New York State Wrestling Championships

Varsity Wrestling Tournament
@ Onondaga County War Memorial (Syracuse, NY)
Friday & Saturday, March 3-4, 2000

Final Results

No amount of consolation enough; Section V shut out of finals
By BOB CHAVEZ, Staff Writer
Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester, NY
Sunday, March 5, 2000
 

Full Text: Copyright © 2000 Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
Reproduced with the permission of Gannett Company Inc.

SYRACUSE - No matter whose hand was there to shake or whose ear was there to listen, the void could not be filled.

To be sure, the silence was stunning.

Not since 1968 have the Section V wrestlers known this degree of frustration, because that was the last time the section was shut out of the championship round of the New York State High School Wrestling Championships.

It happened this weekend and it troubled the local contingent.

"It's very disappointing," said Shawn Hibbs, a Spencerport senior who won a state title last year at 103 pounds. "I came here to win it, not to place sixth. But I guess I'll take it."

Section V produced two third-place finishers, Paul Forte of Pittsford at 119 pounds and Dave Leitten of Warsaw at 275. Hilton's Pat Hanscomb (135), Campbell-Savona's Joe Scolaro (140) and Rush-Henrietta's Geoff Selleck (152) all placed fourth in the 38th annual tournament.

Attica's Josh Miller finished fifth in the 145-pound bracket and perhaps the biggest surprise of all was Hibbs' sixth-place finish at 103 pounds.

"Everything was against me," said Hibbs, who lost 3-1 in a semifinal match to Pat Flynn of Huntington-Section II. "Last year, I got all the good calls. This year, the calls were against me."

Spencerport coach Bill Jacatout sensed the absence of a rhythm.

"He was a little off, out of syn," said Jacatout. "He was just missing an ingredient."

Jacatout will not, however, fault the effort of the wrestlers.

"I don't think our kids didn't wrestle hard," he said. "We just lost some close matches. There's some luck involved, too.

"But there's something to be said for making your own luck and there were occasions where we didn't do that."

Forte, like the others, admitted it was difficult to motivate himself for a third-place match, but the junior made sure he ended his season on a positive note.

He pinned Rob Sckalor (Monroe Woodbury-IX) in 2:38.

"He shot in with his elbows out and I hit him with a whip-over," said Forte, who lost a quarterfinal match Friday night and had to wrestle three times yesterday.

"I just wanted to go right after him. Get on and off the mat as fast as I could."

Hanscomb lost in yesterday's semifinal, but wrestled his way back to the third-place match where he lost to Bill Morello of Lockport-IV, 11-3.

"I wanted to control him, but he's so short and has a low center of gravity," the senior said. "I wanted to get in the top four and I did that, so I'm happy. Many kids don't even get here, much less place."

Scolaro lost his semifinal match, 13-5, then lost to Matt Herrington (LaSalle-II) in the third-place match, 9-2.

Miller lost in the quarterfinals Friday night, but posted two wins before a loss to Zach Taber (LaSalle-II) put him in the fifth-place bout. There, Miller scored a 6-3 win over Ryan Pullman (New Paltz-IX).

Selleck fell in the semifinals, then lost a heartbreaker, 1-0, to Nick Rausenberger (Newburgh Free Academy-IX) in the third-place match.

Leitten dropped a tough 3-2 decision in his semifinal match, but won an exhilarating 10-7 shootout against Craig Johnson (Vestal-IV) for third place.

"It's comforting," he said, also admitting the disappointment of not coming home with a title. "When I lost, I didn't want to come back, but my coaches pushed me."

How about the intensity of the final seconds, when Johnson's escape cut your lead to 8-7?

"He escaped and I knew he was going to dive down and I just stepped to the side," said Leitten of how he set up the easy takedown that ensured the victory.

Still, the enthusiasm was stifled because Section V's absence from the final round was a tough pill to swallow.

"I think we expected more, but we just didn't have it," said Rush-Henrietta coach Mickey Marlowe.

"I started sensing after the semifinals that things weren't going our way," said Jacatout. "Not that our kids weren't trying, we were just out of sync."

Results
Championship winners and Section V finishers.
96 pounds: Rob Vaccaro (Section XI). Peter Flint (Warsaw) lost in first round.
103: Pat Flynn (XI). Fifth place: Matt Stuart (Colonie-II) dec. Shawn Hibbs (Spencerport), 7-4.
112: Lucas Magnani (CHSAA). Trevor Chinn (Canandaigua) lost in first round.
119: Dustin Winn (IV). Third place: Troy Forte (Pittsford) pins Rob Sckalor (Monroe Woodbury-IX).
125: Chris Trombley. Aaron Hillyard (Sodus) lost in quarterfinals.
130: Josh Ruff (IV). T.R. Chinn (Canandaigua) lost in quarterfinals.
135: Mike Torriero (XI. Third place: Bill Morello (Lockport-VI) dec. Pat Hanscomb (Hilton), 11-3.
140: Ryan Maurer (XI. Third place: Matt Herrington (LaSalle-II) dec. Joe Scolaro (Campbell-Savona), 9-2.
145: Jesse Jantzen (XI). Fifth place: Ryan Pullman (New Paltz-IX) dec. Josh Miller (Attica), 6-3.
152: Joe Mazzuro (I). Third place: Nick Rausenberger (Newburgh Free Academy-IX) dec. Geoff Selleck (Rush-Henrietta), 1-0.
160: Jack Piana (XI). Dan Chase (Rush-Henrietta) lost in quarterfinals.
171: Bill Prince (VI). Zach Lehman (Brighton) lost in quarterfinals.
189: Matt Daddino (VIII. Andy Kay (Canandaigua) lost in first round.
215: Dan Sable (XI). Jon Smyth (Greece Athena) lost in quarterfinals.
275: Matt Tarullo (II). Third place: Dave Leitten (Warsaw) dec. Craig Johnson (Vestal-IV), 10-7.