2003 Section 5 State Qualifiers Recap

By Justin Basch, Exclusively for ArmDrag.com

Saturday, March 6, 2003

Tonight, Section 5’s finest wrestlers squared off for a chance to represent the area at New York State’s High School Championships this coming weekend.

Canadaigua’s Kyle Ingraham (112 pounds) and Trevor Chinn (135 pounds) won their weight classes to secure them a returning trip to the State Championships, along with Webster Schroeder teammates Gregor Gillespie (119 pounds) and Andrew Kreiger (130 pounds).

East Rochester’s Pat VanThof (171 pounds) and Wayne’s Mike Patterson (215 pounds) will also both be making a returning trip to the State Championships with undefeated records.

Here’s a match-by-match rundown of Section 5’s State Qualifiers final match-ups.

96 lbs – Nick Price (Pembroke) outlasted Warsaw’s Paul Paddock as Price came out on top with a 12-5 victory.

103 lbs – Attica’s Pat Hagerty and his numerous takedowns early in the match were too much for Anwar Goeres (Holley) to come back from.  Hagerty won the match via major decision 14–6.

112 lbs – In the first of 3 Class A Final rematches, 8th grader Kyle Ingraham (Canandaigua) continued to dominate in Section 5 as he defeated Eric Ziegler (Webster Schroeder) 11–1.

119 lbs – Gregor Gillespie (Webster Schroeder) showed who the better man was as Gillespie scored a technical fall after a mere 3 minutes, 30 seconds over Brockport’s Travis Hilbert.

125 lbs – Gene Kobilansky (Brighton) completed his road to states as he took an early lead and held on to it as he defeated Holley’s Andrew Grillo, 12–3. 

130 lbs – In a very high-anticipated Class A Finals rematch, Webster Schroeder’s Andrew Krieger once again showed his mite as he defeated Spencerport’s Mike Brongo via pin-fall in 3 minutes, 57 seconds.

135 lbs – Canandaigua’s Trevor Chinn once again showed his dominance in Section 5 as he defeated Spencerport’s Chuck Zimmerman, 9–3.  Chinn will be a high favorite to place in the top 3 at the State Championships.

140 lbs – In a match that had the capacity crowd involved, J.P. Zengerle (Gates Chili) held on to a one point lead over Byron-Bergen’s Sam Herman, after a controversial takedown call was taken back with 10 seconds to remain in the match. Zengerle won the match 6–5. 

145 lbs – After Campbell-Savona’s Andrew Scolaro was put to his back by Donald Williams (Kendall) twice, the match was called due to Scolaro crying out in pain.  Williams won the match via injury default in 2 minutes, 53 seconds.

152 lbs – In a very exciting match, Cory Lawrence (Hornell) escaped in double overtime to get a 2–1 victory over Penn Yan’s Brendan Hamm and another trip back to the State Championships.

160 lbs – In a very intense Class A Finals rematch, Spencerport’s Steve Stulpin used his lightening speed to score numerous takedowns on McQuaid’s Andy Merkel to emerge victorious with a 12–5 victory.

171 lbs – Pat VanThof (East Rochester) will once again be going to the State Championships after he defeated Brandon Clark (York) 11–7 in a closely contested battle.

189 lbs – In a very exciting match in a usually slow-moving weight class, Spencerport’s Alex Baxter earned a 7–4 victory over Irondequoit’s Matt Gsellmeier.

215 lbs – Mike Patterson (Wayne) defeated Andy Peters (Spencerport) in a very fast pace match 12–0.

275 lbs – In a battle of the big boys, Gates Chili’s Phil Byers proved it wasn’t a fluke in the Class A Finals as he once again defeated Adam Kennel (Irondequoit).

 

Zengerle escapes with Super Sectionals victory

by James Johnson
Democrat and Chronicle

March 2, 2003

Full Text: Copyright © 2003 Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
Reproduced with the permission of Gannett Company Inc.

BROCKPORT - J.P. Zengerle was in good shape.
 

The Gates Chili senior held a one-point lead in the finals of the 140-pound state wrestling tournament qualifier. He had a grip on Byron-Bergen’s Sam Herman and his first trip to states with less than 10 seconds remaining.
 

"I was really nervous," Zengerle said. "I didn’t want anything to go wrong."
 

For a moment, everything did go wrong when Herman threw Zengerle to the mat and nearly toward a disaster with five seconds to go.
 

Herman had the two points he needed until the referees reversed their ruling that the scoring took place inbounds. Zengerle avoided any more trouble and held on to win 6-5 before celebrating with his coaches on Saturday during the SuperSectionals at Brockport State.
 

"A lot of weight is lifted off my shoulders," Zengerle said while wearing a 2003 state tournament T-shirt. "It’s been my goal forever.
 

"He was way out of bounds. It was pretty obvious I thought. Still, it’s pretty rare to see a ref wave off a call."
 

Zengerle was that close to not becoming one of 15 wrestlers in Section V to qualify for the state tournament this Friday and Saturday at the Onondaga County War Memorial.
 

Spencerport’s Steve Stulpin made sure he qualified at 160 pounds with a 11-5 victory over McQuaid’s Andy Merkel. Stulpin was stunned to lose to Merkel during the Section V Class A final last week.
 

"I’ll trade last week for this week," he said. “I was physically, mentally, emotionally... . I was ready to go overall.
 

"Last week was hard. Anything you win during the summer or off-season doesn’t mean anything. The tournaments that count are sectionals, supers and states."
 

This year’s group of qualifiers will include six repeat overall Section V champions who wrestled in last season’s states: Canandaigua’s Kyle Ingraham and Trevor Chinn, Webster Schroeder’s Gregor Gillespie, East Rochester’s Pat VanThof, Hornell’s Cory Lawrence and Wayne’s Mike Patterson.
 

Spencerport’s Josh Fuller, Canandaigua’s Tom Cuppernell and McQuaid’s Andy Merkel also wrestled in the 2002 state tournament, but did not make it back this time.
 

An overflow crowd inside the Brockport State basketball gymnasium watched Chinn, a junior, earn his fourth trip to states after he won the 135-pound division. Marty King, a 1984 Canandaigua graduate, is the only five-time state qualifier in Section V history.
 

Chinn, owner of a 184-22 record, passed King on their school’s all-time wins list in January. He is two-time runner-up in the high school season-ending tournament in Syracuse. "You try to build off of last year if you don’t get the end result that you want," Chinn said.
 

Ditto for Brighton senior Gene Kobilansky, a 12-3 winner over Holley’s Andrew Grillo in the 125 final. How is this for peaking at the right time?
 

After finishing second at the Monroe County Tournament for the third time in his career last month, Kobilansky had a dramatic win during the Section V Class A finals a week ago.