The Norwich wrestling team captured second place at the Section IV Class B qualifier on Saturday in Waverly. The Purple Tornado took nine wrestlers to the tournament and ended with six champions and two other place winners. The eight that placed in the top five will move on to the Section IV Division II Championship Saturday, February 15 at the Broome County Floyd L. Maines Arena in Binghamton. (Evening Sun Photo, Meagan Schulz)

WAVERLY – Seeing six of the nine wrestlers that the Purple Tornado brought the to Section IV Class B Qualifier reach the final, all six returned home with championships in their respective weight classes for the second straight year.

Norwich finished with 188 team points and placed second at the qualifier and had all but one wrestler stand on the podium by the end of Saturday’s one-day tournament. Mikey Squires of the Purple Tornado was named the Class B’s Most Outstanding Wrestler with his title win at 170 pounds.

The top five in both the A and B qualifier tournaments will return to action on Saturday at the Broome County Floyd L. Maines Arena in Binghamton for their shot to represent Norwich and Section IV at the New York State Championship tournament at the end of the month.

Winning titles for the Purple Tornado were Max Morris (99), Dante Geislinger (113), Andrew Brown (120), Joey Marvin (152), Mikey Squires (170) and Tyler Rice (285). Taking fourth at 132 pounds was Mason Edwards while Dakota Powers earned a third-place finish at 160 pounds.

All eight place finishers reached the semifinals, however, Edwards fell to an injury that ended his day earlier than expected. Powers was pinned by Windsor’s Dave Flora at the buzzer, sending him into the third/fourth place bout.

Powers quickly rebounded in the next round, pinning Noah Yadlosky of Windsor 30 seconds into the second period.