High school wrestling: Top 2 teams ready to duel
By James Johnson
Democrat and Chronicle

(February 8, 2003) — No trophy is handed out. The wrestlers walk off the mat champions of nothing.

The result of the dual meet between Spencerport and Canandaigua doesn’t count in the team’s league standings.

Yet, there is a surge of excitement among the participants and others who like to watch the area’s top large-school teams go at it.

Spencerport’s and Canandaigua’s varsities square off again at 7 tonight at Finger Lakes Community College.

Canandaigua coach Rich Romeo anticipates a standing-room-only crowd. About 1,800 admission tickets were available.

“I’m really excited to be wrestling in this,” Spencerport senior Mike Brongo said. “You have nothing to do but prove yourself in this type of meet.”

Canandaigua senior Tom Cuppernell jokes that the air inside his team’s training room smells different in the days before the meet.

Spencerport (10-1) is ranked second among large schools behind Johnson City of Section IV, the only team to beat the Rangers head-to-head this season.

No Section V team has defeated Spencerport in a dual since 1994. The Rangers are 97-0-1 against local teams after losing to Canandaigua that year.

The Braves have built up a good reputation on the mat, too. It was Canandaigua that stopped Spencerport’s 12-year string of sectional titles in 2000.

This year, Wayne (8th) is above Canandaigua (11th, 7-1-1) in the state rankings. Seventh-ranked Fulton (15-3) was the team that beat Canandaigua, which has won three tournaments and finished 21st out of 84 teams at the Beast of the East Tournament in Delaware.

“We only have two seniors,” Canandaigua coach Romeo said. “We probably have a better tournament than a dual meet team. I still think we should be competitive.”

Potential individual match-ups to look for are Spencerport’s Josh Fuller vs. Kyle Ingraham at 112. Both made it to the 2002 state meet.

Good matches at 135 and 140 seem all but guaranteed.

Trevor Chinn, a two-time state runner-up, and Kevin Morrice wrestle at those weights for Canandaigua. Like Spencerport’s Chuck Zimmerman and Brongo, you can find them in the top five of Section V’s rankings.

E-mail address: jjohnson@DemocratandChronicle.com