Wantagh's Vines captures state title

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Wantagh wrestler Justin Vines captured at New York State title last weekend to highlight a successful Albany trip for the Warrior grapplers.

Vines won the state championship at 126 bounds at the Times-Union Center last Saturday night on the heels of a fourth-place finish on the big stage last year. The junior clinched the state crown with a 3-0 decision against Austin Hertel of Hilton High School in suburban Rochester.

“He did everything we asked of him this season,” Wantagh head coach Paul Gillespie said of Vines, who won two county titles prior to standing on top of the podium at the states. “He made himself better.”

Vines achieved the state title with several close bouts including a 5-3 win the semifinals and 9-6 in the quarterfinal round. He finished the season with a record of 49-3 at a higher weight class after winning the counties at 113 as a sophomore.

“To win a state title as a junior is very hard in the middle weights so that puts him a whole new category,” Gillespie said. “He really took it to everybody.”

Also shining in Albany were junior Jonathan Loew and freshman Josiah Encarnacion, who both returned home with All-State honors. Loew finished third at 160 pounds, while Encarnacion placed sixth at 99 pounds.

The New York State Championships capped a successful winter for the Warriors, who bested Long Beach for first place in the Nassau County individual wrestling championships at Hofstra on Feb. 12. Gillespie missed the finals of the counties after the death of his mother and was proud of his wrestlers came together to win some crucial bouts.

“They really came to wrestle that weekend,” Gillespie said. “They really stepped it up.”

Wantagh’s successful winter will continue into spring when the Warriors send 15 wrestlers to the national wrestling championships in Virginia in April. Gillespie gives much of the credit for his program’s success to assistant coaches Ray Handley Sr., Ray Handley Jr., Reggie Jones, Brian Hooker and Todd Bloom.

“They are all a big part of what we do,” Gillespie said of his coaching staff. “You can’t win without a complete group effort.”