Sun Seven H.S. Wrestling: Lake Shore continues rise, Mix pins 100th career win
Junior Pat Mix recorded his 100th career win in Lake Shore’s 40-18 victory over Amherst on Jan. 26. The Eagles, ranked seventh among Western New York large schools, improved to 4-2 in ECIC Division II and 7-4 overall as Mix joined an elite club at Lake Shore and in Western New York wrestling.
Mix became just the fourth wrestler to win 100 in Lake Shore’s history, joining Dave Guarino, Mike Phillips and Dennis Brown. With a career record of 100-31 and a season record of 24-1, 18 of those wins by pin, Mix is currently ranked third in Western New York at 135 pounds and considered a strong contender for the sectional championship among large schools. His lone loss came in the finals of the ECIC Championships. Mix is a returning sectional place finisher from a year ago when he took fourth.
“He is an athlete that works extremely hard for his accomplishments, always trying to improve on his talents,” Lake Shore head coach Bill Sills said. “Mix is not a stranger to success as he has had winning seasons since he became a member of the varsity squad as an eighth grader in 2006. He also continues to play a leadership role and is a valuable member of the team.”
Lake Shore has only lost to ranked teams this season, falling to No. 5 large school Cheektowaga and No. 6 Iroquois and No. 2 small school Roy-Hart and No. 3 Gowanda. Both divisional losses to Cheektowaga and Iroquois came down to the last match of the night. Lake Shore is still a young team with 12 of its 13 starters being underclassmen. Other wrestlers making a strong contribution to the Eagles success include senior Brett Colling, juniors Tim Ravel and Paul Gahagen and sophomores John Inglut, Marc Muscarella, Joe Catalano and Matt Valliere.
Valliere has won his weight class at two tournaments this year — Maryvale and Williamsville North Invitationals — and was selected to the all-tournament team, along with Inglut, Ravel, and Mix, after going 5-0 in the Southtowns Duals at St. Francis. He and Catalano also placed sixth at the 27-team ECIC Championships.
“The team has a good core of solid athletes that work hard everyday and are driven to strive for the best,” Sills noted.
Also locally, Frontier placed sixth at the Ken-Ton Tournament on Jan. 30 thanks to three first-place finishers and two other top four performances. Taking home titles from the tournament were freshman sensation Rocco Russo at 96 pounds, Marc Stanton at 135 and Greg Bannister at 160. Nick Bannister placed third at 171 and Mitch Jamieson took fourth at 152. In junior varsity action, Josh Young placed third at 119 and Evan Johnston fourth at 103. Eden won a share of the ECIC Division III title by beating rival East Aurora 55-14 on Jan. 29 in its regular season finale. The Raiders lost only to Alden this year in ECIC IV matches, but both teams wound up finishing at 7-1.
Postseason upcoming
The Section VI Divisional Tour will take place Friday and Saturday Feb. 4-5 at various locations for Western New York schools split into four different classes. Frontier and Hamburg will compete in Class AAAA at Kenmore West, Lake Shore in Class AAA at Starpoint and Eden at Class AA at East Aurora. Qualifiers will move on to large and small school sectional championships on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 12-13.
St. Francis will host the All-Catholic Championships for second straight season, pitting the best wrestlers from the Monsignor Martin Association against the top competitors at private schools from around the state.
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