(article is from the sports section)
2/25/2006 -
UNIONDALE -Seven area high school wrestlers performed well at the New York State Public High School Wrestling Championships, held at the Nassau Coliseum on Friday.
In the 96-pound match, Chris Conti (36-4) from Fredonia had a first-round bye, then registered an 8-2 decision over Jonathan Hoeg (19-4) from Section 11 in the second round to earn a spot in today's semifinals.

Things did not go as well for 119-pound freshman Kenny Betts of Fredonia (43-9).

Betts, who has 115 career wins, was on the short end of a 5-3 decision, losing to undefeated Michael Esteves (32-0) of Pleasantville in Section 1, 5-3. In his second match, Betts had a tough time with Rod Jamshedian from Section 8, Locust Valley, losing 6-2 and was eliminated from the tournament.

At 145 pounds, sophomore Mike Gresh of Ripley earned a first round bye and rolled to a 9-3 win over senior Kyle Edward of Section 11, Baypoint-Blue Point. Gresh had a takedown at beginning of first period for a quick 5-0 lead and never looked back.

In the 160-pound class, senior Mikel Bush of Southwestern (37-3) also had a first round bye. Bush met Paul Paddock (43-1) of Warsaw in Section 5, who showed why he is one of the best in the state, winning the match by shutting out Bush, 11-0. In the wrestleback round, Bush fared better, pinning Serid Shadoni from Petrides High School, PSAL- New York City, in 3:02 to remain alive for the semifinals.

In the 171-pound class, Brandon Lapp of Maple Hill High School in Section 2 remained undefeated at 35-0 with a 3:22 pin victory over Brian Gunnell of Falconer (29-4). Gunnell rebounded with a second-match win over Cory Haldas of Locust Valley in Section 8. Gunnell won the battle by pin in 2:21.

At 189 pounds, John Mabee of Gowanda (37-3) won his first match over Robert Hoshyla from Hampton Bays, Section 11, by pin in 2:17, but lost his second match, 7-2, to Nick Wilson (35-3) of Salem in Section 2. Maybee came back strong by posting a 6-3 win over Elijah Parks of Beekman Town in Section 7.

In the 215-pound match, Rob Dahn of Fredonia (41-6) scored a first- round pin over Phil Lapinski of Petrides, PSAL, New York City, winning in just 49 seconds, but lost his second match by a score of 8-2 to Chris Fitzgerald of Gouveneur from Section 10. In wrestlebacks, Dahn had success against Christian Refakis of Cold Spring Harbor in Section 8, winning the match, 5-3.

The state seminfinals are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. today and the finals will follow at 6:30 p.m.

Team scores are as follows:

Team Scores

D1

Section 5 - 104.5

Section 11 - 82

Section 8 - 78.5

Section 9 - 77

Section 2 - 64.5

Section 6 - 54

Section 10 - 46.5

Section 1 - 43.5

Section 3 - 43.5

CHSAA - 23

Section 4 - 17

PSAL - 15

D2

Section 3 - 131

Section 5 - 105.5

Section 2 - 89

Section 4 - 76

Section 6 - 68.5

Section 1 - 50

Section 10 - 48

Section 7 - 48

Section 11 - 46

Section 8 - 29

Section 9 - 11

PSAL - 8