Tioga County Sports ReportELMIRA — Owego only sent three wrestlers to the Southern Tier Memorial this weekend, but all three — led by senior Bobby Struble — reached the podium.
Struble won a silver medal, placing second in the 170-pound bracket, while sophomore Dylan Brace and senior Collin Monell placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 138-pound weight class.
Chambersburg (Pa.) won the team title with 193 points, edging runner-up Bellefonte Area (Pa.) by 3.5 points in the 38-team field.
Penns Valley (Pa.) was third with 167 points, St. Anthony's was fourth with 137.5 points, and Waverly was fifth with 135 points. Tioga finished 10th with 103.5 points, SVEC was 22nd with 50 points, and Owego was 24th with 44 points.
Struble, who was 3-0 Friday, was 1-1 on Saturday.
In the semifinals, Struble scored a takedown with 27 seconds remaining in the third period to pull out a 5-4 win over Bellefonte's seventh-seeded Jack McHail.
In the finals, ninth-seeded Abel Verazes of West Springfield (Mass.) built a 15-5 lead by virtue of five takedowns, before turning Struble to his back for a fall at 5:45.
Brace, who 3-1 Friday, and lost in the quarterfinals, was also 3-1 on Saturday.
Brace opened with a pin of SVEC's Kamren Westbrook in 4:18, then forged a 13-4 major decision over Athens junior Karson Sipley.
In the consolation semifinals, Brace topped Auburn's Mike Boyhan, 9-3, to advance to the third-place match, where he lost via fall to Bellefonte's Cameron Garcia.
Monell, who was 3-1 Friday and lost in the quarterfinals, was also 3-1 Saturday.
Monell started Saturday with a pin of Scranton Prep's Jake Barrett in 3:31, then dominated Haverling's Gage Thomas in an 18-1 technical fall.
In the consolation semifinals, Monell lost a heart-breaking, 9-7, decision to Garcia, who led 6-1 midway through the second period.
In the fifth-place match, Monell received a medical forfeit.
Owego returns to action next weekend at the Bradshaw Invitational at Canandaigua Academy.
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PHOTOS BY TIM BIRNEY and MIRANDA SZYMANSKI.
