Section 9 Division I wrestling championships

Port’s Presto crowned Division I champ

Monticello’s Ng and Port’s Muller come up short in title bids

By RICHARD A. ROSS

CENTRAL VALLEY, NY — Port Jervis witnessed the fall of a 2005 champion, but celebrated the rise of another in the Division I wrestling championships held on February 17 and 18.

For defending 160-pound champion Ben Muller of Port Jervis, a repeat of last year’s title was not to be. Muller wrestled his way into the finals by handily defeating the competition along the way. He vanquished Paul Wolfe of Walkill 6-2 in the qualifying round.

He followed that with a pin of Cornwall’s Bryan Gross in 3:56 in the quarterfinals, and a 15-0 defeat of Ross Hansen of Minisink Valley (4:50) in the semifinals. He lost to Lucas Brooks of Rondout Valley in the finals by the score of 7-2. Brooks, a junior who lost in last year’s final, is Rondout Valley’s first sectional champion since 1996.

Muller did not wrestle in the consolation rounds, but Port Jervis did not go home empty-handed.

Dana Presto (152) fought his way through to a Section 9 title by pinning his first two opponents in the tournament. Presto pinned Daniel Kukulak of Walkill in 5:14 in the qualifying round, and Barton Brooks of Rondout Valley in 4:35 of the quarterfinals. Presto continued his win in the semifinals by an injury default over Joe Passalaqua of Pine Bush. He emerged triumphant in the finals, with a 5-3 defeat of Glenn Walter of Cornwall.

Ng comes up short but goes out like a champion

The way Monticello coach Ed Kaufmann sees it, your wrestling career is ultimately judged by your last match, not by any one loss along the way. Monticello senior Anthony Ng (135-pound class) took Kaufmann’s words to heart on February 18, despite the agony of falling short of his five-year goal to win a Section 9 title.

Fighting back from a stultifying 4-2 loss to Port Jervis’ Sean Floor in the Division I championship semifinals, Ng wrestled back to take third place. Despite his enormous disappointment, Ng went out like a champion by defeating the tournament’s top seed James Harris of Saugerties 2-0 in overtime in the consolation round.

Ironically, while Ng was losing to Floor, Harris was succumbing to Cornwall’s Andrew Lowry. The way Ng had envisioned things, he and Harris would have gone at it in the finals. While Ng did emerge victorious over Harris, it wasn’t for the sectional title. It was the fourth time in his career that he had placed in sectionals.

The loss to Floor was a shock to Ng, who has had an extraordinary year that included setting a new school record, with 112 career wins and 23 losses. Ng also broke Monticello’s previous single-season win record, which had stood at 32, by running up an impressive 35-6 record in his final season.

According to Kaufmann, Ng’s match to Floor was a close one. Down 3-2, Ng was in a good position on his feet, but Floor just caught him. The two had never wrestled each other before. Floor lost in the finals to Lowry by the score of 6-4, after pinning Davis Marbury of Warwick (3:50) in the qualifying round and Mike Conroy of Valley Central (5:55) in the quarterfinals.

After Ng lost in overtime to Dimitri Laurent of Goshen in last year’s final, the Monticello senior counted on the fact that Laurent had moved up to 140-pounds. But tournaments often play out in unexpected fashion and Laurent also came up short, getting pinned by Sean Taft of Minisink Valley.

This year, Ng was victorious in the qualifying round, with a pin of Dylan Casey of Washingtonville in 37 seconds. He defeated Kevin Turko of Middletown in the quarterfinals by virtue of an injury default. Kaufmann consoled Ng and told him, “This is one day in your life. It’s the beginning, not the end.” Ng will certainly go on to wrestle in college, hopefully joining his brother Chris at Boston University.

Monticello’s Alexis Bruno (189) also had a good tournament run, but lost to eventual champion Mike VanHouten of Walkill. Bruno pinned Kyle Donnelly of Rondout Valley in the qualifying round (3:25), and then defeated Jon Cheng of Cornwall 11-2 in the quarterfinals. He succumbed to VanHouten by the score of 6-4. Bruno completed his season at 23-11.

Though Monticello will lose Ng and fellow senior Bob Bittinger, Kaufmann has a good group of wrestlers who will return next year: Jesse Campanaro, Bruno, Andres Diaz, Jerry Taggart, Alex Levine and John Bowens. Combined, they accounted for more than 17 wins this season. On the down side, Monticello will move up to Division II, where the Panthers will face tougher schools, such as Washingtonville, Saugerties and Minisink Valley.

Other results were as follows for Monticello (M) and Port Jervis (PJ):

(96) Jerry Taggart (M) defeated Chet Cochrane of Onteora 7-5 in the qualifying round, but was pinned by eventual champion Cody Ruggiero of Minisink Valley in the quarterfinals. Brandon Gambino of Saugerties pinned Ian Gardner (PJ) in 2:56 in the qualifying round.

(112) Andres Diaz (M) pinned Mark Westinghouse of Goshen in 39 seconds in the qualifying round, but was defeated by Kevin Connolly of Warwick 5-2.

(119) Rob Preiss of Cornwall defeated John Bowens (M) 7-0 in the qualifying round.

(125) Austin Smith (PJ) defeated Joe Bradley of Goshen 13-10 in the qualifying round, but lost to champion Mike D’Amato in the quarterfinals 9-3. Smith wrestled back to take fifth place.

(140) Vinny Brugaletta (M) defeated Warren Huffman of Warwick 15-3 in the qualifying round, before he lost to Laurent of Goshen 10-6 in the quarterfinals. Conor Norrell (PJ) pinned Mykel Roche of Saugerties in 2:36 of the qualifying round, but was pinned by Minisink Valley’s Taft in 33 seconds in the quarterfinals.

(145) Bryant Illenberg of Middletown pinned Alex Levine (M) in 3:56.

(160) Adam Rakas of Pine Bush defeated Jesse Campanaro (M) 10-6.

(171) Phil Parlier (PJ) defeated Pat Melay in the qualifying round, but succumbed to Andre Blair of Newburgh Free Academy in the quarterfinals. Parlier faced Blair again in the fifth/sixth place consolation round, and defeated him 2-0 to take fifth in the tourney.

(215) Joe Pesce (PJ) pinned Torn Ewanclaw of Minisink Valley (1:35) in the qualifying round, before he was pinned by Patrick Sweeney of Warwick in 1:37 during their quarterfinal match.