A full winter of work for all the local wrestling teams would begin to hit its climax when they went to Saturday’s Section III championship meets. Of the 12 teams that gathered in the Class AA meet at Cicero-North Syracuse, West Genesee finished eighth, with 82.5 points. Baldwinsville finished on top, with 194.5 points, holding off host CNS (182.5 points) to prevail. Ian Coolican earned WG’s lone title, at 112 pounds. First, Coolican pinned Nadir McCray (Corcoran) in 1:16, and he went on to beat CNS’s Tony Battista 7-3 in the semifinals. The title match against Nate Hathaway (Liverpool) had a similar outcome as Coolican won 7-2. Elsewhere, Heitham Wady took third place at 152 pounds when he pinned B’ville’s Kurt McArdell in 2:37 in the consolation bracket final, and Connor Grome (119 pounds) did the same by blanking Liverpool’s Tyler Eason 3-0. Erik Krohl, at 152 pounds, beat Auburn’s Neil Halpin 5-1 for fifth place, while Logan Dirk (103 pounds), Matt Nichols (160 pounds) and Luke Mersfelder (171 pounds) each had sixth-place finishes. At the same meet, Solvay/Westhill (whose combined enrollment makes them a Class AA team) finished ninth, with 66 points. Mitch Anthony worked his way to the 135-pound finals, only to lose to Central Square’s Ron Burghardt in a narrow 7-6 decision. Mike Warne, at 152, pinned Tial Thang (Corcoran) in 2:22 for third place, just as Conor Cosgrove (215) earned a second-period pin over CNS’s Matt Mastro to also take third. Tyler Avery (130) finished fourth. Jordan-Elbridge and Marcellus both competed in the Class B meet at South Jefferson, where the Eagles got 53.0 points for 10th place in a 12-team field and the Mustangs struggled. Amid a near-sweep from team champion Phoenix (it won seven of 15 weight classes), the Eagles saw Mike Nguyen, at 112, fight past Cazenovia’s Ryan Cook 7-6 for third place, while Preston Bishop (125) lost 3-2 to another Laker wrestler, Teddy Kugler, and settled for fourth. Mitch Alpha (103), Mitch Cooper (140) and Will Tyrell (285) each took sixth place. Matt Dempsey had the top Marcellus finish, a fourth at 130 pounds. Prior to all this, the Wildcats went to Auburn last Monday night and won all but two matches in a 54-8 romp over the Maroons. Dirk had the quickest pin, taking just 45 seconds to finish off Dustin Swan. Wady also earned a first-period fall as he beat Kyle Hunt in 1:40. Jason Heggelke’s technical fall over Steve Ansteth at 130 pounds took just 2:10 to complete, while Jason Fitch (135 pounds) took 3:37 to pin Nick Campagnola and Mersfelder pinned Dan McCormick at the end of the second period. As Coolican and Krohl claimed forfeits, Jon Fetterolf, at 125 pounds, shut out Joe Giacona 9-0. Grome edged past Luke Netti 3-2, while Brandon Quinones (140 pounds) earned an 11-6 decision over Brandon Fromel and Nichols beat Kenny Currier 3-1. But it turned around on Wednesday night, as the Wildcats visited Cazenovia and lost to the Maroons 41-15. WG managed only two mat wins, plus a forfeit to Dirk. Coolican went out at 112 and edged past Ryan Cook 6-4, while Wady earned a second-period pin over Dan Cossitt. Many other matches were close, though, as Grome lost to Jose Wells 1-0, Krohl took a 3-1 defeat to Dylan Perry and Quinones fell to Billy Bigsby 9-8. Nichols had a 2-1 loss to Noah Shephard.