Top Sports Stories 2016: Two SWR wrestlers earn all-state honors
Two Shoreham-Wading River wrestlers closed out their high school careers standing on the podium at the New York State Championships in Albany this past March. Jack Taddeo finished fourth at 145 pounds and Meloni was fifth at 106.
Both wrestlers had earned a spot at the state tournament by receiving a wild card.
It was a tremendous season all-around for both wrestlers. Taddeo left behind a lasting legacy by becoming a four-time league champion, joining a rare list of Shoreham wrestlers to accomplish the feat.
“If we had a Mount Rushmore of the best of wrestling, he’d be one of the top 10 guys in the history of Shoreham-Wading River,” coach Joe Condon said in February.
In his league championship win, Taddeo won by technical fall over Mount Sinai senior Leon Paul, who had only three losses on the year going into the match.
Meloni won his third league title by winning 7-3 against Islip sophomore Chris Delisle. The Wildcats finished fourth as a team in the league tournament and sent nine wrestlers into the county championship.
When the season came to an end later that month, Taddeo had posted a 38-4 record on the season while Meloni was 36-5.
“All in all, I wrestled as hard as I could,” Taddeo said in Albany.
“It means so much to me,” Meloni added after his win in the consolation round.
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