Amsterdam senior Giuseppi Lanzi, Schalmont senior Vince Gallo, junior Nick Gwiazdowski of Duanesburg and Watervliet senior John Delaney were awarded top seeds in Saturday for the upcoming state wrestling tournament.
Lanzi, third in the state last season, was put atop the 152-pound brackets for the Division I (large school) tourney.
Gallo, second at 171 pounds last winter, is seeded first at 189 at DII. Gwiazdowski was third at 189 last season and it situated atop the DII 215 brackets this time. Delaney, in his third trip to the states, is the top seed at 96 in DII
Second seeds went to returning bronze medalist Zeal McGrew (285) of Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake in DI and Whitehall senior Grant Gebo (215) in DII.
Shenendehowa senior John Belanger, fourth last year, got a No. 3 seed at 135 in DI, with Burnt Hills senior John Acors (DI, 215) and Ravena’s Andy Lyman (DII, 130), Whitehall’s Zach Diekel (DII, 171) and Mechanicville’s Sam Chase (DII 285) also getting No.3 seeds. Lyman was sixth in 2009 and Diekel placed fourth.
Seeded fourth were Shenendehowa freshman Nick Kelley (DI, 119), LaSalle’s Connor Sutton (DI, 125), Noah Valastro (DII, 112) and Luke Albrecht (DII, 285) of Hudson Falls, Duanesburg’s Evan Borst (DII, 125), and Granville’s Karl Palmer (DII, 140). Kelley and Valastro are making their third trips to the states. Sutton and Borst are going for the second time.
Watervliet’s Brian Walsh, a returning sixth-pace finisher who lost to Palmer in the Section II finals, got a fifth seed at 140, with Whitehall’s Travis Beayon seeded fifth at 160 in DII.
Corinth’s Tyler Nicholson is seeded sixth at 135 in DII, with Queensbury’s Tony Fusco (189) and LaSalle’s Brendan Goldup (112) getting the same line in DII.
Amsterdam’s Brandon Lapi (96) and Jason Chudzinski (130) and Zach Zovistoski (160) of Colonie got seventh seeds in DI.
Eighth seeds went to Whitehall’s Curt Thompson (125), Josh Mechanicville (152) and Aaron Dudley of Hudson Falls (145) in DII, and LaSalle’s Jonathan Clemente (135) in DI.
The tournament opens Friday at 10:30 a.m., and will run through quarterfinals and two rounds of wrestlebacks that night.
Semifinals are set for 10 a.m. Saturday, with the consi finals running at 2 p.m. The finals are set for 6.
