SOURCE: www.monroecopost.com

March 07, 2001

Gillespie takes third at state championships
Webster Post
March 07, 2001

Full Text: Copyright 2001 Webster Post.
Reproduced with the permission of Messenger Post Newspapers.

State championships are usually dominated by the grizzled veterans of high school sports the upperclassmen.

Webster eighth-grader Gregor Gillespie traveled to the state wrestling tournament last weekend in Syracuse hoping to disprove that trend. Gillespie demonstrated his mettle against New York s finest at the Onondaga War Memorial with a third-place finish at 96 pounds.

That performance was the best turned in by a Webster wrestler since Justin Giffi finished second in 1999 and the highest a Webster eighth grader has ever placed.

Gillespie opened the tournament with a third-period pin of Sweet Home s (Section 6) Andrew Stella. Gillespie was winning 11-0 at the time of the fall.

He advanced to the quarterfinals, where he met up with the state s top-ranked 96-pounder Chittenango Falls Troy Nickerson (Section 4). Nickerson won 4-1. He earned a first-period takedown to take a 2-0 lead but was penalized one point in the second period for locking his hands.

Nickerson pulled off a reversal in the third period and rode Gillespie out to secure the win. He would go on to win the championship.

He rode Gregor s legs very well, said Webster coach Dean Salvaggio of Nickerson. When a kid does that it s difficult to score. It s just something we ll have to work on for next year.

Gillespie did not quit there, however, defeating Hicksville s (Section 8) Matt Anglin 7-1 in the first round of wrestlebacks. He then garnered his most important victory of the two-day affair, when he earned a 4-2 overtime victory over Tom Finnerty (Section 11) in the wrestleback quarterfinals.

Gillespie, after coming up empty on two quality shots in the first round, attempted a third which was repulsed by Finnerty and reversed, giving Finnerty a 2-0 lead heading into the second period.

Gillespie rode Finnerty out for the entire second period before earning a reversal 40 seconds into the third period to knot the score at two. He then proceeded to ride Finnerty out for the remainder of the third period.

Gillespie took Finnerty down in the overtime period to secure the victory.

That was awesome, Salvaggio commented. It was a make it-or-break it match for both kids. They knew that if they were to place at states they had to move on.

Gillespie advanced to the finals when Section 1 s Michael Savin was forced to forfeit in the semifinals. He then topped Morrisville-Eaton s Paul LeBlanc 6-2 in the consolation finals. LeBlanc s lone points came late in the third period when Gillespie was willing to give up a pair of points in an effort to avoid a large swing in the momentum.

While Salvaggio knows what an outstanding accomplishment placing at the states is, he is also cognizant of Gillespie s situation.

Going to states and placing at states is a huge confidence-builder, he said. But just as I tell all my other wrestlers, you have to work out, lift weights and get stronger for the following season.

That is especially true in Gillespie s case. This year s 96-pound state championship field featured a stacked crop of five eighth-graders, one freshman, four sophomores and one junior.

He s going to start seeing tough, experienced seniors at 103 and 112 pounds if he keeps growing, said Salvaggio. And it s going to be twice as hard to place at 103 and 112 pounds then. We can t take it for granted that we ll get back to this point in the tougher and older classes.

Gillespie finished the season with a record of 41-3. He was one win shy of tying the school record.