A pair of heavyweights is doing the Owls’ heavy lifting as Lynbrook wrestling wades into the season’s second half – while an unexpected third wrestler is making a racket at middleweight, boosting the hopes of coach Rich Renz for a formidable troika at next month’s county tournament.
Juniors Fabian Vanegas and Richard Tinyes – ranked Nos. 3 and 4 in Nassau Division I at 215 and 285 pounds, respectively – have gone a combined 24-4 so far, with 21 total pins, Vanegas (12-3) the Owls’ team leader with 11 wins by fall.
Tinyes, a two-time All County honoree, notched four of his team second-leading 10 pins en route to winning Most Outstanding Wrestler at the Frank Giampaolo Cyclone Tournament at South Side Dec. 20, rolling 4-0 in a combined time of two minutes, eight seconds to also earn the tournament’s Most Pins Least Time award and a second straight championship at Giampaolo (having taken last year’s title in the 215-pound class).
“Richard cleaned house (at Giampaolo),” Renz said of the Owls super heavyweight, whose lone loss this season was a decision against Massapequa’s James Mulhern (No. 2 in Nassau at 285) in the Battle at the Beach at Long Beach final on Dec. 6. “He’s become our best wrestler. He lost a close match, but hopefully he’ll see that kid at the county tournament.”
Looking ahead to February’s Nassau Division 1 Wrestling Tournament at Hofstra, Renz sees Vanegas and Tinyes poised for possible deep runs, with a surprise third contender also emerging from his club’s ranks.
At 16-1, as-yet-unranked Gabriel Taveras boasts the Owls’ best record. The breakout 157-pound senior has podiumed at three tournaments this winter, taking first place at Giampaolo and second at Battle at the Beach. Having moved up a weight class from last year, Taveras turned heads early with his showing at the Knight’s Classic at Uniondale Nov. 29, joining Vanegas, Tinyes and teammate Anthony Caputo (138 pounds) in placing first at the tournament.
“(Taveras) has been the biggest improvement on the team this year,” said Renz, whose team is 2-0 in Conference 3B dual meets, 3-7 overall. “He went from wrestling JV at the start of last season to one of the best wrestlers in the county. I’ve never seen it in 39 years of coaching.”
“Gabriel’s one of the best hopes we have for the county tournament,” Renz added. “Right now he’s on fire.”
Renz also pointed to sophomore Bryce LeMonier, Giampaolo’s 103-pound champion who took fifth place at BATB and went 4-0 combined at the Cliff Clark Duals Dec. 13 and the Parick J. Butler Memorial Duals last weekend.
“Bryce is really improved also,” Renz said. “He’s our smaller guy, and he’s really tough. We’re looking for him to keep doing well, maybe win at more tournaments.”
“We’re a team that’s built for tournaments,” Renz added. “Better at tournaments than dual meets. We’ve got guys who can win their weight class, which looks good at tournaments, to have two or three champions, as opposed to being able to win at every weight in duals.
“And we’re still pretty young,” Renz said. “With guys who do a lot of work and keep getting better and better.”
