It’s been two years since the area has sent any wrestlers to the New York State Federation wrestling championships.

This year, two Highland wrestlers and one from Marlboro have won Section 9 Division II championships, to return to the tournament, which will begin on Friday morning at the MVP Arena in Albany.

The only area wrestler with any kind of previous exposure to the state tournament is Highland’s Bradley Gatto, who attended the tournament as a spectator two years ago when his older brother, Chris Gatto, a 2022 Highland High School graduate, won his section title and berth at the state meet.

Gatto watched his brother go 2-2 and fail to place at the tournament, but the atmosphere made an impression.

“It’s great,” Gatto said. “The stadium’s great and all the people around are just all supportive for you. It’s a big tournament so hopefully I can pull off a couple of wins there and make it to the second day and place.”

Section 9’s Division II wrestlers have a harder road to the state meet than their Division I counterparts. Section 9 has not had as much success in Division II and only has enough power points to send one wrestler to the state tournament.

So, it’s section championship or bust.
Aside from Gatto, two other wrestlers didn’t bust.

Marlboro’s Reese Greathouse punched his ticket with a 10-1 win over Rondout Valley’s Nick Laskowski at 131 pounds. It has been a longtime coming for Greathouse, who had been wrestling for 11 years.

As a senior, this is his only opportunity to have any kind of state meet success. However, it just means his season had one more big tournament.

“It’s just continuing the season,” Greathouse said.

“Why not do it for as long as you can?”

Highland’s Quinn Jones won the Section 9 championship at 152 pounds when he beat Our Lady of Lourdes’ Connor Wilson.

Like Gatto, he is a junior, and will have one more year to attempt to return after this weekend’s experience.

“It’s a great feeling, and I’m glad I made my coaches proud,” Jones said.

The tournament will open on Friday with the first round. The first, second and quarterfinals will be contested with Wrestlebacks scheduled to end the first day of competition.

Bradley Gatto watched his brother reach the second round of wrestlebacks but failed to place in the tournament.

The semifinals and consolations will begin on Saturday morning.

Gatto knows it’s going to be different as a participant, as opposed to being merely a spectator.

“It’s so much different,” he said. “You’ve got to make weight for it and go out and wrestle to the best of your ability because those kids want it just as much as you do.”

NYS Federation Championships
MVP Arena, Albany
Friday
9:30 a.m. – Opening Ceremony

10 a.m. – First Round
12 p.m. – Second Round
3 p.m. – Quarterfinals
4:30 p.m. – Wrestlebacks

Saturday

9:30 a.m. – Semifinals/Consolations
12:30 p.m. –Wrestlebacks/Consolation Semifinals
2 p.m. – Consolation Finals
5:50 p.m. – Opening Ceremonies for Finals
6:05 p.m. – Championship Finals