Clarke wrestlers pick up steam

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Clarke’s roster is loaded with youth — nine of the 20 wrestlers on the team are freshmen — but that hasn’t slowed the Rams down on the mats. In fact, three of them took home individual championships at the Paul Grammatico Tournament hosted by Valley Stream South, helping Clarke place third among the nine teams in the field.

“What’s nice for us is the building blocks are there,” Rams coach Mike Leonard said.

Leading the way was a veteran, senior Brandon Marohon, who took first place at 106 pounds by pinning all three of his opponents. A grinder on the mat, Marohon is strong for his size and wears down opponents with his aggressive style. He captured a Nassau County Division II championship last season and advanced to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Championships finishing with a 35-6 mark overall. At the annual Sprig Gardner Tournament hosted by Kennedy and Mepham on Dec. 11-12, Marohon took third place by pinning the Cougars’ Brandon Mercado at the 0:58 mark.

Freshman Austin Carmen, one of the team’s highly touted building blocks, is a year-round wrestler who piled up 78 matches during the offseason that included a 14-1 mark and All-America status as a middle schooler while representing New York at a national tournament in Indiana. Not surprisingly, the continued work on the mat has helped him blast out the gates in December. He won all three of his matches at Valley Stream South, including an eight-point win in the finals and captured his own individual championship at 138 pounds one week after finishing second at the Sprig Gardner.

“He’s a workhorse,” Leonard said. “He’s probably beat more quality opponents than anyone on the team [this season]. It’s pretty straight forward. The kids that wrestle year round and put in the time develop well.”

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