Vermilya, Rockwell and Preston Advance To Northeast Regional Wrestling Tournament
By: Chris Manning | NTL Sports | February 23, 2025
Canton pushed three wrestlers on to the Northeast Regional Championships at the District IV, Class AA Championships Saturday.
Lyle Vermilya (114) and Carson Rockwell (145) both took fourth, while Tommy Preston (139) came in seventh to move on.
"Every match is nip-and-tuck," said Canton coach Lyle Wesneski. "Lyle's weight is extremely tough, it's going to get tougher next week. Carson wrestled really well all week long, and so did Tommy."
Vermilya went 2-0 on Friday to reach the semifinals, where he lost 5-2 to Warrior Run’s Chase Wirnsberger. He picked up a 16-0 tech fall in the consolation semifinals, but then lost 4-1 to Montgomery's Liam Seeley in the third place match.
Rockwell went 2-0 on Friday to reach the semifinals, but then lost 11-4 to Midd-West’s Matthew Smith. He came back with a fall in 4:26 in the consolation semifinals, before getting beat 4-1 by Line Mountain's Nolan Savage in the third place match.
After going 1-1 on Friday Preston opened Saturday with a 12-2 major to stay alive. He lost 6-1 in the consolation quarterfinals, but then beat Sullivan's Keegan Bagley 6-0 in the seventh place match to advance.
Leland Pepper (189) went 1-2, while Levi Vermilya (107) went 0-2.
"Leland wrestled really hard Friday night, and he had a bad match this morning, and it cost him," Wesneski said. "And getting Levi here, and getting experience was great for him."
Canton took three wrestlers to states last year, and Wesneski would like to do so again in 2025.
"It's a new week," he said. "Survive and advance. We'll get back to the drawing board Monday, start watching some film, do a little to get the soreness out, get a good practice Tuesday and Wednesday, and get ready to go again."
