Local duo seeks state mat podium finishes

Orleans County’s two entrants, Medina junior Reece Senske (108) and Holley-Kendall junior Hunter Jewell-Smith (285) are both still in contention for podium finishes after today’s opening rounds of competition in the state Division 2 wrestling championships being held at Albany.

Senske rebounded from a narrow 8-7 opening round loss to score a pair of consolation round wins by a pin of 3:48 and a 14-2 major decision to stay in contention.

Hunter-Jewell opened with a pin of 4:36 but then dropped an 8-0 decision to No. 2 seed William Wortkoetter from Wilson to fall into the consolation bracket. Rebounding he scored a pair of pins in times of :47 and 2:08 to stay in contention.

Roy-Hart/Barker’s Ronan Klug (160) dropped a narrow 9-8 decision in his first match and was then eliminated by a 9-3 consolation bracket loss.

Wilson has both Wortkoetter and Jacob Stephenson (160) in the semifinals while Hamza Merrick is still in contention in the consolation bracket after dropping a narrow 3-2 decision in the quarterfinals.

Newfane’s Jacob Lucinski (101) has advanced to the semifinals after scoring a pin of 3:07 and a 9-1 major decision win.

The Panthers also have both Ayden Buttery (145) and Aidan Gillings (138) in contention in the consolation bracket after suffering decision losses in the quarterfinals.

The competition will conclude on Saturday.