Prestigious wrestling tournament at NCCC

The 34th annual Niagara Frontier Officials High School Wrestling Tournament will be held at Niagara Community College Jan. 2 and Jan. 3, featuring some of the top wrestlers from the Western New York and Rochester area teams.

The 400-wrestler field will include three defending state champions in junior Kellen Devlin of Amherst, senior Trevor Allard of Mexico, New York, and sophomore Yianni Diakomihalis of Hilton High School. Diakomihalis captured the Super 32 title in Greensboro, North Carolina, in November and is currently ranked 4th in the nation by InterMat rankings at 120 pounds.

Regarding the schools competing for the team title, defending champion and No. 1-ranked large school Lockport will face a tough test competing against some of the premier teams from across New York state. Battling the Lions for the team title will be top-ranked small school power Maple Grove, winners of the recent Cheektowaga duels, perennial powers Niagara-Wheatfield, Kenmore West, Iroquois, Lancaster, Jamestown and Niagara Falls. Powerful Rochester and Syracuse area teams Spencerport, Webster Schroeder, Hilton and Mexico will also travel to NCCC to compete against Western New York's finest.

Wrestling will begin on Friday at 11 a.m. and conclude at approximately 7 p.m. Saturday's wrestling will then resume at 9 a.m. with anticipated finals at 5 p.m.

The top wrestler will be awarded the Ilio DiPaolo Most Outstanding Wrestler Award as voted on by the NFWOA Officials in attendance. All members of the NFWOA who work the tournament will donate their services with proceeds going to support high school wrestling in Section VI.