April 2, 2007: The Wrestling Mall, High School News

Five Champs Lead New York to Sophomore National Crown

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – With seven finalists and five champions, New York rolled to the state team title in the NHSCA National High School Sophomore Wrestling Championships, which concluded tonight at the Pavilion Convention Center.

The All-American round capped a tournament that saw the Sophomore Championships set a record with 488 competitors, more than twice the size of last year’s field. The finals featured an outstanding field, with 12 of the 28 finalists owning at least one state championship in their careers. Two of the finals matched multi-time state champions.

The National High School Seniors Wrestling Championships resumed Saturday with 761 wrestlers from 46 states and Europe competing. That competition began with the championship round of 16 and the opening consolation rounds.

New York, which also took home the team title in the inaugural Freshman Championships, scored 259.5 points for a whopping 74-point victory over runnerup Ohio, which scored 185.5 points. New Jersey finished third with 176.5 points, with Ohio (154.5) and California (123.5) rounding out the top five. Wrestlers from 45 states entered the event.

Two of New York’s champions came from Troy LaSalle Institute: Division 1 state runnerup Zach Clemente (135) and state qualifier Ken Altarac (215). Clemente had one of just two pins in the finals, building a 13-0 lead before pinning Adam Heimer of New Lenox (Ill.) Lincoln-Way Central High. Kyle Dake (112) of Lansing High, Ian Paddock (119) of Warsaw High and Ryan LeBlanc (160) of Morrisville-Eaton High also won titles. In fact, New York’s only finals losses came to New York opponents.

Dake emerged victorious in a showdown between the state’s 112-pound state champions. The Division 2 state champion, Dake scored a takedown at the buzzer in overtime to beat two-time Division 1 state champion Paul Liguori of Wantagh High 3-1. LeBlanc, third in the Division 2 state tournament, used a third-period escape to beat Johnathan Velieri of Hilton High 1-0.

Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey each crowned two champions.

In a battle of two-time state champions at 130, Collin Palmer of Lakewood (Ohio) St. Edward High pulled away late in the match for a 10-2 victory over Max Ortega of Rio Rancho (N.M.) High and was voted the meet’s Outstanding Wrestler. Palmer allowed just three points in six tournament matches, rolling to two pins, two technical falls and two major decisions. Nicholas Mills (171) of Hunting Valley University School was Ohio’s second champion.

Brandon Palik (189) of Hellertown Saucon Valley High scored the other pin of the finals in 3:42 over Zac Bennett of Westmont-Hilltop High. With the pin, Palik avenged a 9-3 loss in this year’s Class AA quarterfinals, Bennett going on to win the state title and Palik finishing third. Jimmy Sheptock, the first of back-to-back finalists from Northampton High, was Pennsylvania’s other champion. Tyler Biscaha (103) of Jackson Memorial High and two-time state placewinner Anthony Luma (125) of Egg Harbor Township High were New Jersey’s champions. Another Garden State wrestler, Michael Dessino of Middlesex High, took home the tournament’s Most Falls award with 4 falls in a combined 6:20. Dessino finished fourth at 152.

The 152-pound finalists brought with them a combined five state titles, and the match went down to the wire, with two-time Utah champion Ethan Lofthouse of Hyrum Mountain Crest High breaking a 2-2 tie by scoring a five-point reversal with 30 seconds remaining to beat three-time Alabama champion Hayden Countryman of Prattville High 7-2. The other titles went to Owings Mills (Md.) McDonogh School’s Shane Milam (145) and Virginia Beach (Va.) Frank W. Cox High’s Jack Burbank (285).

The National High School Sophomores Wrestling Championships is an open event, and is open to any high-school wrestler completing his sophomore year.

Complete brackets can be accessed at www.escapesports.com.

The NHSCA selects Coaches and Senior Athletes of the Year in 20 boys and girls sports, and sponsors more than two dozen national championship events in 11 sports. The 18th annual National High School Wrestling Championships attracted nearly 2,300 wrestlers from all four grade levels to Virginia Beach, Va. later this month, and the NHSCA conducted 16 championship events in Virginia Beach, Va. last summer. The NHSCA, in partnership with the NFL Coaches Association, conducted the National High School Football Coaches Convention in conjunction with U.S. Army All-American Bowl All-Star Game. For a complete list of this year’s programs and events, visit the NHSCA’s web site at www.nhsca.com.

Founded in 1989, the National High School Coaches Association is a not-for-profit 501c3 service organization providing support and leadership programs for the nation’s 500,000 high school coaches and 10 million high school athletes.