Baldwin enjoys productive qualifier

Senior Dylan Cohen and junior Victor Robinson brought home individual titles, and Baldwin also had four runners-up in a Nassau County qualifying wrestling tournament hosted by Syosset last Saturday.

The Bruins will have 10 participants at this weekend’s Division I championships at Hofstra, where Cohen figures to be a handful for the competition in the 145-pound weight class. He won three matches at the qualifier, including a major decision (14-5) over Syosset’s Billy Handelsman in the final.

“I liked the way the kids battled,” Baldwin coach Jim Murphy said. “I was optimistic we’d get about 12 through, but it was a very competitive qualifier and one mistake can be the difference between winning and losing.”

Losing is something Cohen has experienced just once since finishing fifth in last year’s county tournament. He’ll take a 37-1 mark to Hofstra and did nothing at Syosset to lower his odds of winning the county crown. “Dylan’s been outstanding all season long,” Murphy said. “He’s determined and focused, but at the same time he realizes there’s still a lot of work to do.”

Robinson reached the 30-win plateau in style, pinning Syosset’s Chris Conte in 3:48 to capture the 132-pound qualifying title. “He looked really good and I got some comments about him from other coaches,” Murphy said of Robinson, one of Baldwin’s most consistent grapplers all season.”

Senior Austin Valenti returned from a brief absence to reach the 120-pound final, which he dropped to Oral Allen of Long Beach, and could be dangerous this weekend. Junior Enriquez DeJesus (126), junior Quinn Knauer (138), and senior Luckney Lambert (170) also had strong qualifiers and advanced to the finals. DeJesus and Knauer lost hard-fought decisions, 11-5 and 10-6, respectively.

“They all had nice days,” Murphy said. “All are peaking at the right time and capable of placing in the county tournament. We’ll see where the chips fall next weekend.”