Thursday, October 1, 2026
Clarke flexed some serious muscle at last Saturday’s Nassau County Division II wrestling championships held at Cold Spring Harbor, with a pair of wrestlers claiming individual titles and seven in all earning All-County honors. The entire Rams’ varsity totaled 16 wrestlers, and 13 of them earned berths at the county tournament.
Leading the way was freshman Austin Carmen, a 138-pounder who blazed a new trail of sorts after winning a 13-10 decision over Carle Place’s John DeRidder in the finals. Along with improving his record to 33-3 this season and winning the individual title in the weight class, Carmen’s three decisive victories at the tournament earned him the Most Outstanding Wrestler honors — for the second week in a row.
One week earlier, Carmen took home that honor at the Qualifying Tournament hosted by Locust Valley. “We’ve never had anyone do it,” coach Mike Leonard said of winning the Most Outstanding Wrestler award at the two biggest wrestling tournaments of the season. “He’s a special wrestler and he’s ahead of his [freshman] year. He’s a hard worker and constantly working and not taking time off.
“He puts in the work and he’s a good athlete, but a lot of good athletes don’t want to put in the work. He does.”
After falling into an early two-point hole against DeRidder, Carmen evened the score and then steadily pulled away by pushing the pace and moving forward. On the way to the title, Carmen knocked off the top seed in the weight class, Jack Ward of Locust Valley, and earned a victory by technical fall in his opening bout.
Senior Nick Normile joined Carmen in the winner’s circle, grabbing the championship at 220 pounds with a 4-2 win over Island Trees’ Kevin McDonough, avenging one-point loss in the finals of the qualifier. “He got more aggressive on his feet, got after it more and put pressure on him,” Leonard said of Normile, now a two-time All-County honoree who also wrestled at 182 and 195 this season before settling on 220 for the qualifier.
Senior Brandon Marohn fell behind early in the finals at 106 pounds to Oyster Bay’s Keith Cassar and was never able to close the gap, taking second place. He ends his Rams’ career as a three-time county finalist and one-time champion. “He was the spark for our team,” Leonard said. “We knew we were getting points from him.”
At 182 pounds, junior Anthony Buffalino took second place, coming up just shy in the finals to Locust Valley’s Bryce Dusold. He closed the gap, losing 6-5 just one week after Dusold defeated him 8-4. After missing the first half of the season due to injury, Buffalino’s return to the mat served as a motivator for the entire team. “He’s the team leader,” Leonard said. “He got back in the room and the room intensity picked up.”
Sophomore Danny Cardenas, who battled injuries for much of the season, hit his stride at the Qualifying Tournament with a second-place finish at 132 and earned All-County honors for the second straight time. At 152, junior Vinny Trovato edged out senior teammate Soloman Layvey for third place, while junior Tareq Ibrahim earned All-County honors at 170 with a third-place finish. Tyler Abbatiello, a 145-pounder, was also an All-Conference honoree.
