East Meadow’s wrestlers were the rudest of hosts this holiday season.
Eight wrestlers won their respective weight classes and two more finished among the top five as the Jets dominated the East Meadow Holiday Invitational on Dec. 29, winning the team event by over 100 points.
Brady Hohlman (102 pounds), Nick Chimienti (126), Matthew Coffey (132), Patrick Spinola (138), Matthew Rodriguez (145), Brian Terino (152), Brandon Kebreau (160) and Steven Edwards (189) were all victorious at the event, with Chimienti earning the Matt DeLuca Most Outstanding Wrestler award after recording a pinfall, two technical falls and a decision win in his bracket.
Sal D’Amico (145) won his third-place match and Alexander Schwartz (160) finished fifth, helping East Meadow collect a tournament-best 297 points, 125 more than second-place Bellmore JFK.
Unfortunately, coach Vin Romanotto was ill and couldn’t attend the proceedings that night, but he was still proud of how his wrestlers and assistant coaches performed that night.
“I was definitely pleased with what I saw,” he said. “They wrestled so tough and my assistant coaches definitely took charge and did a great job with running the tournament for me.”
The victory culminated a successful first month of the season for the Jets, which also included a win at the Sprig Gardner Tournament at Bellmore from Dec. 10-11. The team finished with 255.5 points, almost 20 better than runner-up Calhoun. Hohlman, Spinola and Rodriguez won their divisions and nine others placed in the top five.
In between were comfortable dual victories over Valley Stream Central (58-3), Freeport (49-21) and Calhoun (43-26) and Bishop Hendricken (56-15) and Locust Valley (61-12) during the David Bloom Memorial Duals on Dec. 18.
“I think a lot of it has to do with their work ethic,” Romanotto said. “When they come into the room, they come and they battle and we have a lot of kids that are tough and close in weight, so they’re always getting answers at practice.”
Hohlman, a sophomore who did not wrestle last season, has double-digit wins and is the only undefeated Jet.
“He’s doing real well,” Romanotto said. “Even though he took the year off, he’s still been wrestling so he’s improving that much because he’s still traveling and wrestling. I expected him to jump right in.”
Romanotto is also predicting big things for Chimienti as the season progresses.
“He’s a kid who I’m looking to have at the podium at the end of the year,” Romanotto said. “He’s been wrestling tough kids.”
Spinola also sat out last year and has lost just one match this season. Romanotto has used the senior in weight classes, which resulted in him defeating Coffey in a tough 7-6 tiebreaker match in the Sprig Gardner.
Rodriguez, a sophomore, pinned three opponents in under three minutes during the East Meadow event and had a 13-0 major decision victory in the semifinals. Rodriguez has been working in practice with Kebreau, who also missed last season and had four pinfall wins in under two minutes in December.
