podium photo courtesy of Coach Prather
Matt Kluck placed 4th in this weekend’s Section 2 State Qualifier Tournament. The first time in 42 years that any Berlin wrestler has placed. Kluck came into the tournament with a very low 11th of 12 seeding given his season had been limited due to a case of Covid and some minor injuries. He had only an 11-6 record where most competitors had over 30 matches this year. But in the first round he pinned Thomas Combs of Warrensburg, whom he had also beaten for 3rd place in last weekend’s Class D tournament. In the quarter-finals, he next faced the eventual champion Reed Douglass of Canajoharie and was quickly pinned. He dropped into the consolation side of the bracket and faced Michael Cavanaugh of Schalmont whom he came back to pin in the second period after being down 0-5 in the first. He then faced 3rd seeded wrestler Anthony Iamunno of Coxsackie, whom Kluck had lost to early in the season. This time Kluck controlled the entire match winning 7-0. This put him into the Consolation Finals wrestling for 3rd and 4th place against Jesse Mullis of Hudson Falls. Kluck battled hard, but was eventually pinned in the third period to place 4th.
According to Section 2 records he was the first Berlin wrestler to place in the Section 2 State Qualifier Tournament since Joe Morris placed 4th in 1980, 42 years ago. And just the 7th BNL wrester ever to place. This is made all the more striking as he had switched his winter sport from Wrestling to Swimming during his sophomore and junior years. Only to return to Wrestling in this his senior year. Matt is one of if not the best wrestler we’ve had through the program since the Wrestling team was restarted only 8 years ago.
-Coach Prather
Congratulations Matt!
