Bellmore-Merrick wrestlers set for county tourney

The Bellmore-Merrick Central School District is going to be well represented at this weekend’s Nassau County Division I Wrestling Tournament at Hofstra University.

Kennedy, Mepham and Calhoun combined to qualify 26 wrestlers, five of whom captured individual titles at one of the six Qualifying Tournaments last Saturday. The Cougars led the way with 10 total qualifiers (one champion), while the Pirates had four individual champs among their nine qualifiers. The Colts are sending seven to Hofstra.

Kennedy placed seven wrestlers in the finals at the qualifier in Garden City, led by senior Ben Sather, who defeated teammate Jack Krug, an eighth-grader, by injury default in the finals at 113 pounds. “This is our youngest crew ever,” Cougars coach Brian DeGaetano said. “We entered 30 [in the qualifier] and 22 were eighth, ninth or 10th graders. “It’s our youngest crew ever, and we still managed to get seven in the finals and 10 to the County’s. It’s very encouraging.”

Junior Dan Elegante took second at 120 pounds, and senior Roman Esposito was second at 126 pounds. Senior Matt Shane, who’s racked up pins by the bushel this season, added three more in his first three matches, before falling 12-6 in the finals at 170 pounds. Vinny Bagnasco, a junior injured into the first week of January, also battled his way into the finals.

Anthony Lanzano, a sophomore, stopped the gym in its tracks with a thunderous hip toss and headlock for a pin against the No. 2 seed at 195 pounds,in the quarterfinals, but lost a 5-1 decision in the finals to Garden City’s Lucas Hildreth. Junior Danny Arkow took third at 145 pounds, while sophomore Matt Schwartz (152 pounds) and junior Ayden Kessler (182) took fourth in their respective weight classes.

The Pirates, who finished third as a team at the Syosset qualifier, were boosted by another individual title from senior Louis Hernandez. The 152-pounder, a returning Nassau and New York State champion, won his weight class again, yet he was outdone by teammate Joel Zambrano, who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler. Zambrano, a returning All-County honoree, put an exclamation mark on his run with a 5-0 shutout of Jericho’s David Yabians in the finals. “He was in control the whole match,” Zambrano’s coach, Rich Anderson said. “He protected himself [defensively] and took advantage of his scoring opportunities.”

Senior John Sherlock came out on top at 132 pounds, and senior Matt Assael, continued his big leap forward. Assael has transformed himself from a .500 wrestler last season to a qualifying champion at 145 pounds and now boasts a robust 32-5 mark. Mepham had four wrestlers take fourth place—sophomore Tyler Althenn at 113 pounds, senior Sean O’Brien at 170 pounds, senior Corey Prieattle at 195 pounds and Kevin Cabrera at 220 and were also hopeful that junior Alex Pekoff would qualify as a wild card at 106 pounds.

The Colts placed three wrestlers in the finals at the MacArthur qualifier with seniors Chris Johnson (195 pounds) and Willy Jutt (120) and junior Matt Krause all taking second. Johnson, injured for much of January, not only had to battle conditioning but also a jump in weight class from 182 and still put together an impressive performance. Freshman Alex Cruz finished third at 138 pounds, and three teammates—senior Thomas Fitzsimmons (170) and juniors Isaiah Arroyo (162) and Patrick Horn (152) — were fourth. Based on prior performances, Calhoun coach Steven Romano hoped seniors Anthony Fitzsimmons (170) and Dylan Goldstein (132) would qualify as wild cards.