STAC WRESTLING: OWEGO BUILDING WITH A FEW SOLID VETERANS, YOUTH; ADDS GIRLS TEAM TO PROGRAM (2024-12-11)

By TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
OWEGO — The Owego boys wrestling team is still youthful, but is anchored by a trio of seniors and an up-and-coming sophomore. Meanwhile, the program’s first girls team has brought in some decent numbers.

BOYS
Senior Bobby Struble qualified for the NYSPHSAA Division II state championships last season at 170 pounds by placing third in Section IV. He went 2-2 at states and was 29-11 overall. Struble was also a STAC runner-up and has a good shot at reaching 100 career victories this season. He went 3-1 and placed second at 190 at the Larry Goodrich Invitational last weekend.

Classmate Collin Monell, who is also a potential 100-match winner, was 30-12 with five top three finishes last season. He placed sixth in Section IV at 138 and was a STAC bronze medalist. He was 2-1 and took second at the Goodrich tournament at 145.

Looking to have a breakout season is the River Hawks’ third senior returnee, John Gilliland. He went 3-2 at 152 last weekend with both losses coming against Division I foes.

Stepping up from a strong freshman showing last season is Dylan Brace. He was 20-10 and placed fifth in the section back in February, winning eight of his final 11 bouts after dropping down to 124. He has already started out this season strong, winning the 138-pound crown at Goodrich.

Bosletring Owego’s youth movement will be freshmen Vitaliy Sirotkin (101) and Robby Curley (108). Both grapplers posted runner-up efforts at the Goodrich tourney. Sirotkin went 3-2 while Curley was 2-2.

“Improved numbers this year should allow us to fill more weight classes once all of our wrestlers get down to weight,” said longtime coach Mike Daly, now in his second year in charge of the River Hawks. “While we are very young we hope to carry more kids through to sectionals and states this
year.”

GIRLS
Owego was caught off-guard when its inaugural girls team had 11 sign-ups, according to the cnywrestling.com website. The River Hawks were expecting less than half that number to come out.

Junior RaeAnn Craft, the first three-time girls champion in Section IV history, has been competing with the boys team since the eighth grade. She is also a three-time STAC champ and a two-time NYSPHSAA Girls Invitational place-winner.

Craft missed the season-opening Larry Goodrich Girls Invitational last Friday due to an injury, but seven River Hawks did compete.

Callie Deming and Jaelynne Lovell both went 3-2 on the day. Lovell placed fourth, Deming sixth.

Four others recorded at least one win apiece with Ashlee Crawford-Bauer and Haditha Hussain Ali taking fourth and fifth, respectively.




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