With the 1000 Islands Duals beginning next Friday in Clayton, a number of teams got some last minute preparation this past weekend in dual events throughout the state.

One location was in the Capital region, where Columbia won a tournament hosted by Albany Academy.

Columbia team, Courtesy of Justin Cummings

The Blue Devils went 4-0 during the event, topping Albany Academy, Averill Park, Ravena and Excelsior.

According to Columbia coach Anthony Servidone, a number of wrestlers went undefeated for the first place squad, including Section 2 runner up Jimmy Devine (152), Johnny Devine (113), Jordan Maynard, James Bethel (220) and Andy Cummings.

“It was a great way to get ready for next weekend’s 1000 Islands Duals,” Servidone said. “It was an opportunity to get some quality matches in for the guys.  Kevin Grupe and Albany Academy did a great job running it.  It’s not that often that we get to wrestle 10 minutes from home this time of year, so it was a great opportunity for the team.”

In Section 5, Canandaigua also welcomed a number of squads for some dual meet action.  Attending the event, according to Rich Romeo, were Canandaigua, Gouverneur, Midlakes, Byron Bergen, Webster, Clarence, Cobra Wrestling Academy and VVS.  The eight teams consisted of wrestlers from 7^th-12^th grade and all squads got five rounds of wrestling.

A number of those same grapplers will take the mat at the 1000 Islands Duals, with Midlakes, Gouverneur, Clarence and Suburban Council (mixture of Columbia, Shenendehowa and Colonie) all confirmed to be competing.

(More information on another quality event that occurred over the weekend, the Northeast Duals, (Riot in the Rink) which took took place in Hoosick Falls, will be published later this week).