Saturday, March 15, 2025
Clarke High School showed out for the Nassau County Division 1 Wrestling Championships last weekend, with more than one egg in the proverbial basket.
Justin Gonzalez, Clarke’s representative at 160 pounds, had a commanding 9-1 lead over Calhoun’s Robert Bello going into the third period of the finals Sunday evening at Hofstra.
Just over 80 seconds into that last frame, he earned a pin. Gonzalez, the senior who has gone undefeated this season, earned the title of county champion.
“It was mostly just control,” Gonzalez said. He read his opponent’s game plan in real-time on the mat, realizing that his opponent’s offense wasn’t getting the results he wanted, and confident in his own defense to use against him. “I probably broke him by the end, because he was holding on for so long,” Gonzalez added.
Rams coach Mike Leonard Sr. said he expected a high-paced final. “We had a plan and he stuck to his plan.” Leonard Sr. said of Gonzalez.
Gonzalez said that at no point in the match did he feel scared, but instead, had fun and flew through it. “My coaches ran into my head that it’s just another match and at that point, when you think like that, it doesn’t matter who you wrestle,” Gonzalez said.
Clarke also flaunted Richard King, who’s on an unusual journey to the state tournament despite taking a loss in the county quarterfinals at 124 pounds. It took him beating one of his teammates in the consolation round to realize that he can still claw his way back to the top three, just enough to qualify for states.
“I had a match that I’d been wanting for a while, I lost to that kid twice last year and knew that something had to change,” King said. “After I got that pin, I started to feel like I could do this, like I could take third and qualify for the states again. After I put Greg [Walpole] on his back and pinned him, it was definitely a good feeling.”
The coaches’ support could not have been understated in King’s unconventional path. “They told me to keep my head up,” King said. “Coaches mostly talked to me to tell me that each match is 0-0, so not to look at the rankings and that it doesn’t mean anything.”
Leonard Sr. added: “We knew he could be that good, he didn’t know he could be that good.”
The Rams had five wrestlers finish in at least the top six to earn All-County honors. Sophomore William Grassini took fourth at 131, and juniors Sebastian Mejia and Marcus Rosario placed fifth at 152 and 215 respectively.
“It meant the world to them, they all worked hard,” said Leonard Sr. “They’re all year-round wrestlers, they went to camp all together, they worked out together the whole time, and they’re brothers.”
Gonzalez and King now turn their sights on the state tournament up in Albany less than two weeks away, both putting their best foot forward Feb. 28 and March 1.
