Matt Malherio (photo by Rich Corozine)
Highland’s three-time Section 9 Division 2 champion Matt Malheiro had himself quite the State wrestling meet this past weekend. The senior, wrestling at 132 pounds after winning titles two years running at 138, advanced to the semifinal round on Saturday with victories on Friday over Malachi Porter of Eagle Academy (8-1) in the Round of 16 and 1-0 over Mike O’Brien of Mount Sinai in the quarterfinals.
Malheiro nearly made it to the Division 2 finals, being edged out by Pleasantville’s Victor Perlieshi 8-6 in that semifinal round. Malheiro then dropped a 2-1 decision to Gage DiNapoli of Locust Valley in the consolation semifinal, before settling for fifth-place with a 5-3 decision over Anthony Stewart of Addison.
The other Highland wrestler at States — Peter Bender — was ousted on Friday with an 8-0 loss to Nicholas Noto of Honeoye Falls-Lima in an outbracket match at 106 pounds.