SOURCE: www.buffalonews.com

February 26, 2004

By Keith McShea, News Sports Reporter
Buffalo News
February 26, 2004

When a crowd of thousands enters the University at Buffalo's Alumni Arena for the state wrestling championships this weekend, it'll have double the fun.

As the 42nd state finals make just their second appearance in Western New York and first since being held at Niagara University in 1967, the tournament will have a brand-new look: large and small school championships being held side-by-side.

Since 1974, the tournament had been held in Syracuse, where capacity crowds of 7,500 routinely filled the Onondaga War Memorial to watch one champion be determined in each of the 15 weight classes.

"It's very electric -- you come to the end of a long hard season and you've climbed to the top of a very difficult mountain," Lancaster coach Dennis Beck said of the championship atmosphere. "It's very loud and exciting. Now, you have twice as many kids there, so more people are going to be coming. On Saturday night, I think the place is going to be really rocking."

Saturday's 5 p.m. championship session will have the Division I (large school) and Division II (small school) finals going on at the same time, just as the Section VI championships were conducted last weekend.

Some coaches, however, are disappointed with the new format. The New York State Wrestling Coaches Association is campaigning to change the state meet for 2006, when the current two-class system expires. The two-class tournament was created to increase the number of wrestlers who were able to advance to states.

Until this year, each section sent one champion to the state tournament. The coaches' proposed format would return to the one-meet championship, with each section receiving multiple bids to the tournament based on population. Most sections (including Section VI) would send their top three wrestlers.

The proposal will be reviewed at a state wrestling committee meeting in May, when the larger-scale championships can be reviewed. UB (and coach Jim Biechner, who finished in the state's top five for three straight years at Cassadaga Valley) won the right to host this year's meet due to its size: a floor with six mats, a separate warm-up area (the Arena's triple gym) and a capacity of 8,500. Next year's tournament is set for Albany's Pepsi Arena, which holds about 14,000 spectators for hockey games.

"There's still some grumbling here and there about having one state champion," said Mike Debarbieri of Portville, a co-chairman of Section VI wrestling. "The only thing to do is wait and see how it runs and see people's reaction."

Among Western New York's 35 representatives competing this weekend, only six have experience in the state championships, with just one of those competing in Division II. Brandon Monin (140-pound class) of Lancaster is in his third straight tournament, while Justin Walp of Lewiston-Porter (112) and Southwestern's Kane Smith (189 in Division II) are making back-to-back trips. Andrew Stella (125) of Sweet Home is making his third trip to states after missing last year's tournament. State Catholic champions Mike Rozborski (130) of St. Joe's and Vinny DeMarco (145) of St. Francis also return.

Seven returning state champions will be in action, including five from Section IV (Binghamton area). Junior Troy Nickerson of Chenango Forks is seeking his fourth straight championship and is ranked first in the country at 119 by most national wrestling publications. Chris Hand of Whitney Point (171) is seeking his third straight state title, while Tyler Mumbolo (112) of Bainbridge-Guilford/Afton, J.P. O'Connor of Oxford (119) and Arthur Jones of Union-Endicott (275) are going for two in a row. Section V returns undefeated champions Trevor Chinn (a 145-pound senior from Canandaigua who is making his fifth trip to states) and Webster Schroeder junior Gregor Gillespie (130).