ELMIRA – The Norwich Purple Tornado and the Bainbridge-Guilford/Afton/Harpursville wrestling teams competed in the Southern Tier Memorial Tournament held at the First Arena in Elmira. BGAH finished 21st with 48.5 points while Norwich came in 23rd place (33 points) among a total of 31 teams. Tioga won the overall tournament with 260.5 points.

As expected, both Norwich and BGAH's top wrestler made it to the finals in their respective weight class. Maverick Beckwith fell in the 108 weight class for Norwich in a 10-6 decison against Chenango Valley's Anthony Valls. Otherwise, Beckwith won his other three matches by pins, including a 1:57 pin against St. Anthonys' Carter Jacques. Beckwith is 20-3 throughout only his freshman year.

BGAH's Darren Florance won the tournament in the 116 weight class. He defeated Tioga's Logan Bellis in a 10-0 major decision. He also won by a 16-2 major decision and had two pins. His quickest pin of the day was in 35 seconds against Milton's Tyler Stokes. Florance is 19-1 in his final season, the one loss was to Norwich's Maverick Beckwith.

Norwich brought one other wrestler to the tournament, where Patrick White went 2-2 in the 285 weight class. His two wins came by pins, including a 1:11 pin against Bellefonte's Ian Valimont. He also pinned Odessa Montour's Aidan Summers in 2:17. His two losses came on decisions.

BGAH brought three other wrestlers, including Devon Rowe, who finished eighth in the 170 weight class. Rowe competed in six matches, where he went an even 3-3. His three wins were all by quick pins while he lost two decisions and by a 57 second pin. His quickest pin was in 25 seconds against Thomas A. Edison's Mason Barchet. Teammate Elliott Briggs went 2-2 with no placement in the 215 weight class. He picked up a win by injury default and in a hard fought match against Odessa Montour's Patrick Croft in 3:08. Briggs lost two matches by decision.

Zane Mumbalo also took the mat for the Bears in the 108 weight class, where he dropped both matches.

BGAH's next scheduled event is the Section IV division II dual meet championship on Wednesday while Norwich hosts Chenango Forks on the same day at 6 p.m.