Marion Junior Zach Kuelling Heads to State Wrestling Qualifiers

Last year, Zach Kuelling finished sixth at the Section V wrestling championships and no, it did not sit well with him.

So this year, he won it. Easy as that, right? 

“It motivated me this year to wrestle my butt off,” the Marion junior said this week of his Class B1 victory at 285 pounds. “Every day I was practicing to get better.”

And by practice, he means lifting weights, watching his diet and working on moves that will leave opponents helpless. It also included going to “as many tournaments as possible” over the summer, which meant trips to the Thousand Islands and Virginia Beach.

Zach felt better coming into this year’s Section V Tournament as the No. 5 seed and a win by fall in his opening match only strengthened his optimism. But his next opponent, No. 4 seed Gianni Velazquez of Geneva beat Zach in the league championships last month by major decision. Of course, that loss was in the back of his mind but Zach turned the tables and beat Velazquez by a 2-1 score.

From there, Zach rolled to the top of the podium with a 9-1 major decision win over top seed Hunter Jewell-Simmons of Holley/Kendall in the semifinals followed by an 11-4 decision win over No. 2 seed Cameron Mosher of Honeoye Falls-Lima in the championship match. 

“It was a big relief,” Zach said of the victory. “It showed that all of my work paid off over the summer.”

Up next for Zach is the SuperSectional meet (state qualifier) at Haverling High in Bath on Saturday. He’ll enter as the No. 2 seed and his goal is simple: “A purple singlet.”

The orange of Marion will always be Zach’s primary color but wearing a purple singlet is an reward reserved for those who qualify for the state championships in Albany from Feb. 28 to March 1.

And that’s a trade he’ll gladly make.