Finger Lakes Classic Recap: Sem Wins, Top U.S. Wrestlers Battle, Yianni & Vito Ref

Wyoming Sem’s Korina Blades goes to the line against New York’s Esther Levendusky at the 2019 Finger Lakes Classic. Yianni is wearing the stripes!

by Derek Levendusky, AWW staff writer

ITHACA, NY - Venom Girls Wrestling Club head coach Heath Macaluso put together the best team that he could assemble, stacking his line-up from top to bottom with All-Americans, but in the end, his squad could not overcome the firepower of Wyoming Seminary’s juggernaut program at this year’s Finger Lakes Fall Classic. “Sem” won the tournament finals 54-32 last Saturday in Barton Hall on the campus of Cornell University.

Cornell head coach Rob Koll opened the doors for the event in 2014, which began as a wrestling “festival” but evolved into an elite duals tournament for elementary school boys, middle school boys, and K-12 girls. Their first girls’ division was in 2015 and featured three teams. This year featured 12 teams from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and free agents from all over the East Coast.

The Venom vs. Wyoming Sem rivalry has a history. Venom, a New York-based wrestling club, pulled off the razor thin victory in 2017 with a highly contested 36-36 criteria win. Sem was originally declared the winner, but a review of the scoring and criteria later determined that Venom actually won after a calculation error by the table workers who were keeping the freestyle scoring on paper. By traditional freestyle scoring, Venom won that year 42-39, though Trackwrestling lists it as a 36-36 win. Last year, Wyoming Sem walloped Venom 79-14 to win the title, and then went back-to-back with the win yesterday in Ithaca.

”It’s exciting,” said Sem coach Erin Vandiver before the finals. “It’s gonna be fun.”

Fun it was. The mats were lined with Sem and Venom friends and families, along with numerous wrestling fans who’d attended tournament and knew they were watching top level female high school wrestling. The final was not without drama, as Venom’s 70-pound Teegan Sibble pinned Sem’s Talea Guntrum, avenging a loss at last summer’s NUWAY Southern Throne event in Myrtle Beach, SC. The 118-pound bout featured a battle of highly-ranked opponents, as Ava Bayless (Wyoming Sem) defeated Riley Dalrymple (Venom) 6-3. Bayless is currently ranked #3 at 117 in our national rankings and Dalrymple is #4 at 122.

Sem’s Sophie Smith pulled an upset win over Venom’s Sofia Macaluso in a battle of shot clock points, a 1-1 victory in the 125-pound match. Macaluso, a sophomore, was a double national champion last March in Oklahoma, winning both the 16U and Junior divisions, and then followed it up with a 16U national title at Fargo. She’s currently ranked #1 at 122 in our national rankings. Smith is ranked #17 at 132, so this win was a big upset for the senior.

In a battle of high school stars at 130, Sem’s Korina Blades secured a second period fall over 2x national champ & 2019 Cadet Pan Am champion Mia Macaluso. Blades is ranked #3 at 127 and Macaluso is #3 at 132.

Kennedy Blades did Kennedy Blades things at 165, shutting out her opponents all day and getting the 12-0 tech fall in the finals over 2x All-American Kai Poux.

“This was a great day for female wrestling,” said Venom head coach Heath Macaluso. “The girls on Venom got some great matches and made new friends. I would like to thank Garry Ferro and Eric Hughes for running a smooth event. I would also like to thank Wyoming Seminary and all the other teams who were class acts showing their competitive spirit and great sportsmanship.”

Other standout performances included the following, who all went 6-0: Hailey Mintz (LVWC, 52), Kendleigh Bowyer (Wyoming Sem, 52), Jaclyn Bouzakis (Wyoming Sem, 57), Libertie Nigh (Superior Pink, 57), Gail Sullivan (Venom, 64), Hannah Perro (Doughgirl, 64), Teegan Sibble (Wyoming Sem, 70), Aubre Krazer (LVWC, 78), Angie Dill (Venom, 84), Liz Donavan (Doughgirl, 84), Joelle Scott (PA Renegades, 90), Virginia Foard (Wyoming Sem, 95), Jasintai Mallqui (Team NJ, 95), Alex Szkotnicki (Misfits, 102), Abigail Duke (Wyoming Sem, 110), Cassidy Benwell (Superior Pink, 110), Korina Blades (Wyoming Sem, 130), Skylar Hattendorf (Doughgirls, 135), Marisol Nugent (Doughgirls, 145), Kennedy Blades (Wyoming Sem, 165), and Joanna Jones (Venom, 225).

There were significant matches all day involving ranked opponents. Super 32 champ and #4 ranked Alex Szkotnicki (Misfits) won an 8-4 decision over #20 Sydney Petzinger (Team NJ). #5 Jaclyn Dehney of Doughgirl, a Massachusetts-based club, was involved in several big matches. She defeated AWW #17 Wyoming Sem’s Sophie Smith by a 6-0 decision, but fell to currently unranked 2018 senior All-American Madison Matta of PA Storm by fall at the 2:22 mark. At 145, #12 Marisol Nugent of Doughgirl beat #18 Elleni Johnson of Wyoming Sem by fall at 4:00. Then Johnson won a victory over Venom’s #24 ranked Daija Cloud 3-0. Cloud was a 2019 NYS champ. #20 Skylah Chakouian of New England United also defeated #24 Daija Cloud by 13-0 tech fall. #1 Skylar Hattendorf, who won a silver this year at Cadet Worlds, pinned Wyoming Sem hammer Diana Arsagova at 1:42. It’s worthy to note that Hattendorf was up at 145 from her #1 ranking weight class of 127.

The young women who attended the event were thrilled as they went to their first round mats to find Cornell wrestlers refereeing their matches, including NCAA All-American Vito Arujau and 2x NCAA national champion, Yianni Diakomihalis. In a beautiful convergence of circumstances, Diakomihalis found himself on the mat of Trista Blasz, the 12-year-old girl who made national news when her western NY school wouldnt allow her to wrestle. AWW posted a clip of the match, which she won, and by the time this article posted, it already had over 15,000 views in 48 hours on social media. Blasz went 3-2 at the event.

Coach Macaluso showed gratitude for the parents. “I have so much love and respect for all the parents who support their female wrestlers helping to create strong, empowered young ladies,” said the coach. “The parents of female wrestlers are a special breed and have a different journey than most. When it comes to growing female wrestling it definitely takes a village.”

Finals - FLWC Classic: Wyoming Seminary 54, Venom 32
52 Kendleigh Bowyer (Wyoming Seminary) over Amelia Patzelt (Venom) Fall 0:21
57 Jaclyn Bouzakis (Wyoming Seminary) over Ryley Karkowski (Venom) Fall 1:18
64 Gail Sullivan (Venom) over Kaylen Sluyter (Wyoming Seminary) TF 12-0
70 Teegan Sibble (Venom) over Talea Guntrum (Wyoming Seminary) Fall 3:02
78 Charlie Wylie (Venom) over Abigail Moser (Wyoming Seminary) Dec 12-3
84 Angie Dill (Venom) over JC Allis (Wyoming Seminary) Fall 0:15
90 Rebecca Brennan (Venom) over Unknown (Unattached) Forfeit
95 Virginia Foard (Wyoming Seminary) over Avery Kibelbek (Venom) Fall 0:43
102 Lexia Schechterly (Wyoming Seminary) over Tatianna Irizarry (Venom) Fall 0:22
110 Abigail Duke (Wyoming Seminary) over Isabella Garcia (Venom) TF 12-1
118 Ava Bayless (Wyoming Seminary) over Riley Dalrymple (Venom) Dec 6-3
125 Sophie Smith (Wyoming Seminary) over Sofia Macaluso (Venom) Dec 1-1
130 Korina Blades (Wyoming Seminary) over Mia Macaluso (Venom) Fall 2:43
135 Diana Arsagova (Wyoming Seminary) over Schyler Caringi (Venom) TF 14-4
145 Elleni Johnson (Wyoming Seminary) over Daija Cloud (Venom) Dec 3-0
165 Kennedy Blades (Wyoming Seminary) over Kai Poux (Venom) TF 12-0
225 Joanna Jones (Venom) over Abbie Miles (Wyoming Seminary) Fall 1:30

Team Placement
1. Wyoming Seminary (PA)
2. Venom Girls WC (NY)
3. Doughgirl (MA)
4. Team NJ (NJ)
5. Misfits (PA)
6. Superior Purple (NY)
7. NJ Red (NJ)
8. LVWC (PA)
9. PA Renegades (PA)
10. New England United (MA)
11. Superior Pink (NY)
12. PA Storm (PA)