Contributed Photo
Two Medina youth wrestlers Oliver Wilson, left, and Josh Wilson competed in the Fairport Tournament today. Josh took first place going 3-0 on the day, and Oliver placed second.  Medina will next compete at Jamestown on March 6th at the NYWAY Far West Regional tournament with a chance to qualify for the State tournament.

Top seeded host Monroe Community College bested the Niagara County Community College women’s basketball team 75-50 this afternoon in the Region III playoff championship game.

Medina High graduate Alba Perez led NCCC with 17 points and 9 rebounds as Alliyah Gillespie had 16 points

NCCC, which is now 28-4, led 17-16 after one period but MCCC rallied into leads of 28-24 at the half and 51-39 after three quarters.

Contributed Photo
Sharing a lighter momentum at the conclusion of Saturday’s state wrestling championship in Allbany are local place finishers, Roy-Hart senior Cameron Swick, left, and Medina senior Charles Beach. Swick captured the 160 lb. title by defeating the top two seeds in the semifinals and finals. Beach earned third place honors by scoring a pair of wrestle-back wins after dropping a narrow 3-2 decision in the semifinals.

Beach earns third place finish

Photo by Mike Wertman – Roy-Hart senior Cameron Swick earns a state wrestling championship.

Completing a perfect 34-0 season, Roy-Hart senior Cameron Swick captured the state Division 2 (small schools) 160 lb. wrestling championship this evening at the Times Union Center in Albany.

Swick, who was seeded fifth, decisioned No. 2 Shawn Mosca of Carle Place/Wheatley (Section VIII) 4-1 in the championship bout.

Swick jumped out to a 2–0 lead with a first period takedown. Later, up 2-1, he put a lock on the victory and the title with a late third period takedown.

Swick advanced to the title bout by edging past top seeded Jason Hoffman of Hadley Luzerne Lake George (Section II) 3-2 in the semifinals.

Rebounding from a narrow semifinal loss, Medina’s Charles Beach (220) scored a pair of wrestle-back victories to earn third place honors.

Beach was nipped 3-2 in the semifinals by Aaron Mann of Warsaw who scored an escape early in the third period to snap a 2-2 tie.

Bouncing back, Beach scored a quick pin of 1:23 over Zac Spears from Olean and then decisioned Anthonhy Moffo from Morrisille (Section III ) 3-1 in sudden victory to take third place and finish the season at 33-2. Beach had also nipped Muffo 1-0 in the quarterfinal on Friday.

Newfane’s Jake Kubala finished in fifth place by scoring a 13-6 decision win over Kevin Digney from Seaford (Section VIII). He had dropped into the wrestle-backs after being pinned in the semifinals.

Barker High sophomore Collin Webb placed 6th in the 100 Freestyle in a time of :49.94 and 7th in the 50 Free in :22.56 at this past week’s Section VI swim championships.

Webb also teamed up with sophomore Andrew Jenks, junior Collin Stevener and senior Ian Goodlander to place 10th out of 29 teams in the 200 Free Relay with a school record time of 1:32.85.That foursome also placed 16th out of 36 teams in the 200 Medley Relay.

Barker finished 18th out of 33 schools in the final team standings.

Newfane junior Andrew Hamelink placed 3rd in the 100 Breaststroke.

Medina High graduate Alba Perez and her Niagara County Community College women’s basketball teammates romped past Mercyhurst North East 68-46 this evening to advance to the regional championship game for the first time in school history.

Perez scored 9 points and grabbed off a game high 10 rebounds for NCCC which will face host Monroe Community College for the Region III championship at 3 p.m. Sunday.

Alliyah Gillespie scored 18 points to lead the offense for NCCC which improves to 28-3 on the season.

The Medina youth basketball team, made up of 5th and 6th graders, defeated Wilson today to finish the season with an undefeated, 9-0 record.

Medina’s victories included games against St. Joseph’s of Batavia, Roy-Hart, Albion, Newfane, Lyndonville, Barker, and Wilson.

This marks the second consecutive season the team finished with an undefeated record.

Two sixth graders that were also a part of last year’s team led the way this season. Jarin Rhim finished the season with 134 points (14.9 ave) and Emmanual Taylor added 118 points (14.8 ave).

First year players also contributed as well, with 5th graders Lavonn Guy tallying 52 points, Aiden Pitts 30, Chris Johnson 24, Robert Arnold 16, and Caden Lilleby 12.

Beach, Swick score two wins to advance

Photos by Mike Wertman – Medina’s Charles Beach, left, and Roy-Hart’s Cameron Swick have reached the semifinals of the state wrestling championships.

Two local high school seniors, Charles Beach of Medina and Cameron Swick of Roy-Hart, both scored a pair of victories today to advance to the semifinals of the state Division 2 (small schools) wrestling championships being held at the Times Union Center in Albany.

Beach (220) started strong with a quick pin in 1:10 over John Smith of Robert F. Kennedy High (PSAL). He then nipped Anthonhy Moffo of Morrisville (Section III) 1-0 in the quarterfinals.

Beach, who is 31-1 on the season, will next face Aaron Mann of Warsaw in the semifinals on Saturday. Mann advanced with a pin and a major decision win.

Swick (160), blanked Liam Heslin of Chester (Section IX) 5-0 in his opening match. He then decisioned Zack Loomis of Avon 9-2 in the quarterfinals.

Swick, who is 32-0, will next take on Jsson Hoffman of Hadley Luzerne Lake George (Section II) in the semifinals. Hoffman scored a pair of 5-0 decision wins in his first two matches.

The semifinals are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Saturday with the finals at 6 p.m.

Two other local wrestlers, Joe Velez of Medina and Dustin Joy of Lyndonville, were both defeated in their first round matches.

Velez (126) dropped a close 3-1 decision of Nicholas Gaiser of Alexander while Joy was edged out 5-3 by Brad Dietz of Phoenix (Section III).

However, both wrestlers rebounded to score wrestle-back victories.

Velez decisioned Amir Johnson of Pietredes (PSAL) 3-2 but was then eliminated via a 5-0 loss to Ty Rifanburg from Norich (Section IV).

Joy bested Colin Hogan of Peru (Section VII) 7-1but then bowed out via a 3-1 loss to Noah Handy of Dolgeville (Section III).

Newfane’s Jake Kubala (195) also advanced to the semifinals with a pair of wins.

First he pinned David Hayner of Mechanicsville-Stillwater (Section II) in 5:21 and then edged Kevin Morgans of Eldred-Liberty-Swest (Section IX) 3-2 in the quarterfinals.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Medina’s Jalin Cooper puts up a floater shot during the Mustangs semifinal loss to East Aurora this evening at Buffalo State College.

A lengthy 11 minute plus field goal scoring drought down the stretch proved fatal as No. 2 seed Medina dropped a 55-46 decision to No. 3 East Aurora this evening in the semifinal round of the Section VI Class B1 playoffs at Buffalo State College.

Up by seven, 36-29, with 3:15 to go in the third quarter, Medina could not score from the field again until 4:50 remained in the final stanza when Jalin Cooper hit a jumper.

During that long drought East Aurora rallied into the lead for good at 46-40.

Cooper’s jumper, followed by two free throws by Tyler Ames, did pull Medina back to within two, 46-44, with 3:50 remaining but the Mustangs could not score from the field again until the fins three seconds.

Back-to-back threes by Noah Thompson and Cal McTigue upped the Blue Devils advantage to eight at 52-44, and put a lock on the win.

Thompson finished with a game high 25 points for the Blue Devils which will now face undefeated (22-0) top seeded Olean in the B1 championship game on Saturday. The Huskies romped past No. 4 Dunkirk 59-41 in the other semi.

Cooper had 18 to lead Medina as Daryl Haynes added 8, Ames 6, Justin Morgan and Jared Zinkievich 5 and Ronnie Koonce 4.

Jared Zinkievich puts up a shot for Medina over East Aurora defender Cal McTigue.

East Aurora grabbed a narrow 11-10 lead at the end of a sea-saw first quarter which saw five lead changes.

The Blue Devils upped the lead to five, 17-12, early in the second period after back-to-back threes by Thompson and Liam Sheehan.

Medina though came battling back with a 12-5 run to rally into a 24-21 lead.

A rebound bucket by Ames and a layup by Cooper ignited that rally. Zinkieivch followed up with back-to-back layups and Haynes tacked on a three off a turnover.

East Aurora though rallied back into a 27-25 lead at the outset of the third period after layups by Thompson and McTigue.

Medina’s Justin Morgan tries to drive against East Aurora’s Noah Thompson.

Medina came battling back one more time, this time with an 11-2 run, on a jumper and rebound bucket by Cooper, driving layups by Koonce and Haynes and a three by Morgan to regain a seven point, 36-29, advantage with 3:15 to go in the third period.

However, the lid went on the basket again on the Mustangs for most of the final 11:15 of the game.

Trailing by five, 43-38, at the three-quarter mark, the Mustangs rallied back to within two at 46-44 with 3:50 to go after a jumper by Cooper and two free throws by Ames but could not pull even as East Aurora countered with a 9-0 run to put a firm lock on the win and a trip to the finals.

Medina finishes the season at 15-7.