HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING: BRUCE MAKES STATES AS CORNING HAS STRONG DAY AT SECTIONALS (18 PHOTOS) (2024-02-10)

Southern Tier Sports Report
BINGHAMTON — Logan Bruce earned his first trip to states to highlight a strong performance by the Corning Hawks at the Section IV Wrestling Championships.

Bruce was the runner-up at 145 to make states. Corning had four other boys’ place winners as Keegan VanCise was sixth at 124, Matt Mahon was third at 138, Clayton Smith was third at 160 and Tyler Farrand was fourth at 160.

“The kids all competed well and represented the Corning wrestling program in a respectable manner at sectionals this year,” Corning coach Brian Guilfoyle said. “Our freshmen athletes, Keegan VanCise and Blake Teeter, wrestled hard in their first sectional championship in a big arena, and undoubtedly gained valuable experience for promising futures. Junior Connor Crum-Brown who just got back into wrestling this year was able to display his great progress, and set himself up to have a good senior year next year. Junior Matt Mahon lost to a solid opponent in the semis at 138 where he competed well. Matt really turned it on in the wrestle backs putting together a couple wins in impressive fashion for a third-place finish. Senior Tyler Farrand, and sophomore Clayton Smith were Corning’s double entries in a very competitive 160 bracket. They both wrestled hard all day, and were each other’s last match of the season that came down to the wire.

“Myself, the rest of the coaching staff, and the Corning wrestling community are very happy for senior Logan Bruce earning a spot in his first New York State Championship tournament. It’s really special to see a kid like Logan achieve his dream of making the state tournament. He is focused and excited to put in the necessary work the following two weeks to set himself up for success at Albany.”

Crum-Brown was 0-2 on the day at 116, dropping a hard-fought 3-2 match in the consolation round.

VanCise had a pin in 2:58 at 124 pounds in the consolation round to get into the fifth-place match.

Teeter went 0-2 at 131 and at 138 Mahon had a pin in 2:28 to get to the semis, where he fell to Elmira’s Max Collins by fall in 2:41. Mahon had a pin in 3:38 to get into the third-place match then won by major decision 11-3 in the third-place match.

Bruce had a pin in 1:17 and a technical fall 17-2 to get to the final, where he fell to Ithaca’s Daniel Parker by technical fall 15-0.

Smit won a 12-1 major decision to get the semifinals, where he fell fell to Horseheads’ Zachary Schrage by fall in 4:52. Smith won 5-1 to get into the third-place match and a 2-0 win in the third-place match.

For the girls Courtney Castellana was third at 107 pounds and Kaegan Rhodes was fifth at 114, while Jade Cook took fifth at 152 pounds.

“We wrestled hard, had some matches not go our way, had some of our girls get some bumps and bruises, but we wrestled through adversity and what matters to me personally most, we never gave up,” Corning girls’ coach Matthew Kline said. “I am proud of everyone on our team. And, I have no doubt the seniors we’re losing will go on to successful careers, and the ones who are back next year, will come back stronger. Only up from here.”

Castellana had a pin in 3:41 to get into the semifinals. She fell to second-seeded Dallas Fanning by fall in 3:59 and then in the consolation round she had pins in 1:00 and 1:52 to take third.

Rhodes had a pin in 1:45 to get into the semifinals. She was edged 4-2 in the consolation round to go into the fifth-place match, where she had a pin in 3:04 to take fifth.

Cook had a pin in 1:44 to get into the semifinals, where she fell to second-seeded Teagan McGuinness of U-E by fall in 1:32. In the consolation round she fell 6-4 to Kalyani Wiehe of Horseheads, then got a pin in 51 seconds to take fifth.
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PHOTOS BY KRISTINE DALE AND TIM TAYLOR.


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