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NYSPHSAA
State Championships
Interscholastic Varsity Wrestling Tournament
@ Nassau Coliseum (Uniondale, NY)
Friday &
Saturday, February 24-25, 2006
Main Page
Full Text: Copyright
© 2006 Hornell Evening Tribune.
Hornell senior Dan Rosemier is well award of the opportunity which will present
itself at this weekend's New York State Public High School Athletic Association
Wrestling Championships held at Nassau Coliseum in Long Island.
However, he isn't quite ready to rank himself among the elite wrestlers to come
out of the Coach Matt Sheldon's program at Hornell High School.
“It hasn't really set in for me yet because I really don't feel that I belong up
there until I place in the tournament,” Rosemier said. “Andy (Drake) and Aaron
(Parks) have stepped it up over the past couple of years and I really think that
they deserve to be mentioned among the top wrestlers from our school.”
“We kind of fool around and try to figure out how one team would do against
another or how this kids would do against that kid, but I really can't do it,”
Coach Sheldon said. “It's hard to compare skills. It's hard to say. One kid you
think has a great shot at winning states and they don't. Another you'll think
it'll be tough for them and they end up placing. I just look at each one and am
so proud that they made it.”
“I want these three to enjoy themselves and not worry about what the others have
done. I want them to set goals for themselves and then hopefully they'll go out
and achieve those.”
When Drake, Parks and Rosemier hit the mats in today's opening round of the
championships they will join 10 other Red Raider wrestlers on the Wall of Fame
in the HHS wrestling room.
“It was a real big accomplishment making it this far,” Drake said, “especially
only being fourth-seeded after sectionals. No one thought I'd win it after
losing to Hutchison twice. So I worked harder and wrestled my best last weekend
to win.”
“Get on the podium,” Drake added when asked about his goals for the weekend. “I
have a first-round bye so that puts me in a pretty good spot. I need to win one
to place in the top six and if I win my first two I'm in the finals. The bye
puts me in real good position.”
Drake, a senior who wrestles in the 135-pound weight class and has a record of
46-6 this season, will meet either 37-2 Justin Salter (Governeur-10) or 20-10
Oliver Lopez (McKee S.I. Tech-PSAL).
“I've seen one of the wrestlers (from Beaver River) I could end up wrestling. He
beat Aaron (Parks) at the Cicero-North Syracuse Tournament. He's 48-0 and a
really good wrestler.”
Parks at 51-3 will go up against Hudson Falls' Aaron Barber in his opening
match. Barber, out of Section 2, has compiled a record of 29-8 this season. The
winner meets 22-12 Nick Heywood (Peru-7).
“This is what we've worked for all year,” Parks said. “This is what I've worked
for since I started wrestling when I was eight. I've always wanted to get to
this tournament, but I don't want to just get here. I want to get as high on the
podium as I can.”
“At this point you want to use what got you here but take it up to another
notch. You can't afford to make the little mistakes. During the season you can
recover from those, but at this tournament everyone is basically equal. A big
thing is to be mistake free while picking up your game a little bit.”
“I think I have a pretty good draw,” Parks added. “At the very least I should be
able to the semis if I wrestle as well as I am capable of and from there,
hopefully, on into the finals.”
“I like wrestling someone I haven't heard of before. I don't know what they're
going to do and I don't have to worry about their record or anything like that.”
Like Drake, Rosemier has earned a round-one bye. He will square off against
either 30-6 Ryan Stacey (Peru-7) or 20-4 Thomas Serabian (Port Jefferson-11) in
the quarterfinals.
“If someone had said I would make it this far four years ago I probably would've
laughed at them,” Rosemier said. “I don't think it would've even crossed my
mind. But the last six or seven years wrestling for Coach Sheldon has really
taught me a lot. I owe a lot of this to him.”
“We've all been really focused over the last week in practice,” he added. “We
want to be the first to place in the state tournament since Cory Lawrence did it
here three years ago.”
Coach Sheldon is confident each of his wrestlers will be able to place among the
top three.
“I think we ended up in some pretty good brackets,” Sheldon said. “When you get
to the state tournament you kind of know the real studs that are there. None of
them have someone that I'm really concerned about until the semifinals. I think
all three could easily make the semifinals. But you never know. These three
aren't ranked even though at least two of them have beaten ranked kids in there.
“It might give them an advantage. There's less pressure. People know the kids
who did well in previous years. Sometimes those kids might be looking past an
unknown name.”
Sheldon also mentioned that Section V has an excellent opportunity to claim the
Division II title. Canisteo-Greenwood's Nick Clark could factor into that
equation as could Clark's teammate Kyle Amidon. Clark, a 28-0 senior who
competes at 189 pounds, will get a bye in the first round before taking on
either 20-4 Richie Ross (Red Hook-9) or Andrew Burban (McKee S.I. Tech-PSAL).
Amidon, also a senior, has received a bye in the 152-pound bracket. He will meet
the winner of the Ryan Black (Warrensburg-2)-Jimmy Kiety (Petrides-PSAL) matchup
in the quarterfinals. Amidon currently sports 39-4 record.
“They're wrestling individually, but they're still competing as a team,” Sheldon
said. “Many people are saying that the Section V Division II team has a great
shot at winning. So it is still kind of a team effort.”
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