Eight Clarke Wrestlers Qualify for County Tourney

The Clarke wrestling team is sending eight qualifiers to the county tournament taking place at Nassau Community College on Feb. 12. These wrestlers fought tooth-and-nail to earn their place via the qualifying tournament at MacArthur High School on Saturday.

The seven team tournament also included wrestlers from Uniondale, Bethpage, Southside, Valley Stream South, Hicksville and host school MacArthur. Wrestlers who finished in the top four in each weight class at each tournament qualify for the county tournament.

Clarke

The Clarke Rams finished in the middle of the pack at fourth place with 158.50 team points and qualified eight of their own for the county tournament.

Coach Mike Leonard was proud of the hard work in his team and felt there was one key thing that got the wrestlers who qualified to where they finished.

“Hustle,” coach Leonard said. “Our guys showed a lot of it out there today.”

Leonard was especially proud of his 125 pounder--his son, senior Mike Leonard.

“It’s been a great trip. I hope he has enjoyed it, because I sure did,” he said.                                               

Leonard took home first place at 125 lbs in the tournament and also earned the Most Outstanding Wrestler Award. Despite the success, the victory is just step one for the senior, who has finished third the last two years in the county tournament.

“I’ve finished third twice, and I am sick of losing. I want to win it all this year,” Leonard said.

Clarke's other finalist Vinny Lombardo (152) and Mo Muzzamai (285) each took second in the tournament.

Clarke Qualifying Wrestlers

119 Keven Jackson, Fourth

125 Mike Leonard, First

135 Dave Amann, Fourth

140 Brandon Constantine, Third

152  Vinny Lombardo, Second

171 Karl Schmitt, Third; Austin Pereza, Fourth

285 Mo Muzzamai, Second

MacArthur

The Generals continued to take care of business as they have all season, winning another tournament with a total of 382.0 team points. The team qualified a total of 17 wrestlers with seven of them taking home the gold, placing first at their weight class.

“We worked hard all year,” head coach Rob Paletta said, “This is the time of year that we have all been working for.”

Senior Frank Medeiros at 152 lbs was one of the first-place Generals and also took home the award for most pins, with four in a total time of seven minutes and 10 seconds combined over four matches.

Another General who took home gold has been very successful both on the mat and in the classroom.  Senior Chris Perez finished first at 130 lbs and will be attending Princeton University next ,wrestling in the Ivy Leagues. A county champion last year, Perez knows how much hard work it takes to be successful and plans to advance even further this year.

“I worked hard every practice drilling with great teammates and running and lifting on my own seven days a week,” Perez said. “I want to win states and hopefully nationals after that.”

MacArthur Qualifying Wrestlers

96 Justin Cooksey, First; Mike Coiro, Fourth

103 Anthony Boccasini, First

112 Chris Cataldo, First

125 Tom Manning, Second; Anthony Locke, Fourth

130 Chris Perez, First; Robert Bennett, Second; Steve Schneider, Third

135 Angelo Rella, First

140 Brian Conrad, First; Anthony Cormace, Fourth

145 Peter Mac, Second

152 Frank Medeiros, First; Ryan Donahue, Fourth

160 Joe Cataldo, Second; Eric Anderson, Fourth

South Side

The Rockville Centre school held their own in the seven-team tournament, finishing fifth with a total of 141 team points.  The team was only able to qualify five of their wrestlers but had two of them compete in the finals, both taking second place.

James Rodriguez at 140 lbs and Christian Lethbridge at 171 lbs both brought home silver and put on impressive performances for their head coach.

“We have had a lot of ups and downs this year,” Coach Jason Washington said. “Our guys worked really well.”

Lethbridge has come a long way in the eyes of his coach, from a struggling freshman who had trouble winning any matches, to one of the top wrestlers in the county at 171.

“He told me he just wanted to have fun wrestling and he has done very well ever since,” Washington said. “It is great to see him rise up and do well.”

South Side Qualifying Wrestlers

96 Thomas Cozier, Third

103 Ryan Holzgruber, Third

140 James Rodriguez, Second

171 Christian Lethbridge, Second

215  Steve Meoli, Second

For the wrestlers who did not qualify it is the end of the season, a time to look back an another hard-fought year in Nassau County wrestling.