NEW YORK STATE WRESTLING: ROBINSON PLACES THIRD, WELLES FOURTH TO PACE WAVERLY'S FIVE MEDALISTS AT DIVISION 2 CHAMPIONSHIPS (24 PHOTOS) (February 28, 2026)
By TIM BIRNEYValley Sports ReportALBANY — All five Waverly wrestlers to make the trip to Albany for the New York State Division Wrestling 2 Championships will head home from the MVP Arena with state hardware in hand.
Senior Cooper Robinson wrestled back from a loss in the semifinals to place third, and junior Matthias Welles recorded three wins in the consolation bracket Saturday on his way to a fourth-place finish, while senior Troy Beeman placed sixth, senior Daltton Davis was seventh, and junior Rhylee Stotler was an eighth-place finisher.
With just the finals remaining, Waverly is in second place in the team standings with 67.5 points. Tioga leads the field with 70 points and two finalists, Honeoye Falls-Lima is third with 64.5 points and two finalists, Eden is fourth with 62.5 points and one finalist, and Southwestern is fifth with 54 points and two finalists.
"Albany is a city of celebration and heartbreak," said Waverly coach Devan Witman. "We had five wrestlers win medals, but we had wrestlers who did not reach the goals they had set for themselves."
The Wolverines started the day with Stotler, Davis, and Welles all registering wins in the blood round, then went 0-2 in the semifinals, with Robinson and Beeman both suffering setbacks.
"Our morning started very well. We were 3-for-3 in the blood round," said Witman.
"In the semifinals, we had the utmost confidence in our guys, but things didn't work out," he noted.
"Cooper ran into a real hammer, and Troy lost a tough match," added Witman.
In the semifinals, Robinson got caught in a cradle twice, the second time top-seeded Jacob McVige of Honeoye Falls-Lima cinched tightly in the center of the mat for a fall at 2:45.
Robinson bounced back in the consolation semifinals, scoring a takedown with 1:13 remaining in the third period for a 3-2 win over Canisteo-Greenwood's Austin Hall.
In the third-place match, Robinson scored a reversal early in the second period to take a 2-1 lead over Southern Hills' Logan Sheriff, then tossed him to his back with a headlock for a fall at 3:24.
"Cooper had to re-group after the semi-final loss," said Witman. "When he won that consolation semi-final match, he was on a mission in the the third-place match."
Robinson finishes his career at Waverly with a fifth-place and a third-place finish at States.
Welles opened Saturday with a pin of Babylon's Lucas Coriander in 3:30. Welles used a pair of first-period takedowns to take a 6-1 lead, and stretched his advantage to 13-3 with a takedown in the opening 10 seconds of the third period before finishing off the fall.
In the consolation semifinals, Welles took Chatauqua Lake's Colton Hamilton directly to his back for a fall in 39 seconds.
In the third-place match, Whitehall's Chad Monty scored the bout's lone takedown with 47 seconds left in the third period for a 4-3 win.
"Matt lost a tough one in the third-place match, but fighting back to that match after losing in the quarterfinals is not easy," said Witman.
"He came in very focused today, and wrestled very well," said Witman.
Welles now has a sixth- and a fourth-place finish at States.
Third-seeded Beeman, who was a state champ in 2024 and a runner-up in 2025, lost via fall in 2:26 to second-seeded Zach Keeling of Williamson-Marion-Sodus in the semifinals, then lost by fall to top-seeded Jim Biccum of South Jefferson in 3:34 in the consolation semifinals.
In the fifth-place match, Beeman dropped a 5-1 overtime decision to Jack Brown of Homer, who he beat in sudden-victory Friday night in the quarterfinals.
"Troy had a rough day ... he was right in all those matches," said Witman. "He's had a great career — three state medals in three years."
Davis, who missed the end of his junior season after being diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma, was 2-1 on the day to finish seventh in the 138-pound bracket.
"What a story Daltton Davis has been over the past 20 months," said Witman. "He didn't know what was in store for him, and now he's taking home a state medal.
"He's so resilient, and that's why he's where he's at in life, and his resilience is why he's such a great wrestler, too."
Stotler pinned Little Falls's Collin Logalbo in 2:40 in the blood round, then lost 8-1 to John Glenn's Aiden Lee to fall into the seventh-place match, which he lost via fall in 3:49 to Ichabod Crane's Peter Filli in a match that was deadlocked at 7-7 at the time of the fall.
"One of the best things about Rhylee can also be one of the most frustrating," said Witman. "He's not afraid to put himself in dangerous positions trying to score points, but sometimes those don't work out for you, and a couple of times today, they didn't."
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IN PHOTO 1: Waverly's Cooper Robinson. IN TOP PHOTO: Waverly's Matthias Welles. ... PHOTOS BY TIM BIRNEY.
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