44.0°,
Mostly Cloudy Wantagh turns to newcomers
The Wantagh wrestling team has won five of the last six county championships, but to stay competitive this winter, the Warriors will need clutch performances from many new grapplers.
The Warriors graduated seven starters from last year’s team that entered the dual meet championships unseeded before rallying for the program’s third straight county title. Wantagh, which won its first dual meet 42-30 over Chaminade on Dec. 10, entered this season with just three seniors to go along with 12 juniors, 11 sophomores and 18 freshmen,
“It’s a very young team,” said head coach Paul Gillespie, who enters his fourth season leading the Warriors after previously winning 17 county titles at Long Beach. “With young kids like this, they tend to get better as the year goes on.”
Leading Wantagh’s charge for a four-peat are senior tri-captains Blaise Kavanagh (147 pounds), Nick Rogers (160) and Kyle Quinn (115). Kavanagh earned All-County honors last year while Quinn finished the season with a 43-4 record and was a runner-up in the state championships after winning the title as a sophomore in 2012.
“They are good leaders,” Gillespie said of his senior captains. “They are doing a great job.”
Among Wantagh’s many freshmen are two who earned valuable varsity experience as eighth graders last year in Justin Vines and John Loew, who was runner-up in the county at 99 pounds. Sophomores who spent time on the varsity mats as freshmen are Pat Smith, who clinched Wantagh’s county title with a pin, and Mike Killard. Gillespie is also expecting contributions from juniors Tim Grief, George Alpert, Andrew Zagorski and Colm Magner.
“This is a very hard working group of boys,” said Gillespie, who won the 2013 Coach of the Year award from the National Wrestling Coaches Association. “I think we’re going to be in the hunt.”
Gillespie has set up a challenging schedule to get Wantagh ready for the Nassau County dual meet and individual championships. After hosting the Wantagh Tourney, the Warriors face county title contenders Plainedge on Jan. 7 at home and at Division on Jan. 21. Gillespie said he also expects MacArthur, Massapequa, Long Beach, Hewlett and Locust Valley to be in position for a championship.
