East wrestling sends school record to state qualifier
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

The Williamsville East wrestling team continued a fantastic season by qualifying a school record eight grapplers at the Class AAA Tournament for this weekend's Section VI New York State qualifier at Kenmore West. The old school record was six.

The Class AAA Tournament was held last Friday and Saturday at Starpoint High School.

"It's been a great year and this really capped it off," said East coach Henry Fumerelle. "To have eight guys go to sectionals is a great feeling."

The top four wrestlers from each weight class at the Class AAA Tournament advance to the state qualifier.

Sam Beichner defeated Starpoint's Jimmy Whittall, 5-1, in the 96-pound finals. Beichner went 4-0 to improve to 24-9.

Sean Trabert defeated Cheektowaga's Scott Patrzyk, 3-1, in overtime, at 140. Trabert also went 4-0 to improve to 27-6.

At 130, Max Cohen won his first two matches before falling to Starpoint's Darren Whittall, 6-3, in the finals. Cohen is 25-4.

Andrew Dieckman, Jacob Beichner, Matt Callari, Jayson Dieckman and MP Joseph each took home fourth place.

Andrew Dieckman went 2-2 at 103, losing twice to Williamsville South's Luke Falzone, including the third-fourth match, 1-0. Dieckman was unseeded.

Jacob Beichner finished 2-2 at 125 and lost to West Seneca East's Rich Rutkowski, 7-0, for third. Beichner is 24-11.

Callari went 3-2 at 135, falling to Pioneer's Doug Urbino, 10-8, for third. Callari is 25-10.

Jayson Dieckman went 3-1 at 152 before getting pinned by Grand Island's Anthony Gugino for third. Dieckman is 23-13.

Joseph won two matches and lost two at 189, ultimately falling to Cheektowaga's Matt Weigand, 9-4, for third. Joseph is 20-11.

In addition to the eight East wrestlers who moved on, Ben Mikac took fifth at 112 (lost to Pioneer's Justin Skretny, 5-3, in overtime) and Brandon Munoz placed sixth at 145. Munoz beat fourth-seed Jim Litz of Maryvale, 7-3, in the quarterfinals.

Mikac finished 24-12. Munoz is 19-11.

Steve Meyer and Will Kelly each finished 1-2 at 160 and 171, respectively.

The Flames took third out of 15 teams at the tournament with 151 points.

The finish also bumped East up to eighth in the latest Section VI small school rankings.

The Flames closed out its dual meet portion of the season by thumping Pioneer, last Tuesday, 38-21.

Including JV matches, East lost only four times.

Jayson Dieckman (152, 5-3 overtime); Carlton Brock (171, forfeit); Sam Beichner (103, 6-4); Mikac (119, 13-2); Jake Beichner (125, first period pin); Cohen (130, 19-7); Callari (135, 9-4); Trabert (140, 14-3); and Munoz (145, 15-0 tech fall) won for the varsity team. Dylan Cohen (103, 12-0) and Ben Bermudez (130, pin) won for JV.

East finished its dual season 9-3 which is the second best dual meet record in school history.

Amherst Central

Nobody from the Tigers advanced to the state qualifier.

Their best shot came from Corey Damon, who took fifth at 189. Matt Weber placed sixth at 152.

The Tigers were 15th in team scoring with 22 points.