GLENS FALLS -Amsterdam wrestlers Marcus Torres and Chris Garrison, along with Galway’s Dillan Palaszewski, advanced through the Section II competition and into the championship round Sunday at the Glens Falls Civic Center.
Only Palaszewski was able to punch his ticket to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships Feb. 26-27 at the Times Union Center in Albany.
Palaszewski (39-2), a sophomore, decisioned Hudson Falls’ Connor Paige (23-6) 4-1 in the title bout to claim the 120-pound championship.
Torres (38-5) advanced to the Division I 195-pound championship match with a 5-1 decision over Shenendehowa’s Dustin Bruhns (43-0).
Torres’ championship bid came up short as he suffered a knee injury early in the match, giving Columbia’s Dylan Dubuque the 195- pound championship by injury default.
Garrison (37-7) advanced to the 285-pound title match with a 1-0 decision over Saratoga’s Spencer Wickert in the semifinals.
Matching up against Jake Warren (43-7) of Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake for the 285-pound title, Garrison came up short as Warren recorded a 10-2 major decision to advance to the state championships.
Also advancing to Sunday’s Division I (large school) semifinals from Saturday’s preliminary bouts were Amsterdam’s Daniel Montalvo and Nelson Quinones, while Galway’s Dillan Palaszewski reached the Division II (small school) semifinals.
Montalvo fell to eventual 106-pound champion Michael Gonyea of Columbia by fall in 1:14. Montalvo recovered to decision Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake’s Sam Lindberg 7-4 and Saratoga’s Ryan Encarnacion 14-11 to place third in the weight class and finish his freshman season with a 23-13 record.
Quinones (27-16) fell to Dubuque in the 195-pound semifinals and defeated Schenectady’s Neil Perreira 3-2 in wrestlebacks. Bruhns slipped past Quinones with a 3-2 decision in the consolation final.
The Rams’ Jake Rodecker (23-15) lost his 182-pound quarterfinal match against CBA A.J. Groesbeck 6-4, before fighting back through wrestlebacks to reach the consolation final where Burnt Hills-Ballston Lakes Brandon Barbagelata (36-13) recorded a pinfall in 3:25 to claim third place.
Francisco Alejandro also earned a podium finish for Amsterdam with his sixth-place finish at 220.
Amsterdam finished seventh in the Division I team scoring with 90.50 points. Shenendehowa won the team title with 209.5 points.
In Division II, Johnstown’s Josh LaLonde (31-7) fell in his 182-pound quarterfinal match on Saturday but returned Sunday to record a 12-7 decision over Lansingburg’s Jason Wheeler and pinned Coxsackie-Athens’ Zach Peterson and to advance to the consolation final where he pinned Salem’s Matt Reedy in 44 seconds to take home third-place honors.
In the Division II 126-pound bracket, Fonda-Fultonville freshman Clane Newcomer (18-16) earned a podium finish with his sixth-place finish.
Galway finished 20th in the Division II team standings with 40 points, while Johnstown was 23rd with 18 and Fonda-Fultonville placed 26th with 6.5. Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk edged Duanesburg 129-117 to win the Division II team title.
