2025 NYS champion Hamza Merrick // All photos courtesy of Jeff Pataky
Wilson senior heavyweight Hamza Merrick capped off an incredible run to the NYS Division II 285-pound title on Saturday night in MVP Arena in Albany to become the Lakemen’s first ever NYS champion wrestler and three-time state place winner.
Ben Foery was Wilson’s first NYS place winner in 1996, followed by Matt King in 2008 who was the only the state placer from then up to 2023. Since 2023, three wrestlers have accounted for six NYS place finishes for Wilson.
Merrick was the lone champion for Section VI Division I and II on Saturday night and led a total of eighteen place winners representing the section’s small school teams. Merrick was joined in the finals by Southwestern’s Adrian Torres at 101-pounds, Wilson teammate Jacob Stephenson at 160, and Pioneer’s Chris Howatt at 215.
Eighteen place winners are the most for Section VI since the 2013 championships (18) and is an improvement over the 2024 teams' seventeen placers. Section VI has placed twenty wrestlers twice at the state championships since 2004 – first in 2011 and again in 2020.
The Section VI Division II team ultimately landed a 4th place finish in a very competitive team title race to continue the section’s streak of twenty-one straight top-5 team finishes in Albany going back to the first year of the split division format in 2004.
Section VI wrestlers accumulated 227.5-points, just behind Section III with 230.5. Section IV finished in 2nd place with 236 while Section V claimed the small school team title with 246.5-points for the 9th time since 2004, and the first time since 2019. Section VI has never claimed the team title but has finished 2nd four times.
After the conclusion of wrestling on Friday, Section VI had advanced thirteen wrestlers to the semifinals with seven still alive in the consolation blood round and sat in 2nd place with 121-points behind only Section V.
In the Saturday night state finale, the 3-seed Merrick met top seeded and returning NYS champion Troy Beeman from Section IV power Waverly.
Trailing 1-0 and with choice in the third period, Wilson head coach Mike Carlo elected to have Merrick start on bottom for the final two minutes. Beeman would receive a stalling warning early in the period, but eventually Merrick would escape with only eleven seconds left to tie the score.
With only seconds remaining, Merrick was able to tie up with Beeman in neutral, ultimately angling for a single leg trip right on the boundary line. With the very tip of his shoe in bounds, Merrick would secure the state title sealing takedown to win by decision, 4-1, as time expired, sending MVP Arena into nothing short of a complete frenzy.
“I knew he was gassed, and I took him down on the outside, got that three, and now state champion,” said Merrick after the match. “The season started a little rocky, but by the end I said ‘I want this stuff bad,’ so I went and got it.”
Wilson assistant coach Jeff Hart (l) and head coach Mike Carlo (r)
Hamza went 3-0 on the way to the title match including a second period pin over Chautauqua Lake/Westfield senior and returning NYS finalist Mason Maring in the semifinal. Merrick had lost all three meetings of the season with Maring up to the Saturday morning semifinals in Albany.
Although shorter than most other wrestlers in his weight class, Hamza has been able to captivate all of NYS with his exciting high risk, high reward throws and takedowns leading to a number of come from behind wins in all three appearances in Albany. The 150-match winner also picked up his 100th career pin over the weekend at the tournament.
“It’s been amazing,” said Hamza reflecting on the support he has gotten from all corners of the state over the last three years especially. “In a way, I feel like I gave back to them. I wanted to just give back to everyone that has given to me.”
Hamza is now only the 6th wrestler in NYS history to place three times at the heaviest weight class in the 62-year history of the event which has been classified four times. The weight class was unlimited from 1963-1969, then it became 250-pounds from 1970-1996, 275 from 1997-2007, and 285 from 2008-present.
Southwestern junior Adrian Torres became the 7th different Trojan in program history to reach the state title match on Saturday night at 101-pounds. As the 3-seed, he pinned his first two opponents before earning a late third period takedown with only five seconds remaining to defeat Dansville/Wayland-Cohocton’s (V) Wyatt Sartori in the semifinal. In the final, Torres fell to Section IV Tioga’s Declan McKee by decision, 5-1.
At 160, Wilson’s Jacob Stephenson reached the state final for the second straight year. As the top seed in the bracket, he pinned his way to the title match in the championship rounds. Stephenson did however have to overcome a big deficit in the quarterfinal to advance. Trailing 13-3 to Little Falls’ (III) Matt Verri, Jacob earned a reversal early into the third period and ultimately secured the pin to return to the state semifinal. In the title match, Stephenson would fall by a 9-5 decision to Canisteo-Greenwood’s (V) Colton Havens.
Stephenson and Merrick combined to score 55-team points in the individual team title race which was enough for 5th in the final team standings amongst all Division II teams. Southwestern (tied for 7th), Eden (10th), Newfane (13th), and Pioneer (19th) all finished in the top-20 of team scoring.
Finally, at 215, Pioneer senior Chris Howatt became the 12th different wrestler in program history to reach the state finals. As the two seed in the weight class, he won three straight decisions including an 11-0 major over teammate Takota Smith in the semifinal. In the final, Howatt met two-time returning finalist and defending NYS champion Greyson Meak from Section VIII’s Cold Spring Harbor, ultimately falling by technical fall.
Section VI placed fourteen wrestlers from 3rd through 8th places on Saturday to keep the section competitive in the team score.
Five different wrestlers battled back to critical 3rd place finishes in their respective brackets after falling in the semifinals.
Eden sophomore Mason DellaPenta secured his second straight state place finish in taking 3rd at 101-pounds, up four spots from 7th in 2024. Mason earned two technical falls in the championship rounds before falling to the eventual champion in the semifinal. A pin the consolation semifinal sent him to the 3rd place match where he was a 5-0 winner over Sartori.
Seniors Jaron Barrientos, Aidan Gillings, Caden Inkley, and Mason Maring all accounted for third in the respective brackets.
Barrientos went 4-1 in the 116-pound bracket winning by pin or tech in all four wins. Jaron is the 7th Lancer to place two or more times at the state tournament in program history.
Gillings claimed 3rd at 145-pounds to cap off a career in which he achieved the 200-wins mark and placed in NYS five times. In the 3rd place match, ‘Gilly’ met Newfane teammate Ayden Buttery where he was a 4-2 decision winner. Buttery’s 4th place finish secured a third career state podium finish. Gillings and Buttery are the 8th and 9th different multi-time state place winners in Newfane program history.
At 152, Randolph’s Caden Inkley claimed 3rd place with a takedown with less than thirty seconds remaining in the bout against Honeoye Falls-Lima’s (V) Waylan Winseman where he would ultimately hold on to win by decision, 8-7. The two-time Section VI champion joins Jerrold Roosa (2010 and 2011) as the only other two-time placer in Cardinals program history and is also now the highest individual placer in team history.
Finally, Westfield senior Mason Maring concluded his career as part of the Chautauqua Lake team with a 3rd place finish at 285. Mason went 4-1 over the course of the tournament and pinned or majored in all four wins. In the consolation final, Maring was a winner by pin over Williamson/Marion/Sodus’s (V) Zach Kuelling for a second straight top-3 finish. Maring joins 2020 graduate Martin Ohlsson as the only NYS wrestling tournament place winners from Westfield HS.
2025 Section VI Division II NYS Wrestling Championships 4th-8th place winners:
4th – 101-pounds – Miles Torres – Southwestern – 1st NYS place finish
4th – 131 – Trevor DellaPenta – Eden – 2nd NYS place finish
4th – 145 – Ayden Buttery – Newfane – 3rd NYS place finish
6th – 116 – Reece Senske – Medina – 2nd NYS place finish
6th – 124 – Dylan Newman – Falconer – 1st NYS place finish
6th – 138 – Domanik Clark – Randolph – 1st NYS place finish
6th – 215 – Takota Smith – Pioneer – 1st NYS place finish
8th – 124 – Carmine Calimeri – Southwestern – 4th NYS place finish
8th – 190 – Patrick Braley – Falconer – 1st NYS place finish
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