by Dick Sterling
Gouverneur Wildcat wrestler Zoe Griffith continues to make waves in the New York State high school wrestling world. This past Saturday Zoe had an opportunity, once again, to wrestle against other female athletes. She has already proven to be quite competitive wrestling against males, but her performance against girls is nothing short of stunning.
On Saturday the Wildcats headed to Latham to take part in the King Bison Invitational at Shaker High School. As usual, the tournament features a King’s Division, and this year also included a Queen’s Division, with an impressive number of female wrestlers competing right alongside the boys.
Zoe, who will be wrestling in a brand new girl’s state tournament this weekend, at Onondaga Community College, in Syracuse, turned heads once again as she breezed through the competition like a hot knife through butter.
Wrestling at 132 pounds, her first match on Saturday was against Eva Meshkov, of Niskayuna, Zoe needed just 21 seconds to pin her. In match two her opponent was Kiara Graves, of Chautauqua Lake, this match lasted just 36 seconds with Zoe earning another fall. Round three had Zoe wrestling against Jaiden Eberle, of Shaker High, Zoe earned a pin in 33 seconds.
After her first three matches it was on to the championship round. In the semifinals she faced off against Sofia Gervasio, of Chautauqua Lake, this proved to be Griffith’s toughest match of the day as she was extended to 41 seconds before pinning her opponent. In the 132-pound championship match Zoe would battle another wrestler from Chautauqua Lake, Mia Smith. The title match took only 18 seconds as Zoe quickly put Smith to her back to earn the fall.
Zoe finished 5-0 with five pins and was only on the mat for a total of 2:29. The Wildcat wrestler is undefeated against females and has an impressive 15-8 record against boys as a regular starter on the varsity Wildcat team. The sophomore has now wrestled in exactly 100 matches for Gouverneur and has compiled an impressive record of 63-37 with 41 pins. This weekend she will be looking to become the 11th Wildcat wrestler to win a New York State Championship.
VANDAVIAN WAY WINS
The Wildcats team did quite well at the King Bison as they finished third in a field of 16 teams. The combined scores, which included both boys and girls scores had them finishing second. Saratoga Springs placed first with 126 points, Newburgh was second with 119 and the Wildcats finished third with 116.5.
Wildcat junior Vandavian Way won another tournament as he was the only Wildcat to finish first. Way, who is now 31-2 on the season, picked up four straight first period pins, two of them in 36 seconds, and headed to the finals against an accomplished wrestler. Vandavian would have to battle Renso Montalvo, of Amsterdam, in the 152-pound championship match. Montalvo entered the match with a record of 30-5, the senior placed fifth at the 2022 New York State Division I championships and has a lifetime record of 135-29. Way ended up winning the battle by a 3-0 decision.
Two Wildcat wrestlers made it to the championship match, where they were defeated and finished second. Cyler Baer, just an eighth grader, went 4-1 at the Shaker and lost his 126-pound title match to Taylor Beaury, of Saratoga Springs by a 5-0 score. James Minckler, a freshman wrestling at 110 pounds, finished the tournament with a 3-1 record. He was pinned in his title match by Ashten Haley, of Cobleskill-Richmondville.
Drew Gates (160 pounds) finished third with a 4-1 record. He pinned Gianni Delgado, of Saratoga Springs in the third place match. Drew’s only loss was against Lucas Schell, of Queensbury, who is 30-1 on the season. Gates lost to Schell by a 5-2 decision.
Also earning a third place finish was Hunter Mashaw (145 pounds). Hunter beat Dominic Scolaro, of Cobleskill-Richmondville, in the third place match by technical fall 15-0. In an earlier round Hunter defeated one of his opponents with an impressive 10 second pin.
GOUVERNEUR 54 OGDENSBURG 12
Last Wednesday the Wildcats improved their Northern Athletic Conference record to 4-0 by slamming the Ogdensburg Free Academy Blue Devils 54-12, the win was their 114th straight regular season league victory. Winning by pin for the Wildcats were: Ryan Mashaw (126 pounds) in just 56 seconds; Cyler Baer (132) in 1:07; Zoe Griffith (138) in 1:50; Turner Sochia (145) in 5:18; Vandavian Way (160) in 1:49; and Drew Gates (172) in 1:43.
This Saturday (Jan. 28) the Wildcats are one of 12 teams invited to take part in the New York State Dual Meet Tournament, at the SRC Arena, at Onondaga Community College, in Syracuse. Wrestling is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. This will also be the venue for the first sanctioned state tournament for female wrestlers, where Zoe Griffith is scheduled to compete.
Good luck to the Wildcat wrestling team at this Saturday’s tournament.