A small number of Club Schoolboys went to East Greenbush(Albany) to compete in the annual State championships.   Three wrestlers claimed Gold medals in freestyle and two claimed Gold in Greco.   Hunter Richards won both styles along with Kyle Kuty.  Additonal golds were won by Dan Knapp and Gianne Silba.   Coach John Richards led the small contingent for the event, which had both styles wrestled on Saturday May 12.  the winners qualified for the State Schoolboy team which will compete in the Nationals in June.

Results:  

               98#     Noah Handy       3 GR       3 FS

               !00#     Hunter Richards 1GR        1  FS

               128#    Jamyson Burns     -           6 FS

               136#     Dan Knapp          -           1 FS

               160#     Kyle Kuty          1 GR       1 FS

A Great weekend for the Club.  About 35 wrestlers from th Club traveled to Binghamton to compete in the State Freestyle/Greco Championships.  The tournament generally has most of the best State High School wrestlers competing.  It is common to see High School champions wrestling each other and in some cases losing in this tough tournament.   MVWC has won both Junior and Cadet divisions in the past, but it has been a few years since the last team championship.   This year there was not any expectation of contending, however the wrestlers thought differantly and won both Freestyle and Greco Cadet divisions.   In the Junior division the club also placed anumber of wrestlers.    Results:

Cadet Freestyle:  First  Dan Smith 170,  Ben Honis 182,  Joe Nasoni 195   Second: David Ciciarelli 88,  Ryan Snow 126,  Jack Buell 170,    Third: Jerret Norton 160   Fifth:  Sean McKenna 145,  Travis Reid  195,   Sixth:  Ray Sorensen 100

Juinior Freestyle:   First  Tial Thang 152,    Second  Spencer Norton 195,   Third  Pat Nasoni  195,   Josh Langley  220   Sixth Ron Mytych 160

Cadet Greco:   First David Ciciarelli 88, Ryan Snow 126,  Dan Smith 170, Joe Nasoni 195  Second  Travis Eberly 160,  Jack Buell 170  Third  Ray Sorensen 100, Dandre Norman 106,  Fourth  Joe Barber 106,  Fifth Travis Reid 195   Sixth Elijah Sampro 195

Junor Greco:  First Tial Thang 152,  Pat Nasoni 195   Second  Alex Moss 195  Fifth Mike Vreeland 152

What a trip!!!!  We left April 5 by bus to JFK, plane to Dusseldorf, plane to Stuttgart, and finally a bus to Holzgerlingen.   Tired but excited, the team spent time with their hosts, making new friends.   On Saturday after some touring, they held the first practice session.  Sunday it was off to Natthiem for the first match.   Before that there was some touring to the Stief Bear factory, A castle and a monastary.   The match was tough, with MVWC losing by 3 points in the final score.  The young MVWC team found out that age wasn't really as important, as here in the USA as many of our wrestlers gave away a few years.  The next several days were a mixture of touring and practicing, before the last match on April 13.

The wrestlers traveled to Ludwigsburg to visit the Kings palace, to Stuttgart to shop, to Ritter Chocolate and a night tour of the old walled city of Wild der Stadt  There was also plenty of time to be with their New friends from Holzgerlingen.

On Friday the match involved KSV Holzgerlingen and The Stuttgart Regional Team.  Both teams were strong, with MVWC representing itself wel with anumber of wins and closely fought matches.  Wesley Blanding was the lone MVWC wrestler to go undefeated for the trip.

Results:   Cody Carbery  2-1, Kasey Proper 2-1,   Tyler Heggleke  0-3,  Nick Petroff 0-3,  Connor Russ  2-1,  Barney Prince 2-1,   Wes Blanding  3-0,  Anthony Finocchiaro  2-1,  Mike Vreeland  2-1,  Anthony Rafkis  2-1,   Jack Buell 0-3,  John Regan  0-3,   Matt Fisher  0-3,  Ben Honis  0-3,  Alex Moss 1-2,  Brad Lucas 0-4,  And Brian Ervin  3-1

Next International Trip is to Puerto Rico in October.

Jouni Rosenloff surprised the Club, showing up in Syracuse on Friday to enter The Mohawk Valley International.   Jouni was a student at Pheonix in 2001-2002 and was also a member of MVWC.  It was through the club, that he came to the USA as a student.  The Club had previously met Rosenloff on trips to Europe.  

Since 2002 Jouni has stayed in contact with the MVWC and both he and his parents have joined the Club on other European trips.  Jouni is the Finnish National Freestyle Champion, a place he has held for a number of years.   He has continued wrestling towards his goal to become an Olympian.   The Quest has taken him to competitions and training camps in over 50 countries.  Prior to this years MVWC International, he was training in Colorado with the USA national team and before that in Cuba with the Cuban team.   He will be returning to Finland to make Final preparations for the Qualifying tournaments for the Olympic Games.

The Club will be following his progress and will will update on the website.

By the way he won both Open Freestyle and Open Greco and impressed the wrestlers and fans with a demonstration of that "next Level".   This years MVWC tournament had 335 participants For Saturday Freestyle and 178 for Sundays Greco.  This was an increase over the last several years.  The MVWC won most of the divisions in this years event

At this time 17 wrestlers are on the team selected to continue our relationship with KSV Holzgerlingen in April.   They will leave on April 5 and travel to Germany for the Spring school break.   There will be 2 days of multi match competitions as well as 3 training sessions.  The team will be coached by Mike Letcher and Paul LeBlanc.  It is a team which will represent our area well, featuring a number of section 3 champs and NYS place winners.   All the wrestlers have substantial Freestyle and Greco experiance.

Holzgerlingen is a village located south of Stuttgart in southern Germany.  The town is over 1000years old.   The wrestling team has been organized for over 100 years.   The location is in the middle of some of Germany's most beautifull countryside.  The Black forest, Lake Constance, the Romantic Road region are all within 1 hour of Holzgerlingen.  All the wrestlers will be housed with fellow wrestlers, from Holzgerlingen, for the entire stay.

The Team:  Cody Carbery, Kasey Proper,Tyler Heggleke, Nick Petroff, Connor Russ, Barney Prince, Wes Blanding, Anthony Finocchiaro, Mike Vreeland, Jon Regan, Jack Buell,  Matt Fisher, Tony Rafkis, Ben Honis, Alex Moss,  Brad Lucas,  Brian Ervin

The annual meeting held in November resulted in many things staying the same as in the past several years.   The club has achieved a stability and continues to give its' members an organized and successfull means of training and improving their wrestling in the "off season".  

The board of directors remains unchanged for 2012.  Most of the board as a credit to their committment to the sport, no longer have sons or daughters actively wrestling.  This results in an impatiality rarely seen in other club programs.  While Mike Costello is on his winter stay in Arizona, Laurie Regan will fill in as treasurer/secetary. 

Ther will be no increase in registration costs for membership.   The club will continue to support its wrestlers by paying fees and assisting in room costs at Club Authorized Events.  There will be a Lotto raffle as an additional fundraiser for the month of April.

This will be the 30th year for the Club.   A facebook program tied in with a special celebration-reunion are being planned.   More on this as it developes. 

The schedule was set as of the meeting date, more events will be added.   Schedule:      March 17-19  Mohawk Valley Festival(MVWC wrestlers pay for 1 style)       March 10-11 Super Six Niagara Falls       April 21 or 28 Section 3 Qualifier       May 4-6 Junior-Cadet championships Binghamton     May 12 NYS Kids-Schoolboy       May 18-20  Northeast Championships Pennsylvania     June 2  NYS Club Cup     July 7-8 Canada Cup

Canada Cup is one of Canada's premeir events.  It is held at the beginning of their National Teams training camp.  All their National Team members participate from the Cadet, Junior and Senior divisions, as well as many of Canada's top wrestlers aspiring to be on the National Team.  The Tournament is also one of the few FILA recognized events held in North America, which draws other international teams.

This year 10 wrestlers from the MVWC competed and placed third.   Team Canada(National Team) placed first and Team Ontario( the top wrestlers in Ontario not on the National team),was second   MVWC was the highest finishing Club team.

Wesley Blanding at 63kg lead the MVWC with a Gold Medal performance, beating Canada's National team member, who didn't score a single point against him.  Cody Carbery placed second at 46kg.   Placing third was Anthony Finocchairo 63kg, and Aaron Prichard 69kg.  Fourth place finishers were Jon Crast 58kg, Sam Farfaglia 76kg and Pat Nasoni 85kg.  Connor Russ, Dan Smith, Alex Moss all competed and won matches.  Overall the MVWC wrestlers tabulated 26 wins and 15 losses.

Most of the Canada Cup wrestlers, as well as aditional MVWC wrestlers, will be in action  again on August 27-28 at the NYS Fair.

Eight days, three training sessions, two days of competition and lots of sights, made for a successfull trip to the Netherlands in April.  The team left on April 18 with an overnight flight to Amsterdam.  Upon arrival it was by train and tram to the Youth Hostel in Amsterdam.   Although tired after the flight, they briefly oriented themselves with the city, how to use the tram system and avoid the bicycles.  Tuesday also had a training session ar Bert Kops Gym, were they were surprised, when Jouni Rosenlof showed up for the training session.  Jouni, a member of the Finish National Team and an Olympic contender, spent time with MVWC in the early 2000's.   Wednesday had the group involved in an ART APPRECIATION DAY with visits to the Rijksmueseum and th Van Gogh mueseum.  They trained again at Bert's Gym in the late afternoon.   On Wednesday night the team made a trip to the Center of Amsterdam and toured the area around the Old Church.  On the last day in Amsterdam the wrestlers visited the Anne Frank House,  the Royal Palace and concluded with a training session at Kops Gym. Everyone was on weight.

Friday was weigh-ins in Utrecht and a quick tour of the city with a climb up the tower.

On Saturday at the tournament, The MVWC wrestlers started with a fairly strong 2 rounds.  However as the tournament advanced wrestling became tougher.  In the end on Sunday the Club had 2 silver medalists:  Zack Zupan and Cody Carbery.   Mike Vreeland finished 5th, with Kasey Proper and Lon Palmer placing 6th.   Others winning matches included: Tyler Hegglelke, Connor Russ, Anthony Finocchairo, Matt Fisher and Wes Blanding.   Just under 600 wrestlers competed with 18 countries represented.   The tournament claims that for its 40 year history virtually every European Champion and European Olympic place winner has participated at the Utrecht Easter Tournament.  This event by far is the toughest Tournament MVWC participates in.

The team had the opportunity to interact with many wrestlers from many countries.  They made friends  and traded with the Italian team.  Four friends from Holzgerlingen visited the event.  We roomed with the Mexican National Team for 3 days, and beat them in a game of Football.  On the last night the MVWC was the only team invited to the small after tournament party with our hosts from De Halter, at their club house.

After a gruelling flight home with unbelievable delays from Newark to Syracuse the team arrived back at about 11:30 pm on Monday April 25 

Twenty six wrestlers committed to compete at the annual NYS-USA Junior Cadet championships in Binghamton, on May 13-15.   This tournament has all the top wrestlers in the State competing, with the exception of Section3.   Most of Central New Yorks wrestlers do not compete, with the exception of the members of the MVWC.   This is really unfortunate and reflects in Section 3's results at the annual High School championships.

The MVWC wrestlers represented our area well by taking many places in both Freestyle and Greco-Roman styles.  RESULTS:

Cadet                             Freestyle                        Greco  

Jacob White 91                  4                                Bronze

Conner Tine  98                 Bronze                           Bronze

Ryan Snow 112                    4                                   6

Jon Crast  130                 Gold                               Gold  

Cnnor Russ 130                 Silver                               4

Don Smith 145                         -                             Silver

Bernard McMillan 160       -                                      5

Brandon Lake 171                -                                     6

Joe Nasoni 189                Bronze                       

Alex Moss  189                        -                                5

Brad Lucas 264                  4                                  Bronze   

JUNIOR

Cody Carbery 100            Bronze                            Silver

Dan Ciciarelli 119                4

Weley Blanding 135          Silver                             Bronze

Mike Sardo  135                                                     Silver

Aron Prichard 145              5                                   Bronze

Matt Grogan 171                                                        6

Pat Nasoni  189                  5                                   Bronze

Fred Sherman 215              5