Thursday, October 1, 2026
For Massapequa, it’s Syracuse or bust.
That’s the location of the NYSPHSAA State Dual Meet Championships, and Chiefs head coach Mike McCann is confident his squad can not just get to SRC Arena, but also perform well there.
“If we don’t reach Syracuse, it would be a little bit of a disappointment with the lineup that we have and the depth that we have,” McCann said.
That depth was on display when the Chiefs finished second at the Lee Van Slyke Memorial Duals at Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake on Dec. 20 despite five wrestlers out with the flu.
There are high expectations for Jon Tutku, who won the 101-pound title at the 62nd NYSPHSAA Division I wrestling tournament last year as an eighth grader, the first Massapequa state champion since 2003.
The freshman, who went 50-1 last year, is the top-ranked wrestler in Nassau County at 110 pounds.
Junior Jake Nieto is ranked No. 1 at 144. The Chaminade transfer defeated reigning county champion Brody Franklin from Long Beach at the Battle at the Beach tournament and took first at the 50th annual Sprig Gardner Tournament, earning the Ken Hunte Most Outstanding Wrestler Award.
Junior Kai Tiringer, ranked No. 1 at 150, won the 138-pound Nassau title last year. He, too, won on the podium at the Sprig Gardner Tournament, beating Bellmore JFK’s Hendrick Capo by a 9-6 decision in the final at 150.
Joe Brooks, a key contributor on Massapequa’s undefeated Long Island football championship team this fall, is looking to take a step up after finishing fourth in Nassau Division I at 145 a year ago.
The senior, ranked No. 3 at 157 in the county, finished second to Bellmore JFK’s Harlan Chugerman at the Sprig Gardner Tournament.
The Nassau Division I runner-up at 285 last year, senior James Mulhern defeated Bellport’s Jacob Snedeker, 9-6, in sudden victory, to win the title at the Sprig Gardner Tournament.
“He got a lot bigger this year. I think last year he was giving up too much weight to be in that weight class,” McCann said of Mulhern. “He’s compensated, and he's made the adjustments to get bigger, and he’s now weighing in at 268, so it'd be very tough to knock him off.”
Making up that depth McCann was raving about is sophomore Milton Aparico, ranked No. 5 at 126 pounds in Nassau, junior Giovanni Addona, ranked fourth at 138 pounds, sophomore Johnny DiGiorgio, ranked 5th in the county at 144 pounds, and Jason Gautreaux, No. 5 at 150 in Nassau.
DiGiorgio and Aparico are part of a loaded sophomore class that includes Liam McCann and Kevin Daniel at 126. And with freshman Tanner Tutku at 175 pounds and eighth graders Mike Labella (150), Quinn Hartman, and Jaxon McDonough at 103 pounds, Syracuse might be an annual trek for the Chiefs.
“We are excited, and we’re not going anywhere,” McCann said. “We are as young as we can be. Massapequa’s going to be around for a little bit.”
