Fine showing for Lawrence wrestlers

Lawrence carried its momentum from a strong dual meet season into last Saturday’s Nassau Division I wrestling qualifying tournament at Farmingdale.

The Golden Tornadoes, who went 15-7 in duals, had four first-place finishers and will send 10 participants to this weekend’s county championships at Hofstra. Senior Michael Egan (125 pounds), juniors Mohameed Chaudhry (119) and Isiah Batts (215), and sophomore Pankil Chander (103) all won qualifying titles.

“It’s the most qualifying champs we’ve had in a while,” Lawrence coach Dom DelVecchio said. “We had a big day with seven finalists. And to see all five seniors push through to the county tournament was great.”

Egan upped his record on the season to 22-9 and has lost only one of his last 15 bouts. He beat Farmingdale’s Chris Phelps, 15-3, in the finals. “Michael’s been gaining steam the last three weeks,” DelVecchio said.

With one win at Hofstra this weekend, Chaudhry will reach 30 on the season. He won 11 straight matches at one point and takes a nine-match winning streak into the county tournament. “He’s been on a hot streak,” DelVecchio said of Chaudhry, who topped Richard Luxmore of Bellmore-JFK, 12-2, in the finals.

Batts picked up win No. 30 in style, beating Kennedy’s Matt Accetta in the finals, 12-8. Accetta defeated Lawrence sophomore Akil Mauruck, who finished third, in the semis. Batts has captured 23 of his last 24 battles. “Isiah started working really hard and is getting results,” DelVecchio said.

Chander leads the Golden Tornadoes in wins with 37, the latest of which was a pin of Farmingdale’s Casey Marlow in the title bout of the qualifier. “Pankil can compete with anyone,” DelVecchio said. “He’s got a legitimate shot at All-County.”

The coach said he was excited to see seniors Justin Surkes (130), Sahill Aggarwal (160) and Jason Delgrosso (285) advance to the finals and give the competition a run for the money. Surkes lost a tough 6-5 final to Locust Valley’s Alex Hochberg, Aggarwal fell 10-3 to Kennedy’s Evan Goldschlag, and Delgrosso was pinned by Farmingdale’s Brian Terry after two evenly contested periods. Delgrosso needs one more win for 30, while Aggarwal sits at 25.

Senior Bastian Valenzuela got through with a fourth-place finish at 135, and junior Karl Ravilus (189) finished third.

“Not every senior can say they closed their career by appearing in the county tournament,” DelVecchio said. “It’s going to be nice having all five of them there.”

Lawrence, which won four of five Conference 3B duals, was bounced from the dual meet playoffs Jan. 28 by Garden City, 40-39, via criteria. The Trojans won eight of the 15 matches. Chander, Chaudhry, Valenzuela, Ravilus and Batts all had pins, Aggarwal won by decision and Delgrosso by forfeit.