By JOHN ANDERSON
Eighth-grade students usually wrestle a lightweight class and take the bus to watch Super Sectionals where the best of all Section V classes compete to send the elite to the state tournament.
Wellsville coach Tyler Carmen looked at the sheet following the Section V Class B2 championships. Wellsville was sending two 8th-graders to the Super’s, six wrestlers and ended a drought with a Section V champion in John Layfield.
For the first time since Brad Haggerty in 2012 and Dustin White’s title in 2010, Wellsville has a Section V wrestling champion.
Layfield at 189 pounds won the B2 Section V title with an 8-0 win over North-Rose Wolcott’s Alan Anthony.
Layfield, a senior, had pins to get to the finals and didn’t give up a point on the day. He also wore his lucky white Wellsville Texas Hot socks all day.
Layfield and five other Wellsville wrestlers will advance to the Super Sectionals next weekend at Brockport State University with a trip to the state tournament on the line.
Junior Evin Rought at 285 pinned Holley/Kendall’s Zane Chrsitakes at 1:39 of the first period in the consolation finals to take third. Juniors Shane Davidson at 172 (fourth) and Brayden Riley at 132 (fifth) also placed on the podium to advance to Super Sectionals.
Two eighth graders, Jack Cicirello at 126 and Xander Outman at 152 took sixth and advanced to Super Sectionals as well.
The team took fifth overall as Canisteo-Greenwood took the team title.
“Having missed last year (Wellsville schools did not allow wrestling because of Covid), John Layfield is a second-year wrestler,” said Wellsville wrestling coach Tyler Carmen. “He went from fourth as a sophomore to first. He is a coachable kid. You give him a playbook and say ‘go.’ He puts in the extra work, he stays to do sprints, goes to additional tournaments and works out in different wrestling rooms and gyms … all of that hard work paid off.”
Carmen was also pleased with the overall team effort and credited the seniors.
The 8th graders, Jack Cicirello and Xander Outman — those were very tough weight classes,,” Carmen explained. “Xander had the No. 1 ranked wrestler in the state in his class and Jack had the No. 2. Just for them to get exposure to Super Sectionals as an 8th-grader, to put shoes on and compete with the best guys in our section and the state, you can’t match that experience! They will carry that through their high school career and it’s huge for our guys.”
The gutsiest performance came from Shane Davidson. He was injured in late 2021 and has not wrestled since before Christmas. He lost in the semi-finals and instead of risking any injury before Super Sectionals, he took an injury default to finish fourth.
“In Shane’s second match, he went against the No. 4 seed. That’s incredible for someone who hasn’t wrestled since before Christmas,” Carmen said. “I don’t know if they build them tougher than Shane. Because of injuries, he wrestled seven matches and hasn’t wrestled since December. He did everything he could to get back on the mat.
“Thanks to (Wellsville Athletic Trainer Kylie Bierman) and his family, he was ready to wrestle,” Carmen said. “Just to put the shoes on and get out there was incredible. He is going to work hard and try to get ready for next weekend.”
Brayden Riley had a big day with a 16-8 win over Brock Youngs of Mynderse to place fifth. Evin Rought also had a solid day with his only loss to the Section V champion in the semi-finals.
“Evin Rought did everything we asked him to just like Brayden. They wrestled without pressure and it showed through their wrestling,” Carmen said. “They got into scoring positions and got the job done. Evin has become a leader for the team. He’s an anchor he’s a vocal leader and him having success carries through to the rest of the team.”
Wellsville finished fifth as a team, just two points behind Addison. That effort had Carmen proud.”I could not be more proud of the Wellsville wrestling program,” Carmen said. “Plus, we had three juniors place who are coming back. But we really got a lot out of our seniors and the senior leadership,” Carmen said. “Our guys wrestled great.”
B2 champions through six places:
Outstanding Wrestler Award (Lower Weights) – Xavier deJesus-Remchuk (CG)
Outstanding Wrestler Award (Upper Weights) – Mitchell Gaiser (Alexander)
Championship Final (1st)
Consolation Final (3rd)
| 102 | Layton McDonald (NRW) > Max Heckman (Alexander) decision 7-4 |
| 110 | Justin Wise (Addison) > Joseph McDoanld (Mynderse) fall 2:26 |
| 118 | Vinny Chiccino (Williamson) > William Kruger (HK) fall 3:00 |
| 126 | Cole Friedhaber (LR) > Travis Shallenberger (BB) decision 6-5 |
| 132 | Justin Baker (Warsaw) > Levi Riley (Addison) fall 2:25 |
| 138 | Logan Caves (NRW) > Dylan Clemons (HK) fall 0:58 |
| 145 | Beau Zeh (CG (+Jasper-Troupsburg)) > Trent Watson (Addison) forfeit |
| 152 | Derek Geronimo (ER) > Haydin Perez (BB) decision 1-0 |
| 160 | Carson Turner (CG (+Jasper-Troupsburg)) > Mason Bump (Alexander) decision 4-3 |
| 172 | Dan Morales (ER) > Shane Davidson (Wellsville) forfeit |
| 189 | Jayden Mast (Pembroke) > Jacob Evingham (CG (+Jasper-Troupsburg)) fall 4:45 |
| 215 | Nate Wazinski (NRW) > Trevor Mochol (CG (+Jasper-Troupsburg)) fall 2:03 |
| 285 | Evin Rought (Wellsville) > Zane Christakes (HK) fall 1:39 |
Consolation Final (5th)
| 102 | Parker Denning (HK) > Brenden Eichas (HK) forfeit |
| 110 | Victor Terras (Bloomfield) > Bruce Rasmusson (HK) forfeit |
| 118 | Jackson Conway (Warsaw) > Abdul Yousifzai (ER) fall |
| 126 | Ayden Taylor (PY) > Jack Cicirello (Wellsville) fall 1:53 |
| 132 | Brayden Riley (Wellsville) > Brock Youngs (Mynderse) major decision 16-8 |
| 138 | Jackson Wren (Williamson) > Mason Gray (PY) decision 9-7 |
| 145 | Luke Marshall (Williamson) > Jason Taylor (ER) fall 4:05 |
| 152 | Caleb Baldwin (NRW) > Xander Outman (Wellsville) fall 1:31 |
| 160 | Robert Haberger (PY) > Ethan Carmer (NRW) decision 8-4 |
| 172 | Clayton Reed (NRW) > Dominic Dennis (CG (+Jasper-Troupsburg)) fall 1:37 |
| 189 | Stuart Ulrich (Alexander) > Morgen Major (Mynderse) fall 2:51 |
| 215 | Gavin Smith-Crandall (Alexander) > Jorden Ostrander (HK) fall 4:37 |
| 285 | Colin Cusson (Mynderse) > Ethan Ross (CG (+Jasper-Troupsburg)) decision 5-0 |
