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44th
Annual
NYSPHSAA
State Championships
Interscholastic Varsity Wrestling Tournament
@ Nassau Coliseum (Uniondale, NY)
Friday &
Saturday, February 24-25, 2006
Final Results
The roll call of champions
By Gregg Sarra and Andy Slawson, Staff writers
Newsday (Melville, NY)
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Full Text: Copyright
© 2006 Newsday, Inc.
There have been 43 years of the New
York State High School Wrestling Championships. And there are so many Long
Island athletes that have grabbed the spotlight and etched their names in the
annals of the sport's history. Here is a collection of the state champions and
some of the brightest moments for Long Islanders from each year of the state
wrestling tournament.
1963: First year of the tournament. Held at Cornell University. Section
VIII-Nassau County dominates the tournament with five champions. Pete Henning of
Wantagh wins the 103 pound weight class becoming the first state champion in
history.
1964: The tournament is held at Walt Whitman High School in South Huntington,
Long Island. Nassau crowns a record 10 champions in the 13 weight classes.
Mepham had three champions in Bill DeSario (112 pounds), Tom Gleason (145), and
Jack Paz (180).
1965: Section IV (Binghamton-Elmira area) had seven champions to win the
sectional team title. Little Sidney High School had four finalists and including
two champions. Lindenhurst's Ken Melchior won his second straight title.
1966: The tournament returned to Whitman High School. It would be the last time
in 40 years Long Island hosted the tournament. Nassau edged Section IV for the
team title, 91-87.
1967: Nassau again edges Section IV for team honors, 67-57.
1968: Nassau and Section IV finish 1-2 in the team race for the third straight
year. Brentwood's Carl Adams won the 154-pound title. He would later win two
NCAA titles at Iowa State.
1969: Bill Proios of Port Jefferson took second in the Suffolk tournament at 157
pounds, but got the chance to go to the state tournament when Sayville's Jim
Cisek opted to go to his sister's wedding instead of the state tournament.
Proios made the most his of his opportunity as he won the state title. Section
IV wins its second team title. Nassau finishes lower than second for the first
time in the tournament's seven years.
1970: Section III (Syracuse) wins its first team title, edging Nassau. Jack
Spates of Smithtown wins the 107 pound title. Smith is the current head coach at
the University of Oklahoma.
1971: Suffolk wins its first sectional team title as Brentwood places six
wrestlers in the top four. The Indians advance four boys to the finals including
three champions: Ivan Gonzales (112), Dave Larrache (119), and Bob Antonacci
(126).
1972: Nassau wins its first team title in four years as Richard Applebaum
(Lawrence) and Steve Hunte (Bellmore JFK) lead Nassau to an 83.5-82 win over
Section V (Rochester). Huntington coach Lou Giani makes his debut at the
tournament.
1973: Suffolk loses the team title by 6.5 points to Section III, but Huntington
sends three boys to the finals including champions Lou Giani Jr. (155 pounds)
and Charlie Gadson (167). The Blue Devils won the school team title.
1974: Suffolk wins the team title by 1.5 points (98.5-97) over Section V. Jeff
Thomas of Huntington wins Suffolk's only title. The tournament is held in
Syracuse for the first of 30 consecutive years.
1975: Section IX (Hudson Valley) wins its only team title as the top five teams
finish within 18 points of each other. Jeff Blatnick of Niskayuna (Section II)
wins the 215 pound title. Blatnick would later win the Olympic Gold medal in
Greco-Roman style at the Los Angeles games in 1984. For the first time ever,
Nassau failed to have an individual champion.
1976: The year of the "Huntington Blitz". The Blue Devils send eight wrestlers
to the tournament and win school team honors as six wrestlers finished in the
top six. Mike Rosebauer (250 pounds) wins the lone title for Huntington. Jeff
Thomas takes third after winning two titles in previous titles. Joe Lidowski won
his second title for West Babylon.
1977: Nassau wins the team title as Bob DeStefanis (Locust Valley, 105 pounds)
and Bob Bury (Calhoun, 112) each win their second titles. Dom Macchia (Island
Trees) and Paul Meyers (Baldwin, 145) also won titles for Nassau. Macchia
defeated Ed Banach of Port Jervis (Section IX) for the 155-pound crown. Banach
and his brother Lou would go on to win Gold Medals at the 1984 Olympics.
1978: Paul Widerman (105 pounds) and Mike Thomas won titles for Huntington. It
was Widerman's second straight title. Thomas overcame severe burns suffered in a
fire the summer before to win the 138-pound title. Bob Bury of Calhoun wins his
third straight title. Section III won the team title.
1979: Suffolk wins the team title with 235 points and crowns five champions
including undefeated Joe Petrucci (Brentwood Ross, 126 pounds), Bay Shore's Mike
Porcelli (177), and Brentwood Sonderling's Jim Ettari (215). The DeStefanis
brothers Carl (98) and Al (105) win titles as Locust Valley won the school team
title. Mike Macchia of Island Trees wins second consecutive crown.
1980: Nassau wins the sectional team title as all 14 of its wrestlers place in
the tournament, four of them winning titles. Huntington wins the school team
title as the Blue Devils advance four boys to the finals, with Bill Gaffney
(138) winning the MOW. Carl DeStefanis of Locust Valley wins his second straight
title. He would later win the NCAA title at Penn State. Mike Falcon of Sachem
won his second straight title as well. Farmingdale's Ron Heller won the 250
pound title. He would later go on to a very successful career as an offensive
lineman in the NFL.
1981: Section V (Rochester) wins its first team title. Al Palacio of Long Beach
wins the MOW award and his second of three titles. The perfect name for a
wrestler: Matt King, of Canandaigua (Section V) wins the 132-pound title. Dan
Hopkins (South, 112 pounds) and Pete Mankowich (North, 126 pounds) win Commack
Districts's only titles. The PSAL and the CHSAA competed in the tournament for
the first time.
1982: Al Palacio of Long Beach wins his third straight title. Section II
(Albany) wins its first sectional team title. Palacios is one of four Long Beach
wrestlers to reach the finals and the lone champion. The Marines won the school
team title. Steve Whelan won the 250-pound title for Massapequa becoming his
school's first state champion.
1983: Suffolk wins all four of its finals matches and wins the sectional team
title by 4.5 points over Section V as East Islip's Ted Gregory's win in the
final at 215 locks up the title. Sachem's Dan Mayo records a 39 second pin in
the 177 pound final and is named the MOW. Mepham crowned two champs in Dennis
Mejas (98) and Mike Arena (126).
1984: Section V won the team title, edging Suffolk. Mike Arena of Mepham (138)
won the MOW and his second state title.
1985: Deer Park's Ray Downey (126) over came an early season knee injury to win
the MOW and to lead Suffolk to the team title. In the 105 pound final, West
Islip's Rick Brzozinski was denied a second title when a malfunction in the
clock failed to start after a out-of-bounds call in the third period. Twenty
seconds were put back on the clock and Brzozinski lost by a point on a reversal
with two seconds left in a very controversial decision.
1986: Suffolk had five champions and five third-place finishers to run away with
team title, scoring 246.5 points. Huntington's Gene McNeil (119) and West
Islip's Rick Brzozinski (126) each won their second title. Huntington's Drew
Jackson (167) was coach Lou Giani's 14th state champion. Chaminade's Robert
Murphy (215) became the first wrestler from the CHSAA to win a state public
school's title.
1987: Long Beach's Richard Santana (119) and James Scotty Graham (215) each won
titles to lead Nassau to its first team title since 1980. Only 19.5 points
separated the top five teams. Wayne Wilson (Sachem, 167) and Jeff Haise
(Babylon, 98) won titles for Suffolk. Haise is the son of Nassau-Section VIII
wrestling chairman Terry Haise.
1988: Lance Banfi of Sachem upset Troy Bouzakis of Pine Bush (Section IX, 99-0
in his career entering that bout) in his career in the quarterfinals and won the
119 pound title. Bouzakis had won state titles the previous two years and would
win another two years later. Suffolk crowned three champions and won the team
title.
1989: Jamie St. John (145, Port Jefferson) Adam Mariano (177, Comsewogue) each
won their second title and lead Suffolk to the team title. Floyd's Bill
Friburger won the 250-pound title to give his school its first champion. Tom
Sinacore of Bethpage wins the Nassau's first title in two years.
1990: For the only time in tournament history, no Long Islander won an
individual title. Suffolk runner-up Steve Thompson of Ward Melville was given
the opportunity to compete in the state tournament when a family emergency kept
Longwood's Nick Hall from attending the state tournament. Thompson took second
at 177 pounds.
1991: Longwood's Nick Hall gets redemption from the previous year as he wins the
215-pound title and the MOW award. Hall is only Long Islander to win an
individual title this year. Matt Sorochinsky of Union-Endicott (Section IV) won
the title at 145 pounds. His father won two state titles for U-E in 1964 and
1965 making them the first father-son combination to win state titles.
1992: Suffolk sent nine wrestlers to the finals, crowing eight champions.
Longwood tied the state record with three individual champions in a year. Duane
Thompson (138), John Lange (145), and Kerry McCoy (177) all won titles for the
Lions as they won the school team title. Because of a measles epidemic in the
Albany area, some wrestlers from that area were forced to wrestle their bouts at
Fowler High School in Syracuse instead of the Onondaga County War Memorial. The
250-pound final was one of those bouts. West Islip's Jason Cohen won the title
in front of nine people (coaches, officials, scorer, time keeper). Sachem had a
pair of champs in John Carvalheira (98) and Jason Kraft, the MOW. Keith Matias
of Centereach won his school's first title.
1993: Islip's Tom Longobardi (91) and Copiague's Liston Brown became their
schools's first state wrestling champions. John Lange of Longwood (145) and Aldy
Teran of Long Beach (155) also won titles.
1994: Suffolk won the sectional team title as Longwood' Rason Phifer (112) and
John Lange (155) won titles. Lange won the MOW award and became Suffolk's first
three-time state champion. Jim Amira of Huntington (119) and Patchogue-Medford's
Tim Minogue (177) also won state crowns.
1995: Longwood's Rason Phifer (112) and Angelo Zegarelli of Deer Park (105) were
Long Island's only winners. Phifer won the MOW award and his second title. This
marked the end of a five-year run for Longwood in which the Lions had 10
finalists, 8 champions, and three MOWs between 1991 and 1995. Jesse Jantzen of
Shoreham-Wading River took third place at 91 pounds becoming the first
seventh-grader to ever place in the state tournament.
1996: Freeport's Morlon Greenwood and Isaiah Kacyvenski of Union-Endicott (IV)
battled it out in the 215-pound final, won by Greenwood, 3-2. Both of these
ex-wrestlers are currently starting linebackers in the NFL, Greenwood with the
Houston Texans, and Kacyvenski with the Seattle Seahawks. Mt. Sinai's Ryan
Bernholz (132) and Wyandanch's Thomas Marrero each won their school's first
state titles.
1997: Jesse Jantzen of Shoreham-Wading River wins the first of his four state
titles. Thomas Marrero of Wyandanch won his second title. Kevin Shippos
(Baldwin, 215) and Long Beach's Kevin Haggerty (160) also won titles. Suffolk
finished in third place for the second straight year.
1998: Freeport's Noel Thompson buzz-sawed his way to the 152-pound title.
Jantzen won his second title. Huntington's Dawid Rechul upset the defending
champion, Dan Stine of Queensbury (II) in the semifinals, and captured the 189
pound title.
1999: Suffolk wins its first title in five years. Jesse Jantzen wins the MOW
award his and third straight title. Michael Messina of Hauppauge (130) won his
second title, and Floyd's Ryan Maurer (135) won his first title. Tom
Katsigiorgis (189) wins a title for Massapequa.
2000: Suffolk crowns seven champions and easily wins the team title. Jantzen
wins his second MOW award and fourth title. He finishes his career with a record
of 221-3, and 163 consecutive victories. Mike Torriero of Rocky Point records
the fastest pin the history of the state finals, 37 seconds, to become his
school's first state champion. Jack Piana (160) and Pat Flynn (103) both won
titles for Huntington. Lucas Magnani of St. Anthony's becomes only the second
CHSAA wrestler to win a public schools state crown. Sewanhaka District's Matt
Daddino is the lone Nassau champ.
2001: Suffolk wins another team title as Rob Vaccaro of East Islip (98) won his
second title. Bellport's Dan Roberts (130) won his school's first title. Mike
Patrovich of Islip (152) and Uthman Jackson of Amityville (140) also won titles.
Jackson defeated Mike Williams of Hicksville, after Williams transferred from
Floyd before the start of the season. Jackson won his school's first title since
1968.
2002: Suffolk scores a record 256 points, crowned five champions, and won its
record fourth straight title. Huntington had three champions in Pat Flynn (112),
Steven Palacios (125), and Stephon Sair (145) to give the Blue Devils their
fourth school team title. MacArthur's James Strouse and Central Islip's Jose
Viera win their school's first titles. Tom Finnerty of Brentwood (96) won his
school's first title since Joe Plante in 1984. Greg Lawrence (171) of Calhoun
and Chris Weiman of Baldwin (189) won titles to help Nassau to a second-place
finish for the second time in three years.
2003: The end of an era in many ways. The final year of the singular format. And
the last year the tournament is held in Syracuse after a 30-year run. Mike
LaBella (189) of Massapequa wins three straight one-point matches enroute to the
title. Gian Villante (215) of MacArthur won a title. Hills East's Steven Hromada
(125) is the lone Suffolk champ.
2004: The tournament splits into two divisions (large schools and small schools)
and is held outside of Section III for the first time since 1969. The University
of Buffalo hosted the meet. Huntington sent three wrestlers in to the finals for
a record fourth time with Shawn Riley emerging as a champion. Blue Devils coach
Lou Giani now has a state record 23 individual champions and five school-team
titles. Suffolk won the Division I title with eight finalists and three
champions. Kenny Torres (112) of Brentwood and West Babylon's Alton Lucas won
titles. Sewanhaka District's Tom Daddino added another state title to the family
legacy.
2005: Albany hosted the tournament for the first time ever and a record crown of
9,200 attended the finals. Islip crowned a record-tying three champions with Tom
Magnani (119), Chris Wade (140), and Ryan Patrovich (152) winning titles. Alton
Lucas of West Babylon (160) won his second straight title. John Oschmann of
Hauppauge won the 96 pound title. Floyd's John Barone (171) and Huntington's
Jack Sullivan both lost in the finals for the second year in a row. Troy
Nickerson of Chenango Forks (IV) won his record fifth title and third MOW award.
In perhaps the most controversial match in state history, North Rockland's C. J.
Rodriguez appeared to have won the Division I, 135 pound final, 7-6 over
LaSalle's Paul Florio. Rodriguez threw his headgear in jubilation after the
buzzer sounded and Florio was awarded two penalty points, touching off a
near-riot, and six months of court battles. Florio was awarded the title.
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