A whole slew of top local high school wrestlers went down the road to Utica Memorial Auditorium to compete in last Saturday’s Section III championship meet. West Genesee and Solvay were in Division I, as the Wildcats finished 13th in the team standings with 44 points and the Bearcats got 16 points. Fulton held off Indian River, 175 points to 171.5, for the top spot. For the Wildcats, Ian Coolican, the no. 3 seed at 112 pounds, beat Nate Hathaway (Liverpool) 8-1, but lost a close semifinal to New Hartford’s Brandon DelConte 4-2. But Coolican recovered to take third place, pinning John Hudson (Vernon Verona Sherrill) and getting a 2-0 win over Cicero-North Syracuse’s Tony Battista in the consolation bracket final to move his season record to 29-4. Heitham Wady, at 145 pounds, also got third place. He beat Kyle Toney (Mexico) in the first round and won his quarterfinal when James Segars (CNS) got hurt. In a close semifinal against eventual champion Derek Eason (Liverpool), Wady had chances, but lost a tough 3-1 decision. He then shut out Jeff Evanciew (Whitesboro) 9-0 and took out Nick Woodworth (Fulton) 6-1 to win the consolation bracket. In that same 145-pound category, Erik Krohl lost to Eason in the quarterfinals, then went 2-1 in consolation matches, ultimately beating Evanciew 5-1 for fifth place. Luke Mersfelder (171 pounds) lost in the first round, as did Logan Dirk (103 pounds), Matt Nicholas (160 pounds) and Connor Grome at 119 pounds. Solvay’s Connor Cosgrove had an adventure at 215 pounds, holding off Robert Ashwood (Indian River) 7-5 in the quarterfinals before a semifinal defeat to the eventual winner, Fulton’s D.J. Ingham. Cosgrove did beat Jacob Forster (Rome Free Academy) 4-1 to claim fifth place. Mike Warne went 0-2 at 152 pounds, while Mitch Anthony, at 135, beat Corcoran’s Kyle Gabriel 17-5 before a quarterfinal defeat to IR’s Matt Gray. Tyler Avery lost in the 130-pound opening round. Over in Division II, Jordan-Elbridge’s Preston Bishop finished third at 125 pounds. Bishop beat Cody Houppert (Beaver River) 7-2 in the first round, but it was after his 9-4 quarterfinal defeat to Matt Shirley (Sandy Creek) that he really began to shine. Bishop first advanced when George Vandreaser (Holland Patent) forfeited, but he edged past Port Byron’s Caleb Green 3-2 and, in the third-place match, took a 3-1 victory over Adirondack’s Tyler Spann. As this went on, Bishop’s teammate, Mike Nguyen, earned fourth place at 112 pounds. He pinned Cormac Green (Port Byron) in the first round and, after losing to Dan Houghton (Dolgeville) in the quarterfinals, won close matches over Spencer Franklin (Sherburne-Earlville) and Adam Stevens (Holland Patent) before a second defeat to Houghton. The lone Marcellus wrestler, Matt Dempsey, lost his 130-pound opener to Fabius-Pompey’s Marcel LaChance in an 11-2 decision.