Keith Lanfear Photo

All earn spots at New York State Wrestling Championships

WINDSOR – After claiming the Section IV Division-II title Saturday evening, five Chenango County wrestlers earned a trip to Albany to vie for the New York State Wrestling Championship.

Winning for the second straight year were Norwich’s Dante Geislinger and Mikey Squires along with Bainbridge-Guilford-Afton-Harpursville’s Shane Hoover.

BGAH’s Brody Oleksak and Joey Florence will be joining, winning their first Section IV championships of their careers.

Oleksak was considered to be the upset of the finals round as he defeated Tioga’s John Worthing in the 138 pound final.

Worthing, the top seed of the weight class bracket, and Oleksak have faced each other twice this season. Both time, the Tioga wrestler won with scores of 5-1 and 5-0. Avenging the two losses where it matteed was Oleskak.

The six minutes of regulation mat time went scoreless for the two, forcing overtime to decide the winner. Oleksak landed the tilt on Worthing, putting him on his back to earn a 3-0 victory and the automatic bid to the New York State Championships. Oleskak has been to the big stage before but was selected as a wildcard to attend.

His teammate Joey Florence is in his first season. The Eighth-grader pinned Owego’s Matt Laubuch in the semifinals, reaching the championship round to face a Tioga wrestler like his BGAH counterpart.