GUILDERLAND — The Guilderland wrestling team might be sad to see January come to an end.

The Dutchmen have had a successful first month of the year, winning all of their dual meets in the month and wrestling well in three tournaments.

After winning the Ilion Tournament in central New York, the Dutchmen placed fifth out of 15 teams at the Canandaigua Tournament and finished fifth at the Big 10 Invitational this past weekend.

The Dutchmen beat Niskayuna and Averill Park in dual matches earlier in the month. The Dutch then beat a tough Columbia team, 39-30, on Jan. 16 and Mohonasen, 60-10, on Jan. 22.

"Right in the mix"

Guilderland wrestled Section II power Shenendehowa in a dual meet on Wednesday night.
"We’re right in the mix after beating Columbia and wrestling the way we have," said Guilderland Coach Korey Rogotzke. "We have Shen, Bethlehem, and the Section II Duals coming up. We’ll be right there for sectionals. If we’re healthy, we have a chance at the top two in Class A’s."

With the way the Dutchmen have wrestled in tough tournaments, that is a great possibility.

At the Canandaigua Tournament, the Dutchmen got a win from Matt Cubillos in the 125-pound weight class. Josh Sawyer finished second in the 171-pound weight class. His only loss was a 7-6 decision to a wrestler from Pennsylvania.

Robert Romeo went 5-1 and finished third in the 130-pound weight class. Devan Van Auken finished fifth in the 285-pound class and Brandon Ruddy finished fifth at 215 pounds.

Last weekend, the Dutch were missing two wrestlers at the Big 10 Invitational. Eugene Sellie and Clay DeCesare both are out with injuries.
"If we have both of them," Rogotzke said, "we probably get into the top three. All the teams that finished ahead of us are state-ranked."

The Dutchmen finished with 143.5 points. Long Island power Huntington won the tournament with 230 points. Burnt Hills was second, Amsterdam was third, and Section IX’s Valley Central finished fourth.

Cubillos won another tournament, pinning a competitor that had beaten him last season.
"Cubillos has been on a tear lately," Rogotzke said.

Josh Sawyer finished second, Van Auken was second, and Romeo was third. Travis Wolanski won his consolation final to finish third and Matt Hart was fourth in the 135-pound weight class.
"Travis Wolanski is starting to turn it back on," Rogotzke said. "It has taken him some time to adjust from 96 to 112 pounds this year."

On to sectionals

Rogotzke has some grapplers that appear to be ready for sectionals.
"Romeo is having a great senior year," the coach said. "He’s faced some tough competition. He was fifth at sectionals last year and he’s just gone to another level. He wants to get to the Section II finals and be a Class A champion.
"Cubillos had just two one-point losses," Rogotzke said. "He’s lost to the number-one seeded kid in the small schools. Since then he’s been on a tear. He’s eyeing placing at states. He’s starting to put it together."

It’s not just the varsity team that is doing well this winter for Guilderland.
"The JV is doing well and the modified is 6-1," Rogotzke said. "We are doing really well in the Suburban Council. We have a lot of depth within the program. We have three seniors on the varsity and everybody comes back. And the underclassmen will have a lot of experience."

The youth wrestling program has an open registration policy and any child interested in wrestling just needs to go to a practice on Tuesday or Thursday to sign up. Practices are held at Farnsworth Middle School.

The 10th Annual Guilderland Youth Wrestling Tournament will be held at Guilderland High School on March 1.

The varsity Dutchmen, who are 8-3 overall and 5-3 in the leauge, will take part in the Section II Duals Saturday at Colonie High School. The Dutch will face Whitehall in their first match at 9 a.m. With a win, they will probably face top seed Shen for the second time in less than a week.