HS WRESTLING: LOVELL HEADLINES OWEGO EFFORT AT NORTH COUNTRY INVITATIONAL (December 21, 2025)

Tioga County Sports Report
PHILADELPHIA, N.Y. — Owego 7th-grader Gavin Lovell garnered runner-up honors to headline the River Hawks’ effort at the North Country Invitational at Indian River High School here Saturday.

Seeded fifth, he pulled off an upset of fourth-seeded Landyn Clifford of Canton in the 103-pound quarterfinals, racking up a 10-0 major decision.

He wasn’t done taking care of the higher seeds, however, posting a 4-1 decision over top-seeded Connor Sleeman from Gouverneur. Sleeman is ranked 15th in the state by New York Wrestling News.

Lovell ran into a buzzsaw in the championship match, falling to third-seeded Max Hanselman of Lowville by a 17-2 tech fall in 4:19. The unbeaten Hansleman (8-0), ranked seventh in the state, has either pinned or teched every opponent this season.

Vitaly Sirotkin (110) and Trevor Monell (215) both placed sixth.

Sirotkin, seeded fifth, went 2-3 with second- and third-period falls in a weight class that saw the top six seeds get upset at some point before the finals, leaving the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds to battle it out for the gold. Sirotkin dropped a 2-0 heartbreaker to Indian River’s Blake Bartlett, the eventual champ, in the semifinals.

Monell was also 2-3, scoring falls in the second and third periods.

Robert Curley (126) and John Cornwell (138) each went 2-2 on the day, reaching the “blood” round before elimination. Curley had first- and second-period pins while Cornwell had a second-period fall and a 15-2 major decision to his credit.

Also competing for the River Hawks were Carson Desmond (132), Gabriel Zervous (132), Jaydin Brainard (175) and Anthony Neumuth (285).

Owego finished 15th with 50 points. Mexico won the team title with 193.5.

The River Hawks return to action Jan. 27 at the Spc Kenneth Haines Memorial at SUNY Oswego.

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PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.

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