Cover photo images courtesy of Jeff Pataky
The new high school wrestling season is finally here with the first day of official practice in New York State kicking things off on Monday, November 18th. 103 days separate the first day of practice and the final day of the season on Saturday, March 1st, 2025, the end of a three day NYS wrestling championships bonanza in downtown Albany. The very first NYSPHSAA Girls Wrestling Championships will be contested on Thursday, February 27th, followed by the 62nd boys’ NYSPHSAA Federation Wrestling Championships on Friday, February 28th and Saturday, March 1st.
2024 NYSPHSAA federation tournament opening ceremony // Pataky
After previously receiving fully recognized, sanctioned status, NYS girls high school wrestling received NYSPHSAA Executive Committee approval to adopt USA Wrestling Junior Rules for Freestyle at the October 24th Committee meeting. Simply put – girls will wrestle freestyle this season, not the ‘modified’ version from a season ago. Meanwhile, the New York State Wrestling Officials Association (NYSWOA) has been hard at work statewide to get its referees trained on freestyle rules & procedures. Also of importance for girls wrestling as it relates to the state tournament, the Central Committee approved an Automatic Qualifier System to complete each 16-wrestler bracket in Albany.
2024 NYSPHSAA girls' wrestling invitational opening ceremony // Pataky
The postseason individual championships will be totally new this season as the section has decided to eliminate the four class tournaments for at least this season and 2025-2026. The Class AA, A, B, and C/D tournaments have been contested annually to serve as qualifiers for the divisional championships and as a final team competition of the season amongst schools of similar BEDS size.
For the upcoming postseason, the Section VI Division I and II Championships will be ‘open’ formatted, double elimination tournaments where each team is allowed to enter a wrestler at each of the thirteen weight classes and up to fifteen wrestlers maximum. At weights where a team double enters, both wrestlers must have a .500 or better record as well as the standard required minimum of six varsity contests. The true second place and auto-qualifier procedures for advancement to the NYS tournament will still apply in this format. Also, team score will be kept with teams broken out by class (AA, A, B, C/D) so team-class champions will still be awarded.
The Section VI Division I and II Championships are scheduled for Saturday, February 15th and Sunday, February 16th, both at Fredonia State College.
Portville head coach Ryan Theirman gives instructions at the 2024 Class C/D championships // Pataky
After a handful of teams joined (or rejoined) the ranks of active scholastic boys’ wrestling programs in WNY last winter, two programs will make such jumps this season as Health Sciences/Buffalo Academy of Science Charter School and the long awaited return of Williamsville East will host their own teams again this season.
Health Sciences Charter School raised a team in time to compete in the 2019-2020 wrestling season, albeit an ‘introductory’ style season, but the efforts of principal Robert Baxter, who helped lead the effort to raise the team, were greatly impacted by complications from the pandemic. HSCS/BASCS are classified in B and will wrestle an independent schedule throughout the regular season this winter.
East, who last fielded its own team in 2016-2017, has wrestled as a combined squad with Williamsville North, since then seeing good participation and a number of sectional place winners hailing from Paradise Road. An effort to resurrect the solo Flames team around the 2020-2021 school year was unfortunately thwarted by the pandemic. In July 2024, the district hired 2018 North graduate and Mercyhurst University wrestling alumnus Vinny Catanzaro to be the next head coach of East Wrestling. The Flames will rejoin the ECIC immediately competing in the ECIC II division and are in Class A with 2024-2025 BEDS of 696 students.
Meanwhile, thirteen schools have decided to make the jump to host girls’ wrestling teams starting this winter. Please make sure to welcome Lafayette/Buffalo Public Schools, North Tonawanda, Olean, CSAT, East Aurora, Falconer, Eden, Medina, Akron, Newfane, Southwestern, Salamanca, and Frewsburg to the mats this season. The total number of girls teams is now up to twenty-three in WNY.
After achieving a state tournament milestone at the 2024 NYSPHSAA championships of two straight top-5 sectional finishes for both the Section VI Division I and II teams, the section was unable to make it three in a row as the Division I squad placed lower than it hoped for at 9th in the final team standings. Meanwhile, the Division II team surged to a 3rd place finish for its highest placement since taking 2nd in 2018.
The 2024-2025 Section VI Division I states team will have, yet again, big shoes to fill as nearly half of the 2023-2024 sectional place winners graduated in the spring as 33 of the 78 were seniors. Out of the nine Section VI large school NYS place winners last season, six were lost at graduation. And, of the twenty-six 2024 state tournament qualifiers, twelve have since graduated including seven of the thirteen 2024 sectional champions. Additionally, two Section VI Division I place winners departed for the Msgr. Martin High School Athletic Association including the defending 101-pound champion.
Despite the heavy losses at graduation, doom and gloom should not be in the forecast for the Section VI large school race and state team. Of the returning twelve qualifiers, six are now seniors including returning placers AJ Didas from Clarence (8th, 138) and Mike Welsh from Frontier (7th, 285) while the remaining six are underclassmen.
Clarence's Didas // Pataky
While defending Section VI Duals and Class A champion Niagara Wheatfield leads the area with eleven returning class place winners and nine divisional placers, six more schools return seven class place winners with six more returning five to six apiece which suggests that Section VI Duals qualification and league dual meet races could be very competitive amongst the large school field again.
In Section VI Division II, the graduation losses weren’t nearly as damaging as the Division I side as only 25 of the 78 divisional place winners graduated to include five Section VI champions & state place winners and ten state qualifiers. Only 19 of 78 Class B placers and 21 of 78 Class C/D place winners graduated.
The 2023-2024 Division II states team placed a three year high of seventeen wrestlers in Albany, ten of whom will return this winter. Where the section will lose some firepower is with a pair of defending state finalists who will compete in the MMHSAA this season. Out of those ten returning athletes, remarkably eight of them are seniors led by returning finalists Jacob Stephenson (160-pounds) from Wilson and Mason Maring (215) from Chautauqua Lake as well as bronze winners Carmine Calimeri from Southwestern (131) and Hamza Merrick from Wilson (285). Don’t lose sight of Newfane senior and University at Buffalo commit Aidan Gillings, a returning NYS 8th place winner with four podium finishes in Albany as well as an Eastern States placement going into his senior campaign.
Newfane's Gillings // Pataky
What Section VI Division II wrestling offered in individual talent last winter, overall team depth wasn’t what it traditionally has been in recent years. Chautauqua Lake ran away with both the Section VI Dual Meet and Class B titles behind nine class placers, six divisional placers, four state qualifiers, and two NYS place winners. To start off the new season, Chautauqua Lake as well as CCAA I arch rival Falconer and north country rival Newfane all return seven placers from their respective classes with four sectional placers for C’Lake and Falconer and three for the Panthers. Pioneer, Portville, and Lackawanna all return six class placers followed by half a dozen more teams with five such athletes. With so many returning wrestlers and the relatively low losses at graduation, perhaps the small school team dual landscape in Section VI could experience a revival of depth that seemed to be missing in 2023-2024.
Section VI Division I and II will both enjoy two automatic qualifiers again this season. Division I didn’t move up or down in the power point rankings amongst the other nine sections after last season, but Division II moved up by one spot after the teams’ 3rd place finish in Albany. Of note, check out Section 11 big schools who dropped from three qualifiers to two…a very rare occurrence for perhaps the state’s most storied wrestling region.
2024-2025 NYSPHSAA Wrestling Championships Auto Qualifier table
Table courtesy of NYSWC 5/8/2024 minutes
Msgr. Martin wrestlers helped the NYS Catholic High School Athletic Association (CHSAA) team to a back-to-back 6th place finish in the NYSPHSAA Division I Wrestling Championships last winter as the league accounted for six of the thirteen CHSAA titles, all of whom reached the podium in Albany. It was the combined best performance at the federation tournament in league history as MMHSAA also saw its first pair of NYS finalists in then-sophomores Griffin LaPlante and Zach Caldwell from St. Francis. The Red Raiders finished 3rd overall in the large school individual team standings to cap off a historic season in which they posted a 25-3 dual record, earned a 2nd place team finish at the rugged Eastern States Classic, and captured Msgr. Martin and CHSAA dual meet honors.
Of the 65 Msgr. Martin All-Catholic Championships place winners from a year ago, only fourteen graduated which suggests the 2024-2025 tournament could be one of the more competitive All-Catholic’s in recent seasons. Seven of those seniors were CHSAA place winners with three NYS federation placers.
St. Mary’s junior Quinn Martin // Pataky
Overall, the league will feature nine returning CHSAA place winners with five hailing from St. Francis, three from St. Joe’s, and one from St. Mary’s. Of these nine wrestlers, only ‘Joe’s Aidan Schenk is a senior, which suggests the best may still be yet to come for the league at large.
St. Joe’s head coach Pete Kennedy (l) and assistant coach Taylor Golba ( r) // Pataky
As if the riches couldn’t be sweeter for St. Francis with five returning CHSAA placers, three champs, three federation placers, and a pair of state finalists, the Red Raiders added another pair of elite wrestlers for the 2024-2025 school year in juniors Tavio Hoose and William Wortkoetter, both returning NYS finalists representing Section VI. Also incoming are 2024 Section VI champion Tanner Catrabone (9th), sectional place winner Zak Massaro (10th), and a handful of other talented wrestlers from around the WNY region. Simply put, new head coach Ron Lorenz and the staff at St. Francis have an opportunity to field a historically good Red Raiders team both this season, and next.
St. Francis assistant coach Steve Hart (l) and Lorenz ( r) // Pataky
Finally, NYS public school female wrestlers will have a chance to compete for sanctioned NYS championships this winter with the very first NYSPHSAA Girls Wrestling Championships slated for late February in Albany.
Thirty-one Section VI athletes represented the area at the 2nd NYSPHSAA Girls Wrestling Invitational last January, nine of whom placed in the top-6 of their brackets. Now two-time Invitational champion Gabriella Barone (9th) from Niagara Wheatfield again led the locals while a pair of runners-up in Alexa Doxey (9th) from Newfane and Michaela Thomas (11th) from Iroquois helped Section VI to another very strong showing in Syracuse. Lockport’s Ava Bragg (3rd, 11th grade), Chautauqua Lake's Noli Paddock (9th), Frontier’s Avery White (5th, 12th grade), and Lake Shore’s Alexiya Thuman (6th, 12th grade) also return with Invitational place finishes looking to reach the first state championships this season.
Frontier’s White // Pataky
More details of the Section VI girls’ state championship qualifier will emerge as the season progresses, however the first Section VI Championships and state tournament qualifier is scheduled for Friday, February 14th at Sweet Home HS. All thirteen sectional champions will automatically qualify for the state tournament. The NYS Girls Wrestling Committee has laid out an Automatic Qualifier proposal to fill the brackets at the state championships whereas most sections will take both their champion and many of their runners-up. The proposed auto-qualifier allocations for Section VI are the runners-up at the following weights in addition to the champions:
94, 100, 126, 132, 138, 145, 152, 165, 185
Additionally, as more girls’ teams emerge, keep an eye on their schedules for dual meet events; WNY girls teams contested nearly 40 all-girls dual meets a season ago, a mile marker that may very well be shattered this winter.
Chautauqua Lake wrestlers // Pataky
New scoring
Get ready to yell ‘THREE!’ for takedowns this winter as NFHS announced this new scoring methodology in August that was quickly adopted by NYSPHSAA. Along with the three point takedown are new near fall scoring and out of bounds procedures. Two points will be awarded for two count near falls, three points for three counts, and now four points for four count near falls. Additionally, wrestlers will be considered in bounds when only one point of contact between the two wrestlers is within the 28-foot circle instead of two points of contact.
For more information, please follow the link below:
2024 NYS wrestling boys’ weights
101, 108, 116, 124, 131, 138, 145, 152, 160, 170, 190, 215, 285
And as always, the 2-pound growth allowance goes into effect after December 25th. These weight classes are unchanged from the 2023-2024 season. Additionally, the minimum weights are still in effect for only 7th and 8th graders at the two lightest and two heaviest weight classes: 93-pounds to qualify for 101, 98 for 108, and 180-pounds for 215, 210 for 285. Minimum Wrestling Weight, the 1.5% descent plan, and no honor weigh ins are still all in effect.
2024 NYS wrestling girls’ weights
94, 100, 107, 114, 120, 126, 132, 138, 145, 154, 165, 185, 235
It is important to note that the girls wrestling program along the lines of these weights is not subject to the 1.5% plan that NYS boys wrestling abides by. However, the 2-pound growth allowance does apply to all girls’ weights after December 25th.
Division, Class, and League changes
For once, very few changes should be expected in the section in regard to team alignments. With the addition of Williamsville East back to the ranks, Class AA and Class A are evened out with ten teams in each. With the merger, the combined Williamsville North/East team was the second ‘biggest’ school-team by BEDS in Class AA, now, North will reside as the ‘smallest’ of the AA programs…with a 930 BEDS total.
Class A, which only had eight teams a season ago, will benefit not only from East but Williamsville South who are back over the 600 student cutoff number between large and small schools after competing last postseason in Class B, Division II.
With Alden intending to compete in the postseason now in the program’s second season back on the mats and Tonawanda dropping from B, the C/D field will feature seventeen teams while the loss of the Billies and the Timberwolves (Tonawanda’s new mascot) puts the Class B field at sixteen teams.
In the ECIC, each of the three league divisions are once again populated by eight squads for the first time since the 2018-2019 season which will result in seven league duals for everyone. Williamsville East will jump right into league play in ECIC II while Alden will rejoin the conference in ECIC III this winter. On the top end, Sweet Home will bump back into ECIC I for the first time in ten years.
Iroquois and Pioneer have once again ‘flip flopped’ positions in the ECIC with Iroquois bumping up to II while Pioneer drops back to III. This has been a common trend in recent years for both squads as the schools have nearly identical BEDS. NYSPHSAA has the Iroquois BEDS for this school year at 491, just ahead of Pioneer with 482.
2023-2024 final WNY Athletics dual team power rankings
Large schools
1. St. Francis Red Raiders
2. Niagara Wheatfield Falcons
3. Williamsville North/East Spartans
4. Clarence Red Devils
5. Amherst Tigers
6. Niagara Falls Wolverines
7. Hamburg Bulldogs
8. Lancaster Legends
9. Orchard Park Quakers
10. St. Joe’s Marauders
Honorable mention: Jamestown Red & Green, North Tonawanda Lumberjacks, Grand Island Vikings
Small schools
1. Chautauqua Lake Eagles
2. Southwestern Trojans
3. Falconer/Cassadaga Valley Golden Cougars
4. Newfane Panthers
5. Pioneer Panthers
6. Portville/Cuba-Rushford Panthers
7. Springville Griffins
8. Gowanda Panthers
9. Iroquois Chiefs
10. Randolph Cardinals
Honorable mention: Medina Mustangs
Section VI Dual Meet Championships
The 8th edition of the sectional dual meet tournament is scheduled for Saturday, January 4th with the Division I tournament at Williamsville North and the Division II tournament at Seneca Allegany Community Center in Salamanca. The top-8 large and small school teams (based on a number of criteria) who also declare a commitment to attend the tournament if invited with the signed Letter of Intent will compete for the title of Section VI Dual Meet Champions and a trip to the state duals.
2023 champions Niagara Wheatfield and Chautauqua Lake each earned top-5 seeds (1st and 5th, respectively) in their NYS tournament brackets in Syracuse for the 6th state championships. Unfortunately, neither team was able to advance to the semifinals, snapping a four-tournament streak of Section VI having at least one state semifinalist dual meet team.
While the section didn’t get the results it hoped for in Syracuse, the sectional dual meet competitions had a number of key takeaways. North Tonawanda competed in the event for the first time in program history, Williamsville North/East and Southwestern each reached their respective finals for the first time in program histories, and the Division I tournament had five of its ten dual results decided by single digit scores showcasing the supremely competitive nature inherent of the event. An important state wide note: last year’s NYS Division I dual champion Plainedge (VIII) dropped to Division II this year, going under the 599 BEDS cutoff number. Imagine if things were to work out where both of last year’s NYS dual team champions meet somewhere in the Division II tournament in Syracuse, should both the Red Devils and the three-time defending NYS champion Tioga Tigers (IV) make it back.
2024 Section VI Division I Dual Meet Championships standings:
1st – Niagara Wheatfield
2nd – Williamsville North/East
3rd – Clarence
4th – Amherst
Grand Island
Niagara Falls
North Tonawanda
2024 Section VI Division II Dual Meet Championships standings:
1st – Chautauqua Lake
2nd – Southwestern
3rd – Newfane
4th – Gowanda
Wilson
Defending league champions
Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association (CCAA) Division I – Now two-time defending league champion Chautauqua Lake defended its title last winter and avenged a 38-36 loss to Falconer from December 28th with a convincing 47-22 win against the Golden Cougars on January 24th to complete a second straight season unbeaten in CCAA I duals. Besides the Eagles’ 6-0 league record, the rest of the league standings in 2024-2025 resulted in quite the unique statistical display as the 2, 3, and 4 teams all landed 4-2 league records while the 4, 5, and 6 teams all ended up 1-5 in CCAA I. Both Chautauqua Lake and Falconer return seven class placers and four sectional placers from a season ago, perhaps making each team the early season favorites in the league. However, Portville, Southwestern, and an improving Olean squad all return handfuls of postseason placers as well. CCAA I teams accounted for 29 of the 78 place finishes at the 2024 Section VI championships, 10 of the 26 state qualifiers, and five of the seventeen NYS place winners while four of the league’s top teams finished in the top-6 of the final WNY Athletics small school team ranking. CCAA I teams should return nineteen sectional placers but only four state qualifiers and two NYS place winners in Southwestern’s Calimeri (3x NYS placer) and Chautauqua Lake’s Maring.
Southwestern's Calimeri // Pataky
CCAA II – Like their counterparts in the top half of the league, Randolph repeated as league champion in 2023-2024 going a perfect 5-0 to improve to 10-0 in league duals in the past two years. Overall, the league accounted for ten Section VI Division II place winners hailing from all six of the member teams. Of those ten, five return this year led by the Cardinals’ Caden Inkley, a returning NYS 5th place winner at 152-pounds, and teammates Parker Paterson (11th) and Domanick Clark (12th), Frewsburg’s Logan Fuller (10th), and Gowanda’s Nathan Warrior (11th). An impressive Panthers team last season completely flipped its league standing from the season before (1-4 to 4-1), qualified for the sectional duals for the first time since 2017, and advanced a wrestler to the state tournament. With a lower number of returning class place winners league wide (fourteen total) the CCAA II champion team may rely heavily on whose ‘role players’ are ready to make the next step and win those critical ‘toss up’ matches in league duals.
Gowanda head coach Ray Logan (l) and assistant coach Jake Davis ( r) // Pataky
Niagara-Orleans – Newfane extended the program’s remarkable league win streak to 50 straight wins to secure a 10th consecutive league dual title (make it eleven including the spring 2021 ‘pandemic’ season) in 2023-2024 to take sole ownership of the Section’s longest current league win and title streak. Although the Panthers have claimed the N-O title outright for a decade now, they’ve had their fair share of close calls, like the league opener last season where they escaped a scrappy Medina squad winning less bouts but making all six wins worth six team points in a 36-31 win over the Mustangs. The six member squads accounted for fifteen sectional place finishes last season, four Section VI champions, four state place winners, and three NYS finalists, as well as two sectional dual meet tournament competitor teams (Newfane, Wilson). Newfane again will return the most talent with seven Class C/D placers, three sectional placers, and two state place winners, while Barker/Royalton-Hartland, who finished 2-3 in league duals, brings back the second most with five class place winners. Newfane will feature seniors Gillings and Ayden Buttery, who between them have six NYS place finishes, while Wilson also returns a pair of state placers in Merrick (12th) and Stephenson (12th). Don’t forget about the Lakemens’ Victor Cusatis, a sectional 3rd place winner last season but competed in Albany in 2023 as an auto-qualifier. Medina’s Reece Senske (12th) punched through to states winning the true second place bout at 108-pounds at the sectional championships, and it paid off as he returns with an 8th place podium finish in Albany.
Medina's Senske // Pataky
ECIC I – The most competitive league in WNY the last few seasons did not disappoint in 2023-2024 and all signs point to another extremely tight title race in 2024-2025. Williamsville North/East posted a perfect 6-0 league record on the way to capturing the program’s first outright league title since 2000. Six of the league’s seven teams won two or more league matches, most of which were extremely competitive duals decided by twelve points or less. With the addition of Sweet Home back into the ECIC I mix for the first time in ten years, teams will wrestle seven league duals apiece this winter. In total, the league returns twenty-one Section VI placers, six state qualifiers, and two returning NYS place winners in Clarence’s Didas and Frontier’s senior heavyweight Mike Welsh.
Frontier's Welsh // Pataky
ECIC II – Amherst captured the program’s first league championship since 2000 with a perfect 7-0 ECIC II record in 2023-2024 led by nine senior Class A place winners and six Section VI Division I place winners. Coach Bauer and staff return five 2024 postseason place winners to try to repeat in the league, however perennial powers Hamburg and defending ECIC III co-champ Iroquois return plenty of talent along with a Williamsville South squad that has been slowly but surely rising back to prominence. The ECIC II title race should be another close contest again this season; don’t be surprised if the ultimate league champion team takes at least one loss in the division. Throughout the league’s eight teams, twelve wrestlers return with sectional placements led by state qualifiers Evan Braunscheidel from Hamburg and 108-pound champion Sean McDonald from Starpoint.
Starpoint’s McDonald // Pataky
ECIC III – returning co-champion Springville returns a number of key wrestlers off of last year’s 5-1 squad that captured the program’s first league championship since the 1993-1994 season. The league has since been repopulated up to eight teams as Alden, after a re-introductory season in 2023-2024, rejoins the conference this winter. Elsewhere, keep an eye on teams like Tonawanda and Eden (with two NYS place winners) who both finished with 4-2 league marks with minimal losses at graduation and Lackawanna who showed some solid wrestling last year and now return six Class B placers and three Section VI placers. Heavy hitter Pioneer is back in the division this year who have in recent seasons powered through the ECIC III slate. After an 80-match league win and nine consecutive league titles streaks were ended last winter, the Panthers are hungry to get back into familiar territory atop the league standings.
Eden’s Mason DellaPenta // Pataky
Niagara Frontier League – Niagara Wheatfield successfully defended its league title going another perfect 7-0 in NFL duals in 2023-2024 while posting impressive win margins. All eight of the league’s teams recorded at least one NFL dual win last winter which doesn’t always happen for the squads at the bottom of the league table, while the 3-4-5 teams in the standings (Grand Island, North Tonawanda, Kenmore West/East) had their own competitive duals against one another fighting to squeeze into the top-3 in the league. This season, an impressive fourteen Section VI place winners will return for the league as well as five NYS tournament qualifiers and one returning place winner in Lewiston-Porter senior Jaron Barrientos (5th, 108). With eleven returning Class A and six returning Section VI place winners, one might consider Wheatfield the early favorite for NFL honors again, however a Niagara Falls team that had very few losses at graduation returns seven Class AA and four divisional place winners to the ranks should not be taken lightly. Elsewhere in the league, teams that had excellent participation last winter should be expected to keep the momentum up, post competitive box scores, qualify for the Section VI Duals again (or for the first time) and continue to chase the lofty NFL crown.
Niagara Falls coaches Don McCoy (l) and Josh Eagan ( r) // Pataky
New coaches
After a huge turnover of ten new head coaches going into the 2023-2024 season, only six programs will be under new leadership in 2024-2025.
After over thirty years leading St. Francis Red Raiders Wrestling, Mike Messore stepped down after the 2023-2024 season and current assistant Ron Lorenz took the step up for his second career head coach position. Coach Lorenz led an extremely successful campaign at Lancaster before joining the staff at St. Francis during the 2020-2021 season. Along with him, the new wrestling staff in Athol Springs is loaded with experienced wrestling minds and stewards of the sport ready to lead what might be one of the top teams in NYS.
At Orchard Park, new head coach Joe Glinsky will have big shoes to fill taking over the after the departure of Jared Teal who completely overhauled the Quakers program during his tenure by growing participation, coaching two Section VI champions and the program’s first state placer in two decades, and leading the team to two Section VI Duals qualifications while being perennially competitive in the rugged ECIC I.
Charter School for Applied Technologies will be led by 2018 Grand Island grad Jaquan Johnson this season.
At Dunkirk, Joe McMurdy steps in looking to lead the Marauders through the tough CCAA I schedule.
Defending ECIC III co-champion Springville will be led by Bruce Hitchcock in 2023-2024, rising from an assistant position to replace outgoing head man Mark Vogel who has been instrumental in raising participation, capturing the program’s first league title in thirty years, and who also helped to coach the program’s first ever NYS finalist in 2022.
Finally, Pioneer will be under new management as program alumnus Zach Weidemann will be the next and only fifth ever head coach of the Panthers program. Weidemann and the rest of the young, new look staff have the advantage of an incredible resource in legendary former head coach Chris Edwards looking on as the athletic director at Pioneer CSD.
Returning wrestlers
Section VI large schools return forty-six sectional place winners this winter to include six sectional champions, twelve state qualifiers, and three NYS place winners from the 2023-2024 season.
Returning Section VI champions:
108-pounds: Sean McDonald – 11th grade – Starpoint
116: Brayden Kellison-Neglia – 10th – Williamsville North – 6th place NYS
North’s Kellison-Neglia // Pataky
131: Trevor Mueller – 9th – Clarence
138: AJ Didas – 12th – Clarence – 8th place NYS
Returning NYS tournament qualifiers:
101: Cam Crumpler – 9th – Niagara Falls
108: Zach Little – 11th – Jamestown
116: Eian Peterson – 12th – Niagara Wheatfield
Wheatfield’s Peterson // Pataky
131: Tyler Zwald – 12th – Jamestown
138: Garrett Chase – 12th – Niagara Wheatfield
145: Chase Richards – 11th – Niagara Wheatfield
170: Evan Braunscheidel – 12th – Hamburg
Hamburg’s Braunscheidel // Pataky
285: Mike Welsh – 12th – Frontier – 7th place NYS
Section VI small schools will return a whopping 51 wrestlers with top-6 sectional place finishes from a year ago to include six champions, fourteen state qualifiers, ten state placers, and a pair of NYS finalists.
Returning Section VI champions:
108: Jaron Barrientos – 12th – Lewiston-Porter – 5th place NYS
116: Dylan Newman –10th – Falconer
Falconer’s Newman // Pataky
131: Carmine Calimeri – 11th – Southwestern – 3rd place NYS
145: Ayden Buttery – 12th – Newfane – 7th place NYS
152: Caden Inkley – 12th – Randolph – 5th place NYS
160: Jacob Stephenson – 12th – Wilson – 2nd place NYS
Returning NYS tournament qualifiers:
101: Mason DellaPenta – 10th – Eden – 7th place NYS
108: Reece Senske – 12th – Medina – 8th place NYS
116: Thandon Bensink – 10th – Chautauqua Lake
Chautauqua Lake’s Bensink // Pataky
124: Trevor DellaPenta – 11th – Eden
138: Aidan Gillings – 12th – Newfane – 8th place NYS
160: Ronan Klug – 12th – Barker/Royalton-Hartland
215: Mason Maring – 12th – Chautauqua Lake – 2nd place NYS
Westfield's Maring // Pataky
285: Hamza Merrick – 12th – Wilson – 3rd place NYS
Msgr. Martin High School Athletic Association squads will return nine CHSAA place winners this season to include three returning NYS federation tournament place winners. With the athletes new to St. Francis, the Red Raiders added three more wrestlers with 2024 state tournament experience to its ranks.
Returning CHSAA place winners and NYS tournament qualifiers:
101: Damien Ndagno – 11th – St. Joe’s – 5th place CHSAA
108: Cullen Edwards – 11th – St. Francis – 1st place CHSAA, 6th place NYS
St. Francis’s Edwards // Pataky
124: Quinn Martin – 11th – St. Mary’s – 4th place CHSAA
124: Kole Haseley – 11th – St. Francis – 6th place CHSAA
138: Sean Gordon – 11th – St. Joe’s – 5th place CHSAA
St. Joe’s Gordon // Pataky
145: Rory White – 11th – St. Francis – 3rd place CHSAA
St. Francis’s White // Pataky
152: Griffin LaPlante – 11th – St. Francis – 1st place CHSAA, 2nd place NYS
160: Aiden Schenk – 12th – St. Joe’s – 5th place CHSAA
190: Zach Caldwell – 11th – St. Francis – 1st place CHSAA, 2nd place NYS
Twenty-four of the thirty-one athletes who represented Section VI at the 2nd NYSPHSAA Girls Invitational last winter return this season including seven place winners and one now two-time defending Invitational champion. Keep in mind wrestlers will have to earn their way into the upcoming 1st NYSPHSAA Girls Wrestling Championships later this winter via a Section VI championship tournament.
Returning NYSPHSAA Girls Invitational place winners:
100: Gabriella Barone – 9th – Niagara Wheatfield – Champion
126: Noli Paddock – 9th – Chautauqua Lake – 4th place
132: Alexa Doxey – 9th – Newfane – 2nd place
Newfane’s Doxey // Pataky
132: Alexiya Thuman – 12th – Lake Shore – 6th place
138: Avery White – 12th – Frontier – 5th place
165: Michaela Thomas – 11th – Iroquois – 2nd place
165: Ava Bragg – 11th – Lockport – 3rd place
Returning NYSPHSAA Girls Invitational competitors:
100: Lily Pieczonka – 10th – Niagara Wheatfield
107: Leah Waite – 11th – Fredonia
114: Emma Greene – 12th – Niagara Wheatfield
Wheatfield’s Greene // Pataky
120: McKella Hodkin – 8th – Fredonia
120: Georgia Zorich – 11th – Sweet Home
126: Marissa Tara – 12th – Orchard Park
Orchard Park’s Tara // Pataky
132: Nevaeh Senik – 10th – Niagara Wheatfield
132: Mia Smith – 12th – Chautauqua Lake
138: Gabriella Testa – 12th – Chautauqua Lake
152: Bella Andes – 11th – Lockport
152: Ryann Berner – 10th – Clarence
152: Kiernan Quinn – 10th – Gowanda
185: Kristina Dickey – 12th – Chautauqua Lake
185: Khamya’J Maxwell – 11th – Lockport
Lockport’s Maxwell // Pataky
235: Jayla Johnson – 12th – Lockport
235: Aislyn O’Malley – 11th – Kenmore
Important Dates
8th Section VI Dual Meet Wrestling Championships – Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025
Division I – Williamsville North High School
Division II – Seneca Allegany Community Center, Salamanca
Eastern States Classic – Friday-Saturday Jan. 10-11
Impact Athletic Center, Halfmoon, NY
Niagara-Orleans League Championships – Saturday, Jan. 18
Akron High School
ECIC Wrestling Championships – Friday-Saturday, Jan. 24-25
Lancaster High School
7th NYSPHSAA Dual Meet Wrestling Championships – Saturday, Feb. 1
SRC Arena at Onondaga County Community College, Syracuse
2025 NYS CHSAA Wrestling Dual Meet Championships – Saturday-Sunday, Feb. 1-2
Iona Prep High School, New Rochelle
59th Annual Msgr. Martin All-Catholic Wrestling Championships – Saturday, Feb. 8
St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute
1st Section VI Girls Wrestling Championships – Friday, Feb. 14
Sweet Home High School
61st Section VI Wrestling Championships – Saturday-Sunday, Feb. 15-16
Division I and II – Fredonia State College
59th Annual NYS CHSAA Championships – Saturday, Feb. 15
Msgr. Farrell High School, Staten Island
1st NYSPHSAA Girls Wrestling Championships – Thursday, Feb. 27
MVP Arena, Albany
62nd Annual NYSPHSAA Intersectional Wrestling Championships
Friday-Saturday, Feb. 28-March 1 – MVP Arena