NASSAU COUNTY TOURNAMENT
MacArthur HS won their fifth consecutive Nassau County Championship and amassed 246 points to easily outdistance Uniondale (151), Massapequa (130), East Meadow (116.5) and Plainedge with 115 points. The Generals under the tutelage of coach Howie Greenblatt, now in his 19th season, crowned four champions and had 12 place-winners. Winning titles were Mike Daly(25-5) at 96, the Calvacca brothers; Dan(28-6) at 135 and Billy(30-6) at 140, along with top-seeded Brian Scher(30-2) at 189 pounds. Billy Calvacca edged defending champion and NYS placer, Spencer Cook(35-2) of East Meadow, 8-7, to claim his title and was voted the tournament's outstanding wrestler. Defending champions Steve DeLorenzo(24-6) and Bruce Popko(26-6) were unable to repeat, but claimed all-county status, DeLorenzo finished fifth at 119 and Popko, who wrestled with torn cartilage in his knee, finished sixth at 125 pounds, and became all-county for the fifth time. He has been a member of all MacArthur's dual and tournament titles during his stellar career. East Meadow's Matt DeLuca(37-0) won his third Nassau title at 171 pounds and hopes to improve on his last year's sixth place finish at the state meet. Other reigning champions that remained unscathed were, Long Beach's PJ Gillespie(39-3) at 103, Jason Chimon(125) of Syosset and Farmingdale's Nakyle Bethay at 160 pounds. Defending champions that failed to repeat were the aforementioned Cook and Chris Reilly of Garden City. Reilly was defeated by Plainedge's Paul Cervini(35-3), in an exciting 4-2 overtime bout, to claim the 112-pound crown. Uniondale had a strong showing with their runnerup finish and garnered one champion, unbeaten Eric Burnett(33-0), at 215 pounds. Seaford's Tim Montgomery, defending Div II 103-pound champion competed in Div. I and finished fifth at 112 pounds...In Division II competition, returning champions that claimed their second county titles were; Mike Gomez(96) of Locust Valley, the Gullos; Joel(119) and Nick(125) of Wheatley and Don Carleton of North Shore at 130 pounds. The OSW and Most Pins Award went to Joel Gullo, and the Champion of Champions Award was shared by Gomez and Jaret Grossman of Oyster Bay at 145 pounds. Winning the small school's team title was Manhasset with 174.5 points, as they edged Wheatley(145.5) and Oyster Bay, who finished with 141.5 points. |
