Tioga County Sports ReportELMIRA — Led by Cadin Creeley, Newark Valley sent six wrestlers from its boys and girls teams to the podium at the Southern Tier Memorial held at the LECOM Events Center here Saturday.
BOYS
Creeley won his 165-pound semifinal, 7-0, over Schuyler’s Jared Watson, but couldn't come up with the points to get past Watertown’s Paul Ortega in the championship round. Ortega eked out a 1-0 victory.
Marcos Escalante took fifth at 144, winning a pair of wrestlebacks, by pin in 2:51 and a 5-0 decision, but lost in the consolation semis. IN the fifth-place match, he defeated Srt. Anthony’s Lorenzo Zacarese, 7-1.
Logan Woodin (150) advanced to the championship semis, but lost that bout and his first wrestleback match by fall. He medical forfeited the fifth-place bout to Waverly’s Parker Larson.
Logan Rhodes (138) avenged Friday’s loss en route to a 7th-place showing. He started the day with a 16-4 major decision over Spencer-Van Etten/Candor’s Kameron Westbrook then lost his next match by a tech fall. He won his next bout by fall in 4:24. In the placement round, he faced Milton’s Aiden Twigg and won, 4-3. Twigg had beaten Rhodes by a 15-6 major decision on Friday.
Titus Callahan (190) dropped his first wrestleback by fall in 2:05.
GIRLS
Eighth-grader Hadley Merrill placed fourth at 94 pounds. She ran into a buzzsaw in Avon-Geneseo's Loralye Beardsley in the semis, losing by fall in 28 seconds.
Beardsley spent a total of 3:07 on the mat as she went 5-0 on the weekend.
Merrill would win her consolation semi with a 36-second fall, before dropping the third-place bout by fall in 3:50. She went 4-2 in the tournament.
The Cardinals' Tressa Middendorf would finish eighth at the same weight. In the blood round, she pinned Fulton's Caeli Bartlett in 2:14 while trailing, 10-6, then dropped her final two matches. She was 3-3 on the weekend.
Billeigh Dawson (126) and Isabella King (152) both bowed out in the blood round via fall. Both wrestlers were 2-2 in the tournament.
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PHOTOS BY TIM BIRNEY.