SWR wrestlers pin down No. 2 team in the state
John Glenn wrestlers showed up to Shoreham-Wading River High School’s wrestling mats on Friday night ranked second in Division II across all of New York State, according to New York Wrestling News.
Last season, the Knights beat the Wildcats twice during the season, once during the regular season and again in the county championships, en route to winning a New York State championship.
This year, the tables have turned. After being ranked fourth in the state coming into the matchup, SWR wrestlers proved to all the doubters that they are the team to beat this season. They took down the former champs, and it wasn’t even close, winning by a margin of 56-15.
“I was very impressed with our team today,” SWR head coach Joe Condon said. “I was happy with the performance. Guys wrestled aggressive. Every kid, win or lose, they wrestled tough. We showed what we’re capable of today, but we are going to continue to get better.”
For the first time, as far as Condon can remember in his two decades of coaching, his entire starting lineup returned from last year’s Suffolk County runner-up finish.
“And everyone on this team has improved,” Condon said. “You can only imagine what our expectations are of this team this year. Competition is high, and everyone is fighting for their spot in the lineup.”
The Wildcat wrestlers set the tone from the opening match, winning the first five matchups to start the meet. Andrew Dolson pinned Meesum Abbas in 50 seconds at 103 lbs. Thomas Matias pinned Brady McCormack in 51 seconds at 118. Shane Cowan followed up with a pin of Gianni Vargas in 37 seconds at 126, and then Shane Hall did just the same at 132, pinning Chris Figueroa in 38 seconds. It was quite the start for a team that struggled in these matches last season.
“In the past few years, John Glenn has messed us up,” Hall said, a team captain who’s in his final season as a Wildcat. “Especially me. I’ve lost, and it’s been tough. So to get this win is definitely a big deal for us.”
Getting that start and seeing those back-to-back pins makes a difference for other wrestlers warming up and looking on from the sidelines.
“It’s all about momentum,” Hall said. “When we see the guy before us winning that fast, we want to match that same intensity. Nobody wants to drop a point on this team.”
Shoreham-Wading River’s winning ways continued the rest of the match, only losing four weight classes on the night. Only one of those four losses was by a pin.
“Even in the matches we lost, last year those weren’t close,” Condon said. “We really bridged the gap all the way through our lineup. It shows how much work we’ve been putting in.”
Also getting wins on the night were Giovanni Aliotti (144) by technical fall, Gavin Mangano (150) by pin, Jacob Conti (157) by major decision, John O’Neil (165) by technical fall, and Leo Marcario by pin.
Knocking off the defending champs would have been enough for most teams in Suffolk County, but the Wildcats continued to assert their dominance the following day at The Battle at The Harbor Duals. They earned the championship trophy, going 5-0, defeating four ranked teams along the way.
“I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished so far, but we have to keep improving,” Condon said. “I have an awesome coaching staff that doesn’t stop pushing our kids. When the kids buy into what you preach, this is the kind of results you tend to get.”
