Two champions for Long Beach

Long Beach senior Dylan Palacio secured his third Nassau County Division I wrestling title in four years last Sunday night at Hofstra University, winning a 9-4 decision over MacArthur’s Joe Cataldo in the 160-pound final, and now he can focus on the ultimate goal.

“It’s great to win the county three times and it would be nice to be All-State four years, but I want to get that state championship,” Palacio said after improving to 37-0.

Palacio, who has placed as high as third in the state tournament, will try to bring home the big prize from Albany where the New York State championships take place Feb. 24-25 at the Times Union Center. He cruised into the county final with pins in 1:02 and 20 seconds over Calhoun’s Anthony Fitzsimmons and MacArthur’s Joe Tangredi, respectively, and a forfeit by North Shore’s Dan Grabher in the semis.

“Dylan’s confident and he’s not going to hold anything back upstate,” Marines coach Ray Adams said. “He’s been focused on winning a state championship for a long time. He’s going to need to be on his ‘A’ game to make it happen.”

Palacio’s classmate, Mark Raghunandan, is also undefeated and seeking a state title after coming within seconds of winning it all last February. Raghunandan was also seconds away from a heartbreaking loss to Kennedy’s Robert Person in the 113-pound final last Sunday night but held on for an 8-7 victory and his second county crown in three years.

“I didn’t stay focused for the whole match and almost got caught,” said Raghunandan, who is 43-0 this season. “I knew I wasn’t pinned, so I had to get off my back.”

Raghunandan was in complete control for the first 5:45 and led 8-2 before Person scored five quick points. “It happened so quick, you don’t have time to worry about it,” Adams said. “Mark wrestled a great match and was dominant against a defending county champion. We have a lot of respect for Person and knew he wouldn’t go down without a fight.”

Ragunhandan said the road to the finals was “no walk in the park.” He edged Garden City’s Jack Reina, the eventual third-place finisher, 4-3 in the second round, and beat MacArthur’s Anthony Boccasini, the fourth-place finisher, 5-3, in the semifinals. “Mark’s first match was probably his toughest from start to finish,” Adams noted. “He’s definitely battle-tested going into the state tournament.”

The Marines, who had eight All-County (top six in weight class) winners, could have a third participant in Albany if senior Krishna Sewkumar earns a wild-card spot. He has 39 wins and lost 4-3 to top-seeded Justin Cooksey of MacArthur in the 106-pound county final.

Junior Steven Sewkumar (36 wins) was runner-up to Wantagh’s Jose Rodriguez at 99 pounds. Sophomore Jaemon Connelly went 6-1 over the weekend and was third at 99, senior Oral Allen finished fourth at 120, senior Pete Amabile was fifth at 285, and senior Fred Medina was sixth at 126.