The last time the Churchville-Chili Saints won a Monroe County Divisional Wrestling Title was 1966. This was a time when some of the current wrestlers’ grandparents took to the mat for the Saints program.
Pictured are 19 of the Saints wrestlers who continue to help restore the Churchville-Chili wrestling program to prominence. Seated are seniors, Michael Antonio, Evan Morse, Drew Hambley, Tyler Jeffers, Jonathan Jeffers, and Jeffrey Morgan, who led this team.
Just nine years ago the wrestling program finished with a 1-22 team record and with a 12 person combined JV and Varsity team. Fast forward to this year’s team, where they recorded a 21-3 team dual meet record, have grown to a consistent upper 20s to low 30s JV and Varsity roster and a 17th NYS Dual Meet Large School ranking.
Most of this year’s team were not members of that HS team nine seasons ago, but many were part of the Churchville-Chili Junior Saints wrestling program during that inaugural reinstatement of the youth program. Every wrestler witnessed and participated in the slow transformation and restoration of this program as they progressed through the youth, modified, JV, and varsity programs.
Going back to 2014, the Saints wrestling program showed some glimmers of individual hope with NYS Tournament representatives in Josh Powell and Sam Eagan, both of whom earned All-State honors. But success at the team level would be a slow process. A process that was orchestrated as this group of wrestlers advanced through their Middle School, Junior High, and Senior High wrestling careers. In 2017, the Saints recorded their first winning season. During the 2018 season, the program garnered their first of what would be three consecutive NYS Honorable Mention Rankings. This year’s team broke a top 20 NYS Large School ranking for the first time and were ranked as high as 11th in the NYS Large School Rankings. In the last decade, the Saints have sent six representatives with four individual All-State honors at the NYS tournament. Four wrestlers have gone on to compete in college at the Division III and Division I level.
Success was seen at the individual level as this was only the second time in school history where the Saints sent multiple representatives to the NYS tournament in senior Tyler Jeffers and sophomore Cael Raines. Along the way in winning the Monroe County Division II team title, the Saints posted team wins over divisional opponents Penfield, Webster Schroeder, Webster Thomas, and Irondequoit. The team finished in second place at the Section V Class AA tournament, which is the highest finish since 1978. The program advanced a record 13 qualifiers to the Section V NYS Qualifier Tournament with Trevor Weeden, Derek Koch, Andrew Jeffers, Alexander Tomaszewski, Evan Morse, Jeff Morgan, and Gael Sanchez finishing in third through sixth place at the Section V Class AA tournament. They had a program best with six finalists in Drew Hambley, Tyler Jeffers, Coy Raines, Jonathan Jeffers, Jaxxon Cody, and an individual Section V Class AA champion in Cael Raines.
In May, the wrestling program celebrated their accomplishment with the update to the banner hanging in the HS gymnasium.
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