Barrah Claims NYSAIS Wrestling Title as 4 Bears Climb Podium

On Saturday, at the 4th Annual NYSAIS Wrestling Championships hosted by Hackley, 13 Bears competed against the top independent school wrestlers in New York. Four of them claimed podium spots to help the Bears earn an 8th place finish out of 11 schools.

Eze Barrah became Stony Brook’s latest State Champion by claiming top honors in the 195 lbs class. His #1 seed earned him a double-bye into the semifinals where he pinned Dashall Ross (Rye Country Day) in 2:44 to earn a rematch with Ahmed Suliman (Rye Country Day). A year ago Barrah took care of Suliman in the semifinals, earning a pin in 3:26. The script remained unchanged as the senior earned the Bears’ first wrestling state crown with a pin in 1:44. The title match was even for the first minute as both wrestlers felt the other out, taking turns swatting away attempts at a neck hold. Suliman finally lunged for a leg, but Barrah deftly maneuvered out of reach and in a split second had Suliman on his back. Suliman nearly reversed Barrah onto his back, but Barrah’s strength won out as he flattened Suliman for the win. The victory earned Barrah a berth in the New York State Federation Championships, held at the Times Union Center in Albany on Feb. 28.

Forest Kaplan-Walbrecht earned a 3rd place finish, making good on his #3 seed in the 113 lbs division. The freshman made quick work of Christian Cheng (Dalton) with a 58-second pin before a technical fall to Jacob Schorsch (Horace Mann). From there, Kaplan-Walbrecht entered the consolation bracket where he pinned Peyton Rosenberg (Horace Mann) in 56 seconds before topping Frank Moriarty (Long Island Lutheran) with a thrilling 1:31 pin in the 3rd place match. Kaplan-Walbrecht was on his stomach early in his match but, after a two-point reversal, he put his opponent in a cradle to earn the pin. His total time pin time of 3:25 was the second-fastest among all wrestlers with three pins.

Carter Brett won his first round match with a 2:17 pin over Akari Hunte (Dalton) before falling in 1:26 to Jake Abraham (Hackley). In the consolation bracket, the sophomore pinned Jake Maguire (Dalton) in 48 seconds before falling to Ricardo Coates (Rye Country Day) in 5:31 in a hard-fought match to claim 4th place at 138 lbs.

Jason Kim also claimed a 4th place finish in the 220 lbs bracket, falling in the consolation final to Noah Loscano (Trinity) in 1:14. Adetona Adesina was the Bears’ final wrestler to earn points. The senior fell in 1:09 in his opening round match to Brooks Sleeper (Rye Country Day) but wrestled back with a consolation quarterfinal victory over Chris Ortiz (Trinity) in 3:01. He fell in the consolation semifinals in 1:53 to William Rorech (Poly Prep) and in the 5th place match in 25 seconds to Liam Abraham (Hackley) to take 6th place.

Other match winners for the Brook included Nathan Han (145 lbs) with a 9-8 decision in the opening round and Joe Spreckels (145 lbs) with a consolation quarterfinal pin in 1:45.