Red Raiders took 1st place in a field of 45 teams to win the Linda Knuutila Memorial Tournament at Niagara County Community College.

This past weekend, the Red Raiders took 1st place in a field of 45 teams to win the Linda Knuutila Memorial Tournament at Niagara County Community College. 170 lbs. senior Gage LaPlante (ranked #1 in NYS-DI) stole the show this weekend with a 3-2 win in the finals over #1 NYS-D-II Braidon Woodward of Pal-Mac. LaPlante, who earlier in the tournament recorded his 100th career pin, was voted Most Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament by the coaches, and his win turned out to be the tournament winning match for his team, who beat out 2nd place Pal-Mac by just 6.5 points. Gage's brother, 152 lbs. sophomore Griffin LaPlante also took first place with a dominant 14-3 major decision over his opponent, Daniel Parker from Ithaca, as did 108 lbs. sophomore Cullen Edwards, who took home the gold with a 9-0 major decision over returning state place finisher J.J. Lucinski of Newfane. Edwards did not give up a single point to an opponent all weekend. 190 lbs sophomore Zachary Caldwell wrestled his way to the finals, but dropped a 3-0 decision to returning NYS champion Tavio Hoose of Southwestern. 190 lbs senior Connor Miller placed 5th after losing in overtime to Caldwell, and then dropping a 4-3 decision to NYS finalist Jordan Malecki. Both Miller and Caldwell defeated Malecki last week. 145 lbs sophomore Rory White entered as the 2-seed, but dropped a decision to Steven Schulz of Pal-Mac in the quarterfinals. White bounced back, wrestling through the consolation bracket and avenged his loss with an 8-2 win in the consolation final to take 3rd place. Seniors Brandon Drummond (160) and Jack Coughlin (215) each earned spots on the podium and won their final bouts of the day to place 7th.