Story by Jon Dinan
LIBERTY — February 8, 2013 - Thirty-six Sullivan County wrestlers will vie for spots in the New York State wrestling championships Friday through Sunday when they take to the mats in the Section IX championships.
The Section IX, Division 1 tournament will be held at Monroe-Woodbury on Friday and Saturday with 13 wrestlers from Monticello competing. Should weather force cancellation of Friday’s matches, the tournament will begin on Saturday and conclude on Monday.
The Section IX, Division 2 meet will be held Sunday at Liberty with 23 wrestlers from Eldred, Fallsburg, Liberty and Tri-Valley.
The winners of each weight class in both Division 1 and 2 advance to the state tournament to be held February 22-23 at the Times Union Center in Albany.
Three local wrestlers have earned top seeds for the Sectional tournament: Liberty’s Andy Martinez at 182 (defending champion); Eldred-Fallsburg’s Jesse Corcoran at 220 and Eldred-Fallsburg’s Edon Lulanaj at 285.
In all, 12 teams from Section IX, Division 2 will be competing at Liberty: Eldred-Fallsburg, Liberty, Tri-Valley, Ellenville, Rondout Valley, New Paltz, Red Hook, Marlboro, Highland, Tuxedo, Chester and John S. Burke. Of the Sullivan County teams, Eldred-Fallsburg will be sending the most wrestlers with 10 followed by Tri-Valley with eight and Liberty with five.
The actual wrestling starts at 12 noon at Liberty with the out brackets and Round of 16 and continues all day with the finals scheduled for approximately 5 p.m.

LOCAL LINEUP
Sullivan County wrestlers competing in the Section IX wrestling championship on Saturday and Sunday:

DIVISION 1 (Saturday at M-W)
99, Javier Vasquez (Monticello)
99, Thalia Vargas (Monticello)
113, Elizabeth Koenig (Monticello)
120, Paul Katz (Monticello)
126, David Ambra (Monticello)
132, Ben Ulrich (Monticello)
138, Brett Hughes (Monticello)
145, John Doherty (Monticello)
152, Alex Lawrence (Monticello)
160, Ulysses Oestrich (Monticello)
170, Travis Kelly (Monticello)
170, Nick Fiore (Monticello)
220, Frank Smith (Monticello)

DIVISION 2 (Sunday at Liberty)
113, Kyle Rogers (Tri-Valley), Sr.
120, Nick Perrello (Eld-Falls), Sr.
132, Jared Ratner (Tri-Valley), Sr.
132, Allenson Flores-Ramirez (E-F), Jr.
132, Devin Budd (Liberty), Fr.
138, Adam Hurwitz (Eld-Falls), Jr.
138, Steven Graham (Tri-Valley), Jr.
145, Robert Andersen (Eld-Falls), So.
145, Michael Glinski (Tri-Valley), So.
145, Joshua Borozny (Tri-Valley), Jr.
152, Kevin Palko (Tri-Valley), Sr.
152, German Castano (Liberty), Fr..
160, Mantee Williams (Eld-Falls), Jr.
170, Carl Peterson-Langeland (E-F), So.
170, Kevin Morgans (Liberty), Fr.
182,*Andy Martinez (Liberty), Sr.
182, Colton Kelty (Eld-Falls), So.
195, Tadeusz Loarca (Eld-Falls), Jr.
195, Logan McKeon (Tri-Valley), Fr.
220,*Jesse Corcoran (Eld-Falls), Sr.
220, Will DePaolo (Liberty), Fr.
220, Jesse Harris (Tri-Valley), Jr.
285, *Edon Lulanaj (Eld-Falls), Jr.
* denotes No. 1 seed