This past weekend, the Berne-Knox-Westerlo varsity wrestling team continued its mid season stretch of strong showings with two impressive outings.

First, the Bulldogs defeated Green Tech last Thursday, 48-19. Anthony Pasquini, Devin McGill, Cody Fisher, Dom Woodmansee, Collin Peragine, Matt Farnan, Joe Sprung, and Stephen Degroff all picked up six-point wins for the Bulldogs.

Last Saturday, BKW competed in the Dan Wickham Classic at Unatego. The Bulldogs finished in fourth place out of 16 teams. Every member of the team won matches at this tournament which features schools from all throughout New York State. Schools from sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, and 9 compete at this event.

“The improvements the team is making shows, as we scored more points than at least five teams who placed higher than us at the Walton tournament just three weeks ago,” said Head Coach Jeff Vogel. “Coming here and having every boy come within one match of being on the awards podium is saying how far these young men have come along in just a few short weeks.”

Joe Sprung continued his dominant season with another three-pin performance on his way to his fourth tournament championship of the season and 11th tournament championship of his career.

Breaking the school record of 10 tournament championships set by Keith Domermuth in 2009, Sprung defeated returning Section 7 place winner, Paul Herrera, from Saranac, by fall in the semifinals, and then pinned Austin Dean from Sidney in 2:54 in the finals. Dean was a Section 4 Class C champion in 2012 and also a returning state qualifier place finisher.

Matt Farnan had another strong showing with a third place finish. This was the fourth tournament this season that Farnan had a podium finish; a solid accomplishment in only his first full year as a varsity wrestler.

Cody Fisher continued his strong showing at tournaments this year with a fourth place finish. He had two pins, one against Zach Wheeler, of Sidney, and the other against Dawson Beers of Walton.

The win over Beers avenges a loss from earlier in the season. Fisher also scored a technical fall with a 16-to-0 win over John Oreeno of Schuylerville. The only blemishes on Fisher’s day was two losses by decision to Troy Ostert of Delhi; losing the second match by a takedown at the end for his fourth place finish.

Jim McGill continued his strong season with his second consecutive podium finish and third podium finish of the season. He had a pin over Ulysses Osterich, of Monticello, in 35 seconds, and a technical fall over Robert Durst of Vestal, 17 to 0.

McGill’s losses came to Robert Woodward, of Chenango Valley, and Section 7 place winner Michael Charland from Saranac.

Placing sixth for the Bulldogs was Dominic Woodmansee with his third podium finish of the season, and eighth-grader Devin McGill.

McGill was 3-2 for the day and was very impressive for the second consecutive week.

Also winning matches for the Bulldogs, and just narrowly missing a place on the podium by getting to the top eight in the tournament were Brad Ableman, Anthony Pasquini, Collin Peragine, and Sam Gerardi.

BKW wrestling is in action again today against Schoharie. It is Senior Night; Matt Farnan, Anthony Pasquini, and Joe Sprung will be honored.