Big finish for Clarke wrestlers

Clarke may not have tremendous depth on the wrestling mats with only 18 on the roster, but it does have a significant amount of talent. Led by junior captain Brandon Marohn, a Nassau County champion in the 99-pound weight class, the Rams had six wrestlers finish with All-County honors at the Division II Championships at Cold Spring Harbor on Feb. 14.

“It was a good building block for us,” coach Mike Leonard said. “We only have 18 wrestlers, but they all want to train and they all want to wrestle. They all want to achieve [good things].”

Battling Oyster Bay’s Keith Cassar in the finals for the second consecutive week—Marohn won a County Qualifying title with a 6-3 decision on Feb. 7—the Clarke senior improved his record this season to 32-4 and captured the Nassau County crown with a 4-3 decision in the rematch. After opening the tournament with a bye and then a victory by pin, Marohn came out of the gates with four points on a takedown and a turn. He controlled the match from the start, with Cassar only scoring on escapes. “It was close but he wrestled well,” Leonard said. “He’s a quiet leader and leads by example. He never complains. He works out with the 126-pounders and wrestles all the way up to 152 [in workouts].”

By winning a Nassau County title, Marohn earned an automatic bid into the upcoming New York State Public High School Athletic Association Division II Wrestling Championships at the Times Union Center in Albany this Friday and Saturday.

Sophomore Dan Garcia, a year-round wrestler like several of his teammates, earned All-County honors at 220 pounds, getting pinned by Locust Valley’s Spencer Matthael in the finals. Freshman Danny Cardenas pinned Cold Spring Harbor’s Colby Acker at the 1:48 mark of the consolation finals at 138 pounds for third place, finishing the tournament with a 4-1 mark, but perhaps more importantly, bouncing back immediately after a loss in the semifinals. On the way to All-County honors, Cardenas defeated two opponents who beat him during the year and finishes with a 22-19 mark this season.

Cardenas workout partner, sophomore Anthony Buffalino, had similar success at Cold Spring Harbor. He placed third after knocking off Island Trees’ Kyle Herguth, 9-2, in the consolation finals. “It’s probably just as hard if not harder to finish third than win,” Leonard said. “You have to wrestle [sometimes immediately] after a loss. It takes a special person to be able to bounce back right away.

With no seniors on the roster, every Clarke wrestler is set to return, including Nick Normile, a 182-pound junior, and sophomore Tareq Ibrahim, a 160-pounder. Each took fourth place in the their weight class, and were among 14 Clarke wrestlers who earned a berth in the County Tournament based on a top six finish at the Nassau County Qualifying tournament hosted by the Rams on Feb. 6. “There’s a lot of promise,” Leonard said. “The whole thing is, the team is buying into the program.”