YOUTH WRESTLING: 12 TIOGA GRAPPLERS COMPETING IN NHSCA NATIONALS (2019-03-29)
Tioga County Sports ReportVIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Fifteen Tioga
County grapplers will compete in the 30th Annual NHSCA National
Championships here Friday through Sunday.
The group will be led by 2019 NYSPHSAA Division II state champions Brady and John Worthing from Tioga.
Brady
Worthing will compete in one of the largest weight classes in the
tournament, Junior 138, which has 123 competitors registered. He won a
state title at 132 this season and was a runner-up in 2018.
John
Worthing, a four-time state qualifier and three-time place-winner (he
was forced to withdraw in 2018 due to health issues) will compete in the
Senior 145. There are 76 entries at that weight.
Tioga'
Austin Lamb will wrestle at Senior 152, which has 72 entrants. Lamb is a
three-time state place-winner, placing fourth this past season.
Tioga's David MacWhinnie and Dom Wood are
competing at Junior 126 and Junior 182, respectively. MacWhinnie's
weight class has 116 competitors registered and Wood's has 72.
The
Tigers are also sending a pair of freshman in Mason Welch (113) and
Emmett Wood (152). Welch has 108 contenders in his class and Wood's has
50 entered.
The Tioga Tiger 3-Style club has five grapplers
registered in the Middle School nationals. They include Barton's Zachary
Kotsubka at 75 pounds, Nichols' Deakon Bailey at 85, Gianni Silvestri
of Owego at 90, and Candor's Caden Bellis and Barton's Levi Bellis at 95
pounds.
Silvestri and Caden Bellis, both
7th-graders wrestled at the varsity level this past season, placing
second and fourth, respectively, at 99 pounds in Section IV Division II.
IN PHOTO: John (left) and Brady Worthing.
