Warrior Grapplers Win Tournament

On Friday January 30th the Varsity Wrestling team left Amityville for the Rodney Smith Classic Wrestling Tournament in East Windsor, Connecticut. The team knew before they left that it would take an extra ordinary performance to defend their title. The Warriors have won this tournament for the last nine years. Just a few weeks ago they lost a dual meet to South Windsor who they would face in this tournament.

The team worked out Friday at East Windsor and then went to their hotel and rested up for the 9 AM start on Saturday.

The score was close all the way with South Windsor leading by a small margin until the semifinal and 3rd place matches were over. Going into the finals, Amityville held a small 11.5 point lead and was facing numerous matchups with the South Windsor grapplers. When it was all said and done Amityville took five first places and South Windsor took three. Amityville had defended their title for another year.

On a special note, the wrestling team has progressed into a family. They do whatever it takes for the team not for the individual. Some wrestlers compete at in higher weight classes because it is in the best interest of the team. The young men acted as a family with complete support for each other whenever an Amityville wrestler was competing. One of the wrestlers won his first tournament of the year. When this occurs, Amityville has a tradition that the coaches buy (out of their own pocket), a black pair of wrestling shoes to recognize the tournament win. When this young man’s hand was raised after his first tournament win, the non-finalists came out of the stands to celebrate his victory. Now that is a team!!! Congratulations to Coach Maisel and Coach Pollack for the fine job they do instilling the meaning of team in their young student/athletes.

Results:

103 LBS: Nino Wong (7th grade student), 3rd place

112 LBS: Mico Wong, Champion

125 LBS: James Banks, Champion

130 LBS: Rober Benn, runner up

135 LBS: Mark Jerrick, 3rd

145 LBS: Jermaine Jacobs, Champion

152 LBS: Chris Derrick, Champion and won his black wrestling shoes

160 LBS: Asim Henry, Champion

171 LBS: Robert Brooks, runner up

189 LBS: Evetz Francois, 4th place

215 LBS: Aristotile Shipp, runner up

285 LBS: Gullermo Ortiz, 4th place

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