The Walden Rotary Club had run the Hudson Valley Premiere Wrestling tournament at Valley Central for about 20 years before the service organization moved away from it.

From there, a local wrestling club took over the tournament for a few years before it faded away for about 10 years.
The tournament returned in a big way on March 4 as the Walden Rotary Club’s Mike Bliss partnered with Deep Roots Wrestling club owner/coach Ricky Scott, a former state wrestling champion from Valley Central High School.

“I’m involved with wrestling now with my son (Mason), and being part of the Rotary – and I wrestled in the Rotary tournament myself as a kid, I thought it would be a good way to bring youth wrestling back to the area while raising money for all the good doings that Walden Rotary does,” Bliss said.

The tournament featured about 230 wrestlers, both boys and girls, competing in divisions from 7 years old through high school, and raised about $13,000 for the Rotary Club, which sponsors scholarships, supports the Montgomery Food Pantry, a Youth Dictionary Project, annual coat and hat drive, food drive, community support, athletics, and Boy Scouts, among other things.

Many of the winners and place finishers came from Scott’s Deep Roots Wrestling Club, and Bliss said he expected the number of wrestlers to grow in future tournaments.

“It was very successful,” Bliss said. “It was about promoting youth sports.”
Bliss and Scott were tournament co-directors, with Bliss handling things from the Rotary’s end of it and Scott handling the wrestling side.

Scott was on board as soon as Bliss mentioned it to him. Scott had wrestled in the tournament when he was a youth all the way through high school, and thought it would be a great way to help raise wrestling’s profile in the area.

“It’s always on my mind,” Scott said. “It’s one of the reason I starting getting into club coaching about six years ago. I ran another club and then I opened up my club about three years ago. To bring up Section 9 wrestling as a whole has really been something I’m very interested in and have wanted to do for a while. Building every school in the section makes everyone tougher and makes the whole area better.”

The tournament also was sponsored by Newburgh Windustrial, PureBliss Water Treatment Systems, Harry F. Rotolo & Son Contractors, Lanc & Tully Engineering and Contracting, Mixture, Innate Chiropractic, Perna Imaging, Hunter Insurance Services, Orange County Ironworks, LLC, and Farr Engineering.

The tournament ran smoothly, but there is one improvement both directors agreed on. They’ll need more mats next year.

“I think we had four mats running,” Scott said. “I think if we did another one, it would be great, too. We just wanted to give it a year and see how it did and how many guys we had. We were blown away by the people that showed up. And I think next year, I would expect even bigger numbers.”

Boys Feather (6 & Under) 33-37
1. Lucas Dennison (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)

2. Egan Gomez (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)

40-42
1. Maverick Andidero (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
2. Kade Hansen (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
3. Brooklynn Scott (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)

4. Colton Curran (NA)
5. Valentino Pickett of (Valley Central Youth Wrestling Program)

46-48
1. Kroy Voelker (Unknown)
2. Zachary Lichtenstein (Bear Cave Wrestling)

4. Hudson Werkema (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)

54-58
1. Christian Nava (Funky Panda Wrestling Club)
2. Eli Gida (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)

Boys Bantam (7/8 Years)

44-47
1. Nate Gattuso (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
2. Aramis Leguillow (Bear Cave Wrestling)
3. John Borello (Not listed)

49-51

1. Cole Zabriskie (Not listed)
2. William Uszenski (Valley Central Youth Wrestling Program)
3. Jayden Royal (Bear Cave Wrestling)
4. Alyse Gomez (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)

51-54

1. Alex Rotolo (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
2. Brettan Ford (Minisink Wrestling)
3. Gaius Tittelback-Coumbes (Not listed)

55-60
1. Caleb Gingras (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)

2. Kane Storti (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
3. Sawyer Hardy (Bear Cave Wrestling)
4. Lincoln Ragni (Valley Central Youth Wrestling Program)

61-65

1. Blake Dennison (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
2. Benjamin Weintraub (Not listed)
3. Owen Vanderley (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
4. Trent Steiler (Valley Central Youth Wrestling Program)

64-68

1. Lorenzo LaRosa (Valley Central Youth Wrestling Program)
2. Brayden Martino (Not listed)
3. Tommy Lucas (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
4. Jack Lucas (Bear Cave Wrestling)

69-75

1. Izalia Nava (Funky Panda Wrestling Club)
2. Holden Werkema (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
3. Killian Andolsek (Valley Central Youth Wrestling Program)

Boys Midget (9/10 Years)
50-55

1. Victoria Soto (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
2. Willy Gattuso (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
3. Wyatt Pumilio (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)

60-65
1. Sebastian Andidero (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)

2. Kolten Lucas (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
3. Jacob Fratz (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)

69-74
Guaranteed Places
1. Benedetto Annoscia (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)

2. Nicklas Goodwin (Black Belt Wrestling Academy)
3. Marco Minelli (Minisink Wrestling)
4. Dylan Gatto (Funky Panda Wrestling Club)

70-74
1. Silas Goodwin (Black Belt Wrestling Academy)

2. Jacob Kennedy (Not listed)
3. Skyler Lucas (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
4. Owen Mczorn (Bear Cave Wrestling)

71-76
1. Austin Empirio (Not listed)

2. Corey Royal (Bear Cave Wrestling)
3. Kaden Kreuscher (Funky Panda Wrestling Club)
4. Jevin Marshall (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)

77-80
1. Camron Veneziano (Not listed)

2. Owen Weiner (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
3. Tru Myers (Bear Cave Wrestling)
4. Cole Sollas (Valley Central Youth Wrestling Program)

82-88
1. Joey Gambino (Not listed)

2. Mason Bliss (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
3. Kolton Demers-Kreiser (Bear Cave Wrestling)
4. Jordan Strenfel (Bear Cave Wrestling)

106-114
1. Jonah Batista (Bear Cave Wrestling)

2. Thomas Britto (Bear Cave Wrestling)

Boys Junior (11/12 Years)
62-68
1. Noah Blair (Not listed)
2. Victor Leguillow (Bear Cave Wrestling)

3. Connor Hanly (Not listed)

71-73
1. Evan Gomez (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
2. Andrew Uszenski (Valley Central Youth Wrestling Program)
3. Michael Saenz (Minisink Wrestling)

4. Logan Watts (Minisink Wrestling)

72-77
1. Daniel Candullo (Not listed)
2. Dylan Roszkowski (Valley Central Youth Wrestling Program)
3. Wyatt Larsson (Minisink Wrestling)

4. Khalil Johnson (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
76-83
1. Brady Zabriskie (not listed)
2. Camron Veneziano (not listed)
3. David Corrales (not listed)
4. Jude Smith (Bear Cave Wrestling)

85-93
1. Evan Bryant (Bear Cave Wrestling)
2. Kaiden Stafford (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
3. Peter Galante (Valley Central Youth Wrestling Program)

4. Dylan Rudden (not listed)

93-97
1. Asher Anaya (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
2. Weston Kubin (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
3. Jamir Alston (Bear Cave Wrestling)

4. TJ Muhlfeld (Tri-State Wrestling)

99-109
1. Caleb Brown (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
2. Kevin Bernazar (not listed)
3. Bradley Kirkpatrick (not listed)

106-114
1. Ziâ Layna Rodriguez (Funky Panda Wrestling Club)
2. Hunter Pearson Leary (Valley Central Youth Wrestling Program)

113-121
1. Gerard Empirio (not listed)

2. Dakota Duryea (Tri-State Wrestling)
3. Stanley Williams (Valley Central Youth Wrestling Program)

125-136
1. John Meyer (not listed)
2. Benjamin Rivera (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)

3. Liam Giannico (Valley Central Youth Wrestling Program)

132-137
1. Jayden Thiel (not listed)
2. Ethan Freer (Funky Panda Wrestling Club)

142-155

1. Joseph Royal (Bear Cave Wrestling)
2. Eugene Noboa Jr. (Bear Cave Wrestling)
3. Adam Ferguson (Valley Central Youth Wrestling Program)

Boys Intermediate (13/14 Years) 86-91
1. Matteo Walsh of Deep Roots Wrestling Club

2. Owen Blair (not listed)
3. Jake Messing (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
4. Andrew Britto (Bear Cave Wrestling)

91-98
1. Liam Rudden (not listed)

2. Griffyn Alfalla (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
3. Ian Gentles (Valley Central Youth Wrestling Program)
4. Michael Muller (club not listed)

99-102
1. E.J. Vass (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)

2. Bryce Sini (club not listed)
3. Shayne Riles (club not listed)
4. Jack Watson (Valley Central Youth Wrestling Program)

101-105
1. Olivia Schmidt (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)

2. Kaleb Mako (not listed)
3. Matthew Travis (not listed)

106-107
1. Juan Cruz (not listed)
2. Michael Roe (not listed)

3. Santiago Gonzalez (Valley Central Youth Wrestling Program)
4. Evay Watson Jr. (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)

107-109
1. Chase Brodersen (not listed)
2. Angelo Battista (not listed)

3. Jadiel Cordero (Bear Cave Wrestling)
4. Joshua Burns (Valley Central Youth Wrestling Program)

113-120
1. Vincent Coppola (Minisink Wrestling)
2. John Aniello (GPS Wrestling Club)

3. Sean Maher (Valley Central Youth Wrestling Program)
4. Julian De La Rosa (Funky Panda Wrestling Club)

121-129
1. Eustace Sermier (not listed)
2. Vincenzo Rubino (Funky Panda Wrestling Club)

3. Jude Migliore (Valley Central Youth Wrestling Program)
4. Joseph Roszkowski (Valley Central Youth Wrestling Program)

126-135
1. Nicholas DeBellis (unattached)
2. Joshua Conroy (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)

3. Stephen Luciana (not listed)
4. Jordan Bick (Valley Central Youth Wrestling Program)

133-135
1. Anthony Stewart (not listed)
2. Bryant Vass (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)

3. Josh Cortez (Valley Central Youth Wrestling Program)

136-142
1. Daniel Arroyo (not listed)
2. Michael Giannoni (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
3. Max Laskowski (not listed)

144-149
1. Aiden Wright (not listed)
2. Jason Montgomery (Valley Central Youth Wrestling Program)
3. Gabe Ausfeld (not listed)
4. Chris Bloom (GPS Wrestling Club)

164-175
1. Adam Kangas (not listed)
2. Patrick McGorman (not listed)
3. Samuel Gonzalez (Valley Central Youth Wrestling Program)
4. Cristian Cancel (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)

174-184
Guaranteed Places
1. Bojk Bojkaj (not listed)
2. Jack Hinspeter (Valley Central Youth Wrestling Program)
3. Christian Bolde (not listed)

4. Jesus Meza (not listed)

Boys High School (7th-12th grade) 102
1. E.J. Vass (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
2. Santiago Chrisjohn (Funky Panda Wrestling Club)

110

1. Gianni Gennaro (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
2. Owen Milmore (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
3. Gregory Schaefer (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)

118
1. Elijah Brown (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)

2. Gabriel McNally (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
3. Jacob Burgos (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
4. Richard OLena (not listed)

126
1. James Duffy (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)

2. Jordan Busby (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
3. Max Wickrath (Minisink Wrestling)
4. Sebastian Pickett (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)

132
Guaranteed Places

1. Matthew Mercado (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
2. Tanner Knaggs (not listed)
3. Justin Is Harrison (Tri-State Wrestling)
4. Colin Kinsley (not listed)

138

1. Richard Urena (not listed)
2. Michael Giannoni (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
3. Xavier Trinidad (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
4. Meredith Mills (not listed)

145

1. Logan Pennell (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
2. Brenon Thiel (not listed)
3. Michael Accardo (not listed)
4. Dylan Alvarez (Bear Cave Wrestling)
5. Gillian Mills (not listed)

152
1. Mackery Paulsen (Warwick Wrestling)
2. Max Echevarria (not listed)

160

1. Zachary Filip (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
2. Joey Longobardo (not listed)
3. Musa Aljamal (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
4. Alwalid Bourkia (not listed)

172

1. Ismael Youla (not listed)
2. Aundre Rick (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
3. Christian Bernazar (not listed)
4. Luciano Rubino (Funky Panda Wrestling Club)
5. Trey Walker (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)

189
1. Chris Herriman (not listed)
2. Ethan Robar (not listed)
3. Angel Sanchez (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
4. Zaiden Hempstead (not listed)

215
1. Matthew Oosterom (Tri-State Wrestling)
2. Brayden Davies (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)
3. Nicholas Oosterom (Tri-State Wrestling)
4. Ronald Weaver (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)

285
1. Kevin Crowe-Bailey (Minisink Wrestling)
2. Kaleb Sweeney (not listed)
3. Gregory Florin (not listed)
4. Brian DeMoya (Deep Roots Wrestling Club)

5. Dakotah Basso (not listed)

Girls Junior (11/12 Years) - 106-114
1. Ziâ Layna Rodriguez (Funky Panda Wrestling Club)
2. Hunter Pearson Leary (Valley Central Youth Wrestling Program)

Girls Intermediate (13/14 Years) 132-144

1. Rilee Kinsley (not listed)
2. Hailey Lichtenstein (Bear Cave Wrestling)
3. Danielle Lichtenstein (Bear Cave Wrestling)