Emmick, Mitchell win qualifier tournaments

The Section IV wrestling championships are set to take place this Saturday at the Visions Veterans Memorial Arena in Binghamton. Getting there requires a top-four finish at the Section IV qualifier tournaments, which occurred last Saturday in Greene. Dryden will be represented by Josh Rowland, Lansing will be sending four wrestlers, and Groton will be sending six, but two local athletes stood out above the rest last weekend.

Lansing sophomore Owen Emmick became the first Bobcat in five years to win the qualifier tournament, taking home the top spot at 140 pounds. Groton junior Donovan Mitchell won at 215 pounds to make it seven straight seasons a Groton wrestler has won at the qualifiers.

Emmick credited his coach Gene Nighman, a Cornell University Hall of Famer, for his success at the qualifiers.

“We have a great coach,” Emmick said. “He pushes us and he knows what he’s doing. He knows how to make us better. [Thanks to him], I know how to keep going in a match. Sometimes, I’ll get tired or feel sick or something, but he really pushes me. He knows what’s best for me.”

For Mitchell, listening to heavy metal music was the key to his excellent performance in Greene.

“I just love listening to music before matches,” Mitchell said. “I get nice and pumped up and I just get in the zone. When I’m in the zone, I just keep moving. As long as I keep that pace high and I just don’t stop moving, I feel like I’m kind of unstoppable in some ways. I just feel so strong, so quick. Everything just works in my favor.”

After dominant wins in the first two rounds of the tournament, Emmick had to work hard to earn a 4-1 win in the finals against Windsor’s Ethan Dibble. He described the final match that earned him the tournament victory.

“It definitely was close,” Emmick said. “It was a tough match. He is a good wrestler. I feel like it was definitely a lot harder than all my other matches because I did lose a bunch of weight before that tournament. I had to lose it in a day or so. It was pretty hard for me to keep my stamina during the match. I just had to push through that.”

It was a steep 7-pound weight cut for Emmick the day before the tournament. He went through the difficult process to give himself the best shot at winning and it paid off.

“Just knowing that I didn’t want to go up in a weight class because I knew I had a really good shot at 140, I wanted to get there,” he said. “I had to run after practice to make sure I could get down there and I had to eat healthy.”

Like Emmick, Mitchell had a pair of one-sided matches to get to the finals before a hard-fought 10-5 win against Walton-Delhi’s Will Pettit. Going into the finals, Mitchell’s last 12 victories did not last the full 6 minutes, so it was a much-needed experience before sectionals.

“Honestly, matches like those I love,” Mitchell said. “I love nice, long matches, just going toe to toe with somebody on par with your skill. It’s fun. It’s exhilarating. It takes a lot out of you. But after the match, you just feel so fulfilled like you just ran a marathon. It just feels great.”

Mitchell is hungry for competition, as evidenced by his move from the 285-pound weight class to 215-pounds.

“Two hundred fifteen is just a lot more competitive,” Mitchell said. “There are more kids my size. They’re quicker. They’re faster, stronger. I like to compete. I like a challenge.”

Emmick and Mitchell certainly take different paths to the wrestling mats during the school year. For Emmick, the sophomore was a starting defenseman for the Lansing soccer team, which was the top-ranked team in the state for the majority of the season. Meanwhile, Mitchell was in the trenches as a lineman for the state-ranked Groton football team.

While football to wrestling is the more common path, Emmick made the case for soccer to be a great sport for wrestlers.

“I feel like people don’t understand the physical aspect of soccer,” Emmick said. “It’s still a very one-on-one contact sport. You really get after it. There’s a lot of running. Practices have definitely helped me a lot with wrestling because we run a lot and that helps with my stamina.”

Being the first Lansing wrestler in five years to win the qualifier tournament was “a great feeling” for Emmick, who hopes to impress at sectionals this weekend before chasing his bigger goal of a state championship before he graduates in 2024.

As for Mitchell, the junior spoke about the significance of a Section IV title to him after he took home an IAC Championship last month.

“It would mean the world,” Mitchell said. “I want to leave something behind for the kids coming up. I just really want to leave my mark on Groton. I’m going to do my best.”

Joining Emmick at sectionals this weekend will be teammates Caelob Georgia and Anthony McMillen and Emmick’s older brother Jack. The Groton contingent is six wrestlers deep as Jeter Neff, Isaac Allen, Aidan Shufelt, Kris Willard and Donovan’s brother Darian will be joining him. With the top three wrestlers from each weight class earning a spot at states, Emmick and Mitchell hope to keep their momentum going on Saturday.

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