Glenn's Tommy Aiello advances to semifinals at Division II state wrestling meet

ALBANY — Tommy Aiello has been to the mountaintop and back.

The Glenn senior won the Division II state wrestling championship at 102 pounds two years ago but fell short of a repeat when he lost in the ultimate tiebreaker of his 108-pound semifinal last season.

Aiello earned the opportunity to avenge last year’s loss when he won an 8-0 major decision over Rhylee Stotler (Waverly) in the state Division II quarterfinals at 116 pounds Friday at MVP Arena.

“The motivation is to get back to the state finals and win it,” Aiello said. “That’s the motivation, to finish my senior year on top.”

Top-seeded Aiello pinned Rocky Molinare (Petrides) in 3:05 to advance to the quarterfinals.

Aiello (38-3) will face No. 5 Reece Senske (Medina) in Saturday’s semifinals, which are set to begin at 10 a.m.

As he has been all season, Aiello will be driven by the championship feeling he experienced as a sophomore.

SEE PHOTOSState boys wrestling championship photos

“That’s probably the best accomplishment of my life so far,” Aiello said. “It’s the greatest feeling I’ve had. I definitely want to feel that again.”

Oyster Bay’s Colton Schmiesing did the unthinkable.

The ninth-seeded freshman upended top-seeded Mason Tanner (Jordan-Elbridge) by 7-3 decision in the 108-pound quarterfinals. Schmiesing trailed 3-2 entering the third period before scoring a reversal and three near-fall points with 33 seconds left.

“I just went for a switch. He almost caught me on my back but I kept my hips up and I got the reversal,” Schmiesing said. “I knew he was gassed, so I just held him there.”

It was Tanner’s second loss of the season, bumping him to 34-2 on the season.

Schmiesing (35-3) took eighth place at 101 pounds in last year’s state tournament.

“I knew he was good. I wasn’t really that confident going into it,” Schmiesing said. “I knew I could keep it close with him. I’m gonna win the tournament now.”

He’ll face No. 4 Seth Strain (Adirondack) in the semifinals.

Shoreham-Wading River’s Gavin Mangano continued his undefeated season.

The top-seeded sophomore picked up a 15-0 technical fall in 1:03 over No. 8 Domanik Clark (Randolph) in the 138-pound quarterfinals. He pinned Holden Kelly (Perry) in 1:19 in the second round.

Mangano (48-0) was last year’s Division II state champion at 131 pounds and was the 110-pound runner-up as an eighth-grader.

He’s joined in the semifinals by fellow returning state champions Devin Downes of Plainedge and Greyson Meak of Cold Spring Harbor.

Meak (41-3) pinned Glenn’s Carmine Gerbino in 1:06 to advance to the 215-pound semifinals. The top-seeded senior and Penn commit will face No. 20 Drew Giblin (Arkport) in the semifinals. Meak was last year’s 190-pound champion.

Downes (44-4) was the Division I state champion at 170 last year. Even in a new landscape with Plainedge moving to Division II this season, the Maryland commit has continued to dominate.

The top-seeded junior picked up two pins in 3:17 to advance to the 190-pound semifinals, where he will face No. 4 Yanni Drapaniotis (Unatego-Unadilla Valley-Franklin).

“Devin is very good at concentrating on the task at hand,” coach Rob Shaver said. “It could be the states, a regular match, a Christmas tournament, he just wrestles the next match.”

Plainedge senior Luke Nieto was last season’s Division I runner-up at 138 pounds, but he and Shaver feel that this is the year to take home a state title.

Nieto (44-3) is the top seed at 152 pounds and advanced to the semifinals with a 24-8 technical fall over No. 9 Abdeen Zaggout (UUVF) in 4:09. He’ll face No. 4 Caden Inkley (Randolph) in the semifinals.

“We’ve been very proud of him, he’s a completely different kid,” Shaver said. “Last year, he was a little bit nervous for the finals. Now, he’s excited to hopefully get there. It’s like Christmas to him.”