All eight reach semifinals and place in Top 4; three come away with titles

JOHNSON CITY – Expected to be two days of wrestling, the Southern Tier Athletic Conference championships turned into a full day of action instead on Friday, due to the weather that was dumped on the area Saturday afternoon.

The Purple Tornado squad wasn’t phased by the late change to the tournament format as all eight wrestlers brought home a top four finish in their respective weight classes and Max Morris, Dante Geislinger, and Mikey Squires were all crowed 2019-2020 STAC Champions.

In the field of 16 teams, Norwich placed fourth overall with 170 points. Some of those teams carried rosters of 15-plus participants. The Tornado team of eight was the fourth smallest in size of the teams in attendance.

Morris earned his first conference title of his young career, winning all three of his bouts at 99 pounds. The Norwich freshman took an 1:11 pinfall win in his first match of the day and then snuck away with 2-0 decision win over Chenango Valley’s Trevor Cortright to move into the finals. There, the Tornado youngster won the championship by a pin at the 3:16 mark of the title bout.