East Meadow thrives in qualifier

East Meadow continued to push forward on the wrestling mats, with 15 Jets earning spots in this weekend’s Nassau County Division I championships at Hofstra by finishing among the top four in their respective weight classes at last Saturday’s qualifier tournament hosted by Division.

Fresh off capturing a conference title, East Meadow finished atop the eight-team event, boosted in large part by the efforts of four individual champions and a pair of runners-up.

“Everyone came in and did what they needed to do,” coach Lou Lago said of the Jets’ strong week of practice leading up to the qualifier. “We had a good conference run and then we wrestled Farmingdale [in the playoffs] and had a poor performance at a bad time. That may have been in the heads of a lot of guys, so they [may have been] chomping at the bit [to wrestle again].”

Senior Andre Cunha went over the 30 victory mark this season by running through his competition at 138 pounds. He pinned all four opponents, including Uniondale’s Najee Hall in the championship round. Cunha’s four pins took a combined three minutes and 30 seconds. “We were confident that he was ready for it,” Lago said. “He’s rising to the occasion, and he looks like he’s peaking.”

In the 152-pound finals, East Meadow had not only the two wrestlers in seniors Mike Choi and Joe Gangi — but the two grapplers who were seeded No.1 and No. 2 in the bracket. Neither gave an inch in a hard-fought final that went to double-overtime before Choi earned the victory in the ride-out session.

Senior Jesse Weiner capped an undefeated day with a victory over Sewanhaka’s Brandon VanCooten in the finals at 182 pounds, while sophomore Liam Laskowski earned his first career tournament victory by knocking off Calhoun’s Dean Paolillo in the finals at 285. “He’s pretty tough and strong,” Lago said of Laskowski, who pinned all of his opponents on the way to his individual title. “All of his losses [this season] have been to top-ranked guys. We were excited for him.”