Canandaigua Tourney
jan 10 -
All four
entered seniors put on a dominating performance at the Bradshaw
Memorial Tournament, held on the 9th and 10th of January at
Canandaigua Academy. Brendan Ruddy (189) and Matt Hart (135)
both rebounded from losses against national-caliber opponents to
battle back for the third place, while Matt Cubillos and Devan Van
Auken took home tournament titles.
Hart
had his only loss of the tournament at the hands of Rush Henrietta's
State ranked John Roberts, the eventual 135 lb Champion and
tournament M.O.W. Hart's consolation finals match was won 4-3
over Canandaigua's David Bradshaw, nephew of Robert Bradshaw for
whom the tournament is named. The match ended controversially
when, with 5 seconds remaining in the third period and Hart ahead
4-3, the timekeeper forgot to start the clock. Hart held off a
takedown for what was clearly more than 5 seconds, and the officials
declared him the winner.
Ruddy also dropped just one match to the eventual champion,
Brockport's Christian Boley. Boley has been ranked as high as
12th in the nation at 215, but was visibly frustrated against Ruddy
in their preliminary match. Losing prior to the semi-finals
typically means tougher matches against quality opponents, but Ruddy
battled back utilizing an aggressive Gable series. He scored 5
consecutive wins to go 6-1 for the tournament with 3 pins and a
third place finish.
Matt Cubillos was awarded the "Aggregate Falls" award, for having
the most pins in the fewest amount of time for any competitor in the
tournament. Cubillos was on the mat for a total of 4 minutes
and 59 seconds and pinned all four opponents in the first period.
Many in the crowd did not even know that the finals had taken place
when he finished Rush Henrietta's Phil Moore in only :43 seconds.
Said one section V coach, "These people paid good money to watch the
finals. The least you could have done was put on a bit of a
show."
Devan Van Auken looked smooth on his feet, practically taking down
opponents at will, in capturing the 215 lb title. Van Auken
won all four of his matches, with 2 pins and 2 majors. In the
finals, he defeated Churchville Chili's Earnest Pringle 13-1 to wrap
up an M.O.W.-worthy performance. His closest match of the
tournament was a 12-2 pounding against Batavia in the semi-finals.
All 4 of these wrestlers had what was clearly their best
performances so far this season. Their efforts skyrocketed the
team from a mediocre 10th place after the semifinals, to a
respectable 6th place finish against outstanding competition.
Congratulations on the job well done.
