Central Valley Academy aims for a state title: What to know about dual meet championships

Jon Rathbun, Times Telegram
·2 min read

SYRACUSE - Central Valley Academy is ranked No. 2 in the state and seeded No. 2 for the New York State Public High School Athletic Association's Division II Dual Meet Championship Tournament this weekend at SRC Arena.

The Thunder, Section III's champion for the sixth consecutive season, are seeded behind Section IV Tioga, the 2022 state champion.

Saturday's Division II tournament starts with pool competition in four groups of three teams. The four pool winners advance to semifinal competition with a championship round slated for 5 p.m. on the Onondaga Community College campus.

Central Valley Academy's Sixx Cook has Camden Blue Devil Jack Chase (foreground) wrapped up at a Jan. 11 dual meet. Central Valley Academy competes in the state dual meet championship tournment Saturday; Cook has in 8-0 record in his three previous trips to the tournament.
Central Valley Academy's Sixx Cook has Camden Blue Devil Jack Chase (foreground) wrapped up at a Jan. 11 dual meet. Central Valley Academy competes in the state dual meet championship tournment Saturday; Cook has in 8-0 record in his three previous trips to the tournament.

More:High school wrestling: CVA repeats as Section III Division II dual meet champion

Central Valley Academy is grouped with Section II Pearl River, the Thunder's opponent in the first round of pool competition, and Section XI Port Jefferson. Central Valley Academy gets its bye in Round 2 and will wrestle Port Jefferson after its match against Pearl River.

Tioga's pool includes Section II Cobleskill-Richmondville and Section VI Chautauqua Lake. Section VIII Seaford, Section IX Saugerties and Section X Gouverneur make up one of the remaining pools, and Section V Canisteo-Greenwood, Section VII Saranac and Section XI John Glenn are in the other.

Central Valley Academy has split in pool competition at the last two state tournaments and failed to advance. The Thunder advanced to the semifinals and won again to reach the finals in 2019; Mt. Sinai defeated Central Valley Academy 37-34 in the finals at that tournament.

Central Valley Academy defeated Tioga in pool competition in 2018, the first year the state tournament was contested. The teams have not met at the tournament since.

The Thunder defeated Section XI Shoreham-Wading River and lost to Section V Canisteo-Greenwood at last year's tournament. Canisteo-Greenwood is back for this year's tournament and ranked third in the state behind Tioga and Central Valley Academy. Shoreham-Wading River, ranked eighth, was beaten by Port Jefferson, ranked 13th, in its sectional tournament.

Canisteo-Greenwood was one of the teams Central Valley Academy beat the year the Thunder advanced from its pool.

Sixx Cook, Gene Edwards, Ethan Randall and Cooper Reed each won two matches for Central Valley Academy at last year's tournament, and Randall and Edwards pinned both of their opponents. Cook and Reed were 2-0 at the 2019 tournament and Cook won four matches when the Thunder advanced to the finals in 2018.Current Thunder wrestlers Santino Curley, Sal Fresco, Camden Hall, Braiden Hight, Jeremy McRedmond, Aden Mead, Maddox Walz and Cole Wheet also saw action at last year's tournament.

Cicero-North Syracuse, Section III's Division I champion, is in a pool with Section VI Starpoint and Section V Fairport. Section IV is represented by Horseheads while Section II has two entries Ballston Spa and Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake.

This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: Central Valley Academy wrestling aims for state dual meet championship