By Keith Harrington

Two seniors. Two best friends. Both with their sites squarely on a shot at a state title in their final high school campaign. Whitehall’s Troy Austin avenged a 1-0 loss to Granville’s Brent Perry a year ago, edging his close compadre 5-2 to claim the 189 pound Division II state qualifier title Saturday at Cool Insuring Arena.

In a rematch of last year’s final, Austin used a reversal late in the match to secure the victory and a trip to states in consecutive years.

Austin pinned Ryan Ulscht of Coxsackie-Athens in the semifinals in 47 seconds.

Perry pinned Michael Cavanaugh of Schalmont in 3:08 to reach the championship match.

Two other Whitehall wrestlers, Sawyer Ostrander and Chad Monty advanced to the semifinals.

Ostrander dropped a 15-11 decision to Kyber Henry of Cobleskill in his semifinal match. In the consolation finals Ostrander earned a third place finish, needing only 38 seconds to dispose of Jacob Schweigard of Duanesburg-Schoharie.

In the 172 pound semifinals Daniel Forbes of Catskill won a 12-6 decision over Monty. Monty finished fourth after being pinned by Jonathan Cranker of Fonda-Johnstown in 3:32.

Granville’s Quinn Johnson placed fourth after falling to Alex Smith of Canajoharie-Fort Plain by a 10-3 decision in the 126 pound consolation final.

Other local wrestlers to win championships in Division II were Dante Corriveau of Warrensburg-Lake George at 152 pounds, Jesse Mullis of Hudson Falls at 172 pounds, Evan Day of Salem-Cambridge at 215 and Tristen Hitchcock of Warrensburg-Lake George at 285.
Luke LeBlanc (102) and Angie Dill (110) of Salem-Cambridge, along with Colin Diffee of Hudson Falls placed second.

Along with Ostrander, other area third place finishers were Corinth/Hadley-Luzerne’s Aiden Schurr (102), Warresnburg-Lake George’s Cameron Carpenter (110) and Zach Olden (132), and Schuylerville-Greenwich’s Aidan Jones (160).

Photo Credit-Jen Dickinson