By Frank Rizzo
MONTICELLO — March 16, 2001 – Qualifying five of his varsity grapplers for the Section IX tournament made for a good year, according to Monticello coach Ed Kaufmann.
This despite the Panthers’ 3–10 record overall and 1–5 in the Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) National Conference.
“I’m pretty happy with getting five in, I’m pleased with that,” Kaufmann said.
Freshman Kyle Fried ranked as Monticello’s top grappler this past season, going 25–7 on the year to improve to 48–15 for his career.
Fried, who competed at last summer’s Empire State Games, took third place in the 112-lb. division at the Section IX tourney.
He lost in the semifinals to eventual runner-up Jason Peck of Valley Central, 10-2. In the consolation finals, Fried got his third-place medal by downing Matt Farris of Saugerties 14-4.
Fried began the sectionals with a quarterfinal pin — at 5:40 — of Newburgh’s Jim Szumlaski.
“Our goal was to get people to the [sectional] semis and that was my expectation for Kyle,” Kaufmann said. “He fell just short last year, losing in the semis.”
Fried had been the top seed at the National Conference tourney, beating Anthony Larson of Port Jervis 2-0 in the final.
Also earning a spot in the sectionals were Ron Ducharme (119), Bryan Ortiz (125), Rene Perez (189), and Jorge Lee (275).
The Panther lineup, with grade in parenthesis and comments by Kaufmann:
96 lbs. Casey DeGraw (9): “He did very well, earning a varsity letter his first year… needs to gain more experience, maybe go to camps.”
103 lbs. Emanuel Cabrera (9): “Won the jayvee tournament at Monroe-Woodbury early in the year. Felt he was ready for the varsity tournaments at the end. Lost a close match in the conference tourney.”
119 lbs. Ron Ducharme (10): “Hurt his ankle in early January and it knocked him out for one and a half weeks and affected his wrestling.” Ducharme lost in the opening round of sectionals to eventual runner-up R.J. Seabeck of Port Jervis, getting pinned at 2:20. Ducharme had lost to Seabeck in the conference consolations. Seeded fourth, Ducharme pinned Smith Waller of Cornwall in the opening round then lost to top seed Brett Ford of Minisink Valley.
125 lbs. Bryan Ortiz (10): Seeded first in the National Conference, but failed to win in the tournament. Lost in opening round of sectionals to eventual runner-up Pat Lloyd of Valley Central, 5-3. Finished with a 23–7 mark after leading team with 23-13 record as freshman. “He has great ability, but did not have the kind of season he should have had.”
130 lbs. J.B. Trebilcock (12): Followed his two older brothers into Monticello wrestling ranks. Started out on team in eighth grade but took a few years off. “Unfortunately [that layoff] hurt him.” Though he won only eight or nine of his 20 matches Trebilcock accomplished his goal of finishing out the year, according to Kaufmann.
189 lbs. Rene Perez (12): Won the aggregate pin award at the conference tourney after pinning two of his three opponents. Placed third in the conference. Opened the sectionals by pinning Colin Rourke of Cornwall at 4:46 but lost to Colin Meade of Red Hook in the quarterfinals, 13-5.
215 lbs. Billy Steinberg (11): “He qualified for sectionals in 2000 and should have qualified this year. Lost in the [conference tourney] to a kid he beat the week before.”
275 lbs. Jorge Lee (12): “Has been wrestling since eighth grade and I had a little higher expectation for him this year, but he hurt his knee [before his sectionals match].” Lee lost by injury default in the sectional quarterfinal to Kevin Connolly of Middletown. At the conference tourney, he was ranked second and lost in the final to top-seeded Frank Zeszutek of Goshen.