The 15 2019 Clyde Cole Champions were crowned after their finals bouts on Saturday at Oxford High School. In the back row (from left to right) are: Darren Florance (BGAH, 99), Vincent Grembocki (Shen, 106), Stevo Poulin (Shen, 113), Dante Gieslinger (Norwich, 120), Kyle Willard (Groton, 126), Sam Dow (Dryden, 132) Zach Harrington (Sidney, 138), and Drew Witham (Corning, 145). Kneeling in the front is: Sean Malenfant (Averill Park, 152), Mason Lumbra (Averill Park, 160), Mikey Squires (Norwich, 170), Brock Delsignore (Shen, 182), Noah Kennedy (O/G, 195), Alex Thompson (S-E, 220), and Tyler Rice (Norwich, 285). (Keith Lanfear Photo)

All four local teams place in Top 10

OXFORD – On Saturday the 57th Annual Clyde Cole championship saw 12 Chenango County wrestlers take the mat with six coming away as weight class title winners.

Three of the winners are from Norwich, Dante Geislinger, Mikey Squires and Tyler Rice. Norwich finished third as a team, just one point ahead of county foe Bainbridge-Guilford-Afton-Harpursville (BGAH), who placed fourth.

Bainbridge-Guilford-Afton-Harpursville’s Darren Florance, Greene/Oxford’s Noah Kennedy and Sherburne-Earlville’s Alex Thompson also captured a spot at the top of the podium.

BGAH’s 99 pounder Darren Florance kicked of the round of finals bouts with 4-0 victory over Chenango Valley’s Trevor Cortright.

The 106 pound championship saw Owen Marcin of Greene/Oxford take on Vincent Grembocki of Shenendehowa – the tournament’s team winner – in the second match of the finals. Marcin fell to Grembocki by a final of 7-2.

Joey Florance, 2018-2019 state championship qualifier for the Bears, went up against Stevo Poulin – the top ranked 113 pound wrestler in New York State. Poulin, who is ranked second in the country and has won every year he has wrestled at the Clyde Cole Tournament, was pushed by Florance before pinning the BGAH wrestler in the second period of the title match.

Two-time New York State Champion Geislinger needed hardly anytime in his 120-pound championship match, defeating Queensbury’s Owen Rafferty in the first period to claim yet another Clyde Cole title for the Purple Tornado senior.