Somers Takes 2nd at Westchester County Championships; Ball, Dwyer Crowned
News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
By Tony Pinciaro
PEEKSKILL senior Martin Palomeque will always remember his performance in his first Westchester County Wrestling Championships. The 160-pounder came into the prestigious tournament as the second seed and dominated on his way to winning the title, punctuated by a 7-0 triumph of top-seeded Remy Becker (Hackley) in the final.
Palomeque, seeded second, was one of eight Examiner Media-area wrestlers to win titles. Somers/North Salem led with two – Liam Dwyer (124 pounds) and Ryan Ball (116). Briarcliff/Byram Hills/Valhalla/Westlake’s Nick Fortugno (108), Mahopac resident and Iona Prep senior George Johnson (145), Lakeland/Panas’ Alex Ryzy (190), Fox Lane’s Alexander Berisha (215) and Yorktown’s George Gjergji (285) complete the championship group.
Berisha registered his 100th varsity win in his semi-final match.
Somers/North Salem finished second with 119 points to champion Iona Prep. Ossining (113.5 points), Yorktown (105.5) and Briarcliff/Byram Hills/Valhalla/Westlake (100.5) finished third through fifth.
Palomeque, now 32-1 this season, allowed just three points (in his semifinal) in four matches, imposing his will on his opponents.
“I think what I was pleased with the most is the pace that I wrestled at,” Palomeque said. “I continued being aggressive which is something I struggled with earlier on in my career as a wrestler.”
While Palomeque is happy to be Peekskill’s first Westchester County champion he understands the difficult aspect of the schedule is almost upon him. And it starts in practice, Monday.
“To me, winning this tournament is just a piece of the puzzle that I need to complete in order to win divisionals and sectionals,” Palomeque said. “I’m glad I won, but my job is not finished and I plan to continue wrestling my best in every match and tournament.”
Peekskill is in the midst of a resurgence under the guidance of Coach Raul Ortiz, a two-time Section 1 champion for Sleepy Hollow and Coach Brian Tompkins, prior to the two-division format. Palomeque is an example of the progress in the program.
“Martin continues to improve and work extremely hard every day, displaying his hard work at the county championships with a flawless tournament,” Ortiz said. “Martin is an individual that is inspired to be the best version of himself on and off the match.
“This is only his third year wrestling and I can truly say Martin is a sponge to the sport, and is willing to go the extra mile to overcome whatever difficulties or struggles he is facing at the time.”
Teammates Naseer Johnson (190) and Ruben Gray (285) placed sixth.
Dwyer, the second seed, completed his path to the title with a 7-3 victory over Neil Paulercio of Briarcliff/Byram Hills/Valhalla/Westlake. Paulercio pinned top-seed Ciaran Egan of Pleasantville in a semifinal.
Last year, Dwyer advanced to the semifinals, but his quest for a title was dashed. He rebounded to finish third, but he was looking forward to his final chance.
Dwyer also controlled each match, not allowing his opponent to generate anything offensively. This was the third match of the year with Paulercio.
“I was happy with my conditioning and not giving my opponent any opportunities to get to his attacks that he’s good at, and my grit wrestling from top,” said Dwyer of Paulercio. “I wrestled him in the dual meet tournament and lost, 6-3, then last week at Eastern States, which I won, 5-1.”
Dwyer, 32-5 this season, and Ball are the first SOMERS/NORTH SALEM wrestlers to win this tournament. Earlier in the week, Ball registered his 100th varsity win.
“Winning this tournament means a lot since I was third last year and didn’t place any previous years,” Dwyer said. “It’s also a great feeling because there have been no Somers’ wrestlers to win this tournament and I’m glad I could be one of the first to do it on the same day as my teammate, Ryan.”
Ball’s 100th varsity win came at Peekskill, where his dad, Chris, was a varsity wrestler.
“I thought about all 11 years of wrestling that came to this and how my dad wrestled at Peekskill and he had 87 wins and now I’m the one in my family that made it to the 100-win club,” Ball said.
Senior Alex Ryzy gave LAKELAND/PANAS its first Westchester County champion after he pinned Fox Lane’s Barron Ransom to win the 190-pound title. Ryzy, the fourth seed, advanced to the final with a 5-4 victory over top-seeded and rival Kyle Peske of Hen Hud.
“The decision against Kyle (Peske) was one of my best wrestling performances,” Ryzy said. “He is such a tough wrestler and, up to that point, he had beaten me four consecutive times. He beat me three times last year and at the Hen Hud Tournament. Peske and I are great friends not just in wrestling, but also outside of school and even in track where we also compete against each other in the javelin. The win was very much needed.”
Ryzy wrestled Ransom in the 2023 Westchester County Championships and lost. As a result, Ransom went on to win the title.
“I ended up getting beat all over the mat,” Ryzy recalled.”I wanted that revenge and seeing him at the counties was the perfect opportunity to get my win against him. I went into the final with the mindset that losing was not an option.”
Ryzy credited his former teammates with him reaching this goal.
“After my match Coach (Dave Bergen) told me that we had never had a county winner which was crazy because of all the crazy talent our program has had,” Ryzy said. “Wrestlers like Stephen Carroll, Connor McGannon and Gio Russo taught me so much and were the ones to build this program.”
Croton had a pair of runners-up – Henry Martin (152) and Frederic Smithwick (170).
Ossining’s top place finisher was Marlon Wheatley, runner-up at 285 pounds.
Pleasantville’s Ciaran Egan took third at 124 pounds and Hen Hud had a pair of third-place finishers in Mason Dietz (285) and Peske (190).
Final team results
- Iona Prep – 239
- Somers/ North Salem – 119
- Ossining 113.5
- Yorktown 105.5
- Byram Hills/ Briarcliff/ Valhalla/ Westlake – 100.5
- Rye – 92
- John Jay Cross River – 78
- Pleasantville – 71
- Fox Lane – 66
- New Rochelle & Horace Greeley (tie) – 62
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