| AROUND THE STATE (cont)...Page 2 |
| and recently said, "That our champions are very competitive and have participated in many tournaments throughout the state, this makes for an experienced group." Other potential medalists include OSW winner Karl Parsons (112) of Mt. Saint Michael's, Joe Drennan (140) of St. Anthony's, Rich Crifasi (171) of Holy Trinity and Tom Glamuzir of St.Joe's Collegiate at 215 pounds. Long Island's Section Eight and Eleven both boast strong contingents and should finish among the top sectional teams at the state meet. MacArthur was the top team at the Section Eight Championships as they won their third consecutive Nassau County title. Head coach Howie Greenblatt's squad totaled 291 points to finish ahead of Long Beach (180), Massapequa (118), Bethpage (106) and East Meadow (87). The Generals claimed three champions, Matt DeLorenzo (112), Adam Molano (152) and Gian Villante at 215 pounds. All three are returning state medalists and will be in the hunt for state titles. Also to watch for the green-cladded matmen are MOW winner Jamie Sgaglione of Plainedge who finished sixth at 119 last year and returning champion Gabriel Estevez (125) of Baldwin. Other highly touted grapplers are Matt DeLuca (160) of East Meadow, Steve Panarelli (171) of Farmingdale and Massapequa's Mike LaBella at 189 pounds. Both Panarelli and LaBella are state ranked and could be potential finalists. Amityville won the tough Section Eleven Tournament as they tallied 119 points to edge Smithtown (110), Huntington (107), Islip (106) and Riverhead (105). The Crimson Tide crowned one champion, undefeated senior Romaine Malcolm at 135 pounds. It was fifth-year head coach Billy Maisel's first title and the 14th county team championship for Amityville, their last title was in 1962 under NYS Hall of Fame coach Joe Valla. Section Eleven still could be the team to beat as it goes for an unprecedented fifth consecutive title and hopes to add to its state leading total of 111 individual state champions. The Suffolk squad features a balanced lineup that includes Rich Lahn (96) of Lindenhurst, Kenny Torres (103) of Brentwood, state runner-up sophomore Tom Magnani (112) of Islip, Huntington's tough Shawn Riley (119) and MOW winner unbeaten Stephen Hromada (125) of Half Hollow Hills East. Others that will vie for state crowns are standout sophomore Alton Lucas (145) of West Babylon and perennial pinner Phil Archer of William Floyd at 171 pounds. For the first time in many years Suffolk will enter the Intersectionals without a returning champion. The lone champ, Mike Tutunjian (27-4, 106-14 career) of Longwood was denied a return trip as he dropped a 9-5 decision to the aforementioned Tom Magnani (formerly of St. Anthony's, now at Islip) in the 112-pound final. Tutunjian's uncle is Don Ophals, former two-time Nassau champion from Berner HS-8, who was state runner-up 1981 to the heralded Brad Penrith (Windsor HS-4), Penrith went on to become a NCAA champion for Iowa University. Section One's top teams were Mahopac, Suffern, and East Ramapo. The Westchester Area squad will be led by five returning state meet qualifiers. They are Andrew Vives (103) of East Ramapo, Michael Colagiovanni (125) of Mahopac, tough 130 pounder Manny Castaing of Ossining, Declan Josephson (189) of Portchester and Shintaro Higashi of Scarsdale at 215 pounds. Both Josephson and Higashi are unbeaten and will challenge for state crowns. |
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