Hills East Takes Part in 10-Team Sprig Gardner Wrestling Tournament

Host school Mepham edged out Patchogue/Medford to win the annual two-day Sprig Gardner Tournament in North Bellmore this past Saturday at Mepham High School. The tournament was broken up with first- and quarter-round matches held Friday night at Calhoun High School and the semi-finals, wrestle backs and finals held on Saturday at Mepham.

Before the finals of the tournament, a ceremony hosted by National Wrestling Hall of Fame member Neil Duncan took place honoring Mepham wrestling alumni who are now members of the hall of fame. The members included Bob Bury, Ken Hunte, John Walter, George Munnich, Sprig Gardner and Roone Arledge, and referees Pascal Perri and Mark S. Piven. A plaque was presented to the school with a list of hall of fame members who have contributed the most to Mepham wrestling, including former coach Sprig Gardner, who the tournament is named after. Mepham's wrestling mats were also dedicated to the honored alumni.

"Mepham's history is unmatched on Long Island," Mepham head coach Rich Anderson said. "It is a nice symbolic gesture dedicating the mats to them."

Half Hollow Hills East

Coach Bill Davey felt his team did very well for their first tournament.

"We had a lot of offense pushing the action, aggressive stuff," Davey said.

The team had three wrestlers in the finals. Anthony Addin at 130, Cory Jones at 119 and Deshawn Mcneil at 160. Addin and Jones both finished first for the team in their weight classes.

"They are tough competitive kids," Coach Davey said of his finalists. "They are wrestling smart matches."

Half Hollow Hills East had nine wrestlers place in the tournament. As a team, they finished in fifth place with 170.5 team points.

Mepham

The team went back and forth for the lead in total team points during the whole tournament, but eventually finished  first with a total of 278 team points. Anderson was proud of the hard work his team showed throughout the whole tournament.

"Being match ready, aggressive, prepared to defend and being strong on our feet was our strength for us," Anderson said.

The team had five finalists in the tournament with two finishing first. Louis Hernendez, at 140, scored a 14-6 vicotry of South Side's James Rodriguez and Mike Paccione, at 140, defeated teammate Dan Tracy 12-1.

Overall Mepham put on a strong showing on their home mats with 13 of their own placing in the tournament, the most of any team.

Coach Bury credits their success to the hard work ethic both show everyday.

"Both are always working hard in practice and all year in the off season," Bury said.

Most Outstanding Wrestler

Anthony Addin of Half Hallow Hills East overwhelmingly earned the Most Outstanding Wrestler award for the tournament with three pins and an impressive 14-1 victory over Clarke's Mike Leonard in the finals. Addin won the tournament for the fourth year in a row winning in previous years at the 96, 112, and 119 weight classes.  The four-time champion credited his technique and hard work in practice to his success at the tournament.

"I felt I trained 110 percent everyday and made my partner always push me, "Addin said. "I was always the smallest in my weight class but I credit my technique that makes me win."

Total Team Results