestling for Division I powerhouse Ohio State next year on a full ride.

He is continuing his run in the Teike-Bernabi Tournament at Spencerport today. Paddock will be honored in a ceremony before the final round today.

 Tate Westermeier continues to be one of the top guards in the Genesee Region League, and he delivered a huge win for his Attica boys basketball team over their biggest league rival, Alexander.

Westermeier scored 10 of his game-high 21 points in the first quarter and added 6 rebounds in the game as the Blue Devils won 42-36.

The win helps Attica improve to 3-0 in the league - keeping them right with Oakfield-Alabama at the top of Division I - and 4-2 overall.

Craig Wolfley added eight points for Attica.

Troy Shulnut led the Trojans (2-4) with eight points, with Kyle Woodruff and Andy Bittner adding six each.

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Pat O'Keefe dropped in 15 of his game-high 27 points in the fourth quarter as Pittsford Sutherland outscored Batavia 25-17 to take home a 69-57 win.

Wayne Dillworth had 12 boards and eight assists to go with his four points and Dylan Sherwood added 20 points for Sutherland (4-0).

Andrew Hoy had 24 points and Josh Budlong added 11 for the Blue Devils, who fall to 4-1.

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The Lancers gave Notre Dame its stiffest test of the season so far, but the Fighting Irish still came away with an impressive 65-41 win on the road.

Kevin Francis had 20 points and Matt Thompson added 12, including three 3-pointers in the second quarter as the Fighting Irish had a 22-11 advantage.

Gregg Barr added 10 points for Notre Dame (3-0).

Phil Ostroski had 12 points and Sonny Giuliano added nine points with eight boards for the Lancers (2-3).

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Brian Mitchell guided his Holley basketball team to its first victory of the season with 24 points and four blocked shots, giving the Hawks a 50-36 victory over Byron-Bergen.

John Wharram and Chad Barhytt did the work on the boards, grabbing 10 rebounds apiece.

Kurtis Fannon had 11 points for the Bees (1-4).

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In what Batavia coach Rick Stewart called the battle for the league title, his Blue Devils fell short.

Brighton beat host Batavia 35-28 in Batavia to knock the Blue Devils out of the ranks of the unbeatens.

Josh Mase, Nick Lazarony, Joe Muoio, Troy Ireland, Anthony D'Aurizio and Ryan Darch had the Batavia wins, but it wasn't enough.

I just stumbled upon something that might be of interest to local wrestlers, who are looking to peak before sectionals.

Keith Lowrance, one of the top wrestling coaches in the country, will be hosting a clinic in Brockport on Sunday, Dec. 21.

The cost is $75 per wrestler and appears to be well worth it when you see Lowrance's resume.

• Granby State Champion
• Two-time Big Ten Champion
• Two-time All-American
• Coached State Champion teams at Granby and Kempsville High Schools
• Virginia and National Coach of the Year
• Record 271-33-2
• Coached 35 State Champions, 102 Place-winners
• Several High School and College All-Americans
• Produced the nationally renowned Granby System Videos

 For the second straight year, the Batavia wrestling team won its own Christmas Tournament.

The Blue Devils scored 186 points to easily down second-place finisher Fulton, which had 164.5 points.

Nick Lazarony (135 pounds), Ryan Darch (160), Anthony D'Aurizio (171) and Dylan Goodsell (285) all had victories for the Blue Devils.

 Daily News sportswriter Alanna Stage previews all of the local wrestling tournaments this weekend on the Daily's Web site today.

Batavia will be hosting its 35th Christmas Tournament and is looking to repeat after winning it for the first time in 16 years last season.

Attica hosts the 2nd annual Sgt. Richard Romesser Attica Blue Devils Dual Meet Challenge. Nine teams will compete in a dual-meet, round-robin style tournament.

Holley swept the Holley Team Tournament last year and has won the tournament 13 out of 15 times.