North Shore wrestlers thrive

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As another successful regular season concludes for North Shore’s wrestling program, having won its conference title and making the team playoffs, the qualifying tournament and county championships are what lie directly ahead for this talented group of workhorses.

On Jan. 13, the Vikings stormed into Kellenberg Memorial High School for the Annual Ed Solosky Memorial Tournament where 12 other teams of varying team size competed.

“We had a great tournament,” North Shore head coach Mike Emmert said. “We took fifth in the tournament, and were the second-highest placing Nassau County team.”

Antonio George won the 99-pound division at the tournament as one of the major highlights of the day. Stephen Grabher, ranked fifth at his weight class, challenged and defeated the No. 1-ranked Garrett Gibbons of Massapequa before going on to win the 152-pound gold. Overall, North Shore impressively had nine wrestlers place in the tournament, while only boasting a roster of 13.

Although small in comparison to other schools, the Vikings’ roster is full of outstanding talent chomping at the bits for county gold. One such competitor is the aforementioned George.

“He has progressed this year in every sense of the term,” Emmert said. “He hasn’t had a single point earned on him all year. Not one.” George is undefeated with 18 pins on the season. He is only ranked behind a wrestler he has beaten five times prior to this season, but has yet to wrestle this year.

“He’s pinned everyone ranked below him this year,” Emmert said. “He looks like a state champion in the wrestling room. He’s looking forward to the county championships.”

Phillip D’Amico (106 pounds) is one of George’s main partners in practice due to the size similarity. D’Amico’s rise and improvement may be partly due to how much he gets to drill with George on a daily basis, but more than that, Emmert praises D’Amico for his attitude. “Not only has he improved greatly, but he’s such a nice kid,” Emmert said. “He’s got a great attitude, he’s selfless, and he’s definitely got All-County quality potential.”

Zach Hasbrouck, a two-time All-County qualifier, is a game opponent for anyone at 126. It’s one of the hardest weight classes in the county according to Emmert. “Zach knows how to turn it on for big matches,” Emmert said.

Michael DerGarabedian (138) has yet to lose to anyone from Nassau County and is a “dark horse”, according to his coach, to win his weight class at the upcoming county championships.

Grabher and Joey Barcellos are both talented wrestlers and part of the stable that looks to make school history at the county championships Feb. 10-11 at Hofstra.

Grabher, George, DerGarabedian, and Kyle Knoell (160 pounds), along with the other hard workers on the Vikings roster, are all poised to make a lot of noise in this year’s qualifying and county championships.

“If we got fifth, words can’t describe how that would feel,” Emmert said. “We’re the second or third smallest school in the county going up against schools sending 30 wrestlers to qualifiers. We’ve got 13 horses in the stable, and we’re strong.

“We’ve got a great parent base, great assistant coaches, and great kids and it would be great to be able to do it for all of them,” he added.