The third Friday and Saturday of February 2009 is officially championship weekend for Section VI wrestling.

Section VI has expanded its championships to a two-day event at Niagara County Community College.

The Division I (large school meet) will be held on Friday, Feb. 20, and the Division II (small schools) will compete the following day. Both meets will begin at 10 a. m. with the finals scheduled for 4:30 p. m.

Since the state’s two-division format began in 2004, the two Section VI meets were held at the same venue — Jamestown Community College (2004), the Buffalo Bills Fieldhouse (2005), the University at Buffalo (2006) and Fredonia State (2007) — until last year, when separate meets were held on the same day at Kenmore West (Division I) and Jamestown Community College (II).

Now each meet gets its own spotlight at the same site.

“We’ve held meets at Fredonia or UB in the past, and you’ve got eight mats going at once — four large and four small,” said Israel Martinez, coach of Niagara Falls and a Section VI cochairman. “For the wrestling fan, who is pretty diehard — those that follow it want to see as much action as possible. But you can’t focus on any one thing.

“It’s the best kids in the area, so what better way to showcase all of them than at a more intimate venue. We’re looking forward to it.”

The Section VI championships is also called the state qualifier because it determines the Section VI team that will go to the state meet.

The all-important divisional tournaments, which determine the fields for the sectional meets, will be held on Feb. 13-14 at Williamsville North (AAAA), Starpoint (AAA), Fredonia (AA) and Frewsburg (A).

Of course, the ultimate destination for wrestlers is the state championships on Feb. 27-28 at the Times Union Center in Albany. Fans can get used to making the trip down the Thruway — the state recently announced that the state meet will be held at the Times Union Center through 2012.

Familiar faces on top

Niagara-Wheatfield, Lancaster and Cheektowaga have begun this year right where they ended last year — 1-2-3 in the Wrestling Review of Western New York’s large school poll.

A familiar name helped Niagara- Wheatfield to the top as the three Malvestuto brothers are back after all qualified for the state tournament last year. Angelo, a junior, is ranked first at 189. He made his second straight trip to states last year, as did sophomore Joey, who is ranked second at 119. Senior Bob Malvestuto made his first appearance at states last year and is an honorable mention at 152. James Donner (285) is another top-ranked Falcon.

Similar depth and talent is located in 13-time defending ECIC champion Lancaster, which has a sibling pair of its own in Clint (third at 152) and Tim Schaefer (first at 103). It seems like every year the Redskins have an impact 96-pounder, and this year’s is seventh grader Steven Michel (ranked second).

Cheektowaga has three ranked wrestlers, and it’s easy to find them as all three are No. 1: two-time Section VI champion Jared Messina (125), Clay Reeb (152) and Mike Kiripolsky (160). All three won Section VI titles last year.

Fredonia is also back where it started — on top of the small-school charts. The same can be said for senior Carlene Sluberski, who is ranked first at 96 after becoming the first female to win a Section VI championship last year. Kenny Betts is also back racking up victories; he was a state champion two years ago and was a runner-up last year; he’s ranked right behind Reeb at 152.

The first rankings of the season, thanks to the Wrestling Review of Western New York, include 92 wrestlers from 37 schools. Niagara-Wheatfield leads the way with seven ranked wrestlers; Lancaster has six; Clarence, Fredonia and Frewsburg have five; Gowanda, Iroquois, Salamanca and Southwestern have four.

Niagara Falls already got a look at Niagara-Wheatfield in a dual meet loss, one in which 215-pound senior Matt Johnson did very well in losing by only two to Angelo Malvestuto. The Wolverines also return sophomore standout Irv Buck (140) and will battle Grand Island, Kenmore West and Lockport (which has 112-pound senior Zak Flores back from a two-year injury) for second place in the Niagara Frontier League behind Wheatfield.

The Monsignor Martin Association race should come down to Feb. 3, when defending champion St. Francis visits St. Joe’s. C. J. Canterbury, the only MMA wrestler to win a Catholic state title last year, moves up from 103 to 112, where he is the only wrestler from his league to be ranked. Mark Emerson of St. Joe’s was the state Catholic runner- up at 130 and started this year 10-1.

Brad Rowe is in his first year coaching at Ripley, one of the smallest — and best — wrestling schools in the state. Rowe was a 1997 state champion and 192- match winner for Ripley.

On the Web

Go to buffalonews.com /highschool for:

More teams, wrestlers and info about this season at the Prep Talk blog.

A listing of this season’s top tournaments.

The Prep Talk blog is also the place to discuss top teams, wrestlers and is your chance to tell people what you thought of duals and tournaments throughout the week.