THREE BATH WRESTLERS COMPETE IN STATE FINALS
BY JUSTIN PFEIFFER HORNELL EVENING TRIBUNE

Haverling wrestlers, appearing in white, wrestled their way into the state finals held Friday and Saturday in Albany. Clockwise from above left, Cody Hutcheson, Bryant Madigan and Tony Viselli take on their opponents at Super Sectionals to qualify for the finals.

Three Haverling High School wrestlers appeared in the state capital this weekend for the state wrestling tournament at the Times Union Center.

Haverling sent three representatives - Cody Hutcheson, Tony Viselli and Bryant Madigan. All three Rams won their respective weight classes at Super Sectionals, receiving automatic bids.

Separately, Addison student Loran Hively received a wildcard bid to the tournament and wrestled at the former Pepsi Arena.

Their matches occured after press time Friday and will be reported in next week's Courier.

The at-large entries were subjected to a point system to determine if they qualified for the state tournament. First, wrestlers' wins and losses for the season were tallied. Then points were awarded for where the wrestler placed at sectionals and at the state qualifier. Points were also given to the wrestler for where they placed at sectionals, the state qualifier and states - if they made it that far - from the previous season.

PHOTOS PROVIDED

Hutcheson, a sophomore who competes in the 152- pound division, was to face Trevor Delahoy, a senior from Section VI's Southwestern in Jamestown. Hutcheson defeated Attica's Pat Carter, 5-1, in the championship match at Super Sectionals.

Viselli, a senior, was to face Andrew Apperson in the 189-pound division after defeating Holley's Key McPherson by major decision, 14-4, to earn the right to compete at states.

Madigan, a senior who competes at 275, was to face Dust in Frederick from Section VII's Ausable Valley,

which is near Adirondack Park and Lake Champlain.

"We've spent some time wrestling with some other schools that are going to the state tourna-ment," Bath coach Jim Fowler said. "Practice has been pretty intense. All three have worked really hard ," he added. "They are excited about the weekend."

Although the three Rams were not familiar with their opponents, Fowler said it shouldn't pose a problem.

"I don't know a lot about them, I've kind of looked at who they've wrestled and how they've done," Fowler said. "We haven't spent a lot of time on that . Section V

has some of the toughest kids in state. We're pretty comfortable with where we are. We're just going to take it one match at a time."

Fowler said experience on such a big stage shouldn't affect his kids either.

"Not really. Madigan was there last year, and he placed fourth. So it's not really new to him," Fowler said. "For our sophomore, this is going to be a really big eye opener for him.

"Viselli's wrestled in some big tournaments," he added. "The shock will wear off real quick once they blow the whistle in first match."

Hively is slated to face

Donnie McBride from Section II's Ravena. In preparation, Hively is going through intense one-on-one workout s. The senior placed fourth at the state qualifier last year, but did not make it to the state tournament .

"He's gone through intensive swim training. We swim laps and do some underwater stuff," Bielski said. "I brought in a guy who wrestled 10 years ago for me at 145 pounds (Robert Risley). He now goes about 230. He's very much of a health person, he's into weight s. He's really, really quick and strong."