Leading off today: Qualifier meets for the state wrestling championships were conducted around the state this weekend. Here's a rundown of some of the highlights from Saturday's action on the mats:
Leading off today: Christian Hansen picked a fine time to win a varsity wrestling tournament for the first time.
The 99-pounder became the first Cold Spring Harbor seventh-grader to qualify for the NYSPHSAA championships by winning his weight class in the Section 8 Division II meet. Competing in front of the home crowd, he decisioned Carle Place/Wheatley's Joe Contrastano 5-3.
"It was a big moment," Hansen told Newsday, "but I was ready for it.
Hansen had lost to Contrastano twice earlier this season. "The improvement Christian has shown week-to-week has been amazing," CSH coach Mike Ferrugiari said. "He's a bright kid and on the mat, he shows it."
Second chance for second title: Port Jefferson senior Matteo DeVincenzo described the end of last season as "devastating." Having won a NYSPHSAA championship -- the first in Division II by a Long Island competitor -- in 2014, he lost in the semifinals as a junior and had to settle for third place.
"There's no way I want to feel what I felt after my match where I finished third last season," the four-time Section 11 champion said. "If I lose this year there is no next year. This is my last chance to make it count."
DeVincenzo earned his return to Albany with a technical fall 2:45 into his final vs. Lajess Sawyer of Center Moriches at 126 pounds.
Mattituck advanced seven competitors to the state Division II meet.
Redemption, decisively: Ryan Ferro was up against it in the Section 9 Division I final at 152 pounds. The Warwick junior, third in the state a year ago, was facing a showdown vs. Saugerties senior Brian Bucci, who'd pinned 32 of 34 opponents this season -- including Ferro.
This time, though, Ferro came out aggressive and never let up. He overpowered Bucci in a 20-4 win by technical fall in 5:13.
"I guess I was just in the moment," Ferro told the Times Herald-Record. "Pretty much the whole week I knew I was going to wrestle him."
The win helped earn Ferro the event's most outstanding wrestler honor for the second straight year.
Lather, rinse, repeat: Bainbridge-Guilford/Afton/Harpursville senior Chris Cirigliano earned his fourth straight Section 4 Division II title by pinning Garrett Lockwood of Groton in the second period.
In the hunt for No. 3: Amherst senior Kellen Devlin is still alive in his quest for a third state championship.
Devlin, a two-time champ in the 126-pound weight class, won the 132-pound final in Section 6 Division II by technical fall.
"I have the mentality that no matter what weight I go in at, it's my weight," Devlin, who will attend North Carolina State in this fall, told The Buffalo News. "For whatever weight I go in, I'm still going to dominate."
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