Thursday, October 1, 2026
As he did two weeks earlier when he captured a fourth straight Nassau County Division 1 wrestling championship, Long Beach’s Dunia Sibomana was rocking his University of North Carolina gear Friday and Saturday at the New York State tournament in Albany.
Then, the future Tar Heel with a compelling life story fit for the big screen rocked the competition at MVP Arena.
Sibomana, a junior, captured his second state title and first in three years with a dominant performance in the 116-pound bracket. The No. 1 seed capped a 52-2 campaign with an overtime victory by pin over Newburgh Free Academy’s Cooper Meril in Saturday evening’s final.
Meril, a two-time state champ, beat Sibomana, 1-0, in last year’s 108-pound final.
“I didn’t think there was going to be any denying Dunia this season,” Long Beach coach Ray Adams said of Sibomana, who took third in the state as a freshman two years ago. “It took everything he had,” he added. “Everyone said the final was the most exciting match of the tournament. The place exploded.”
Meril, also a junior, entered the finals with only one loss in 50 matches — to Sibomana — and was seeded second. He forced OT with an escape with two seconds remaining to tie the match at 2-2.
Sibomana, who beat Meril in overtime at the prestigious Eastern States Tournament earlier this season, needed 44 seconds to finish the job.
“I just reset and didn’t let that late point he scored bother me,” Sibomana said. “I was able to get him in a cradle and that led to the pin. It feels great. This was my goal all season and I’m glad all the hard work paid off.”
Adams said the biggest strategy was to turn up the pace in the match. “Last year Meril played the match slow to offset Dunia’s athletic ability,” Adams said. “We wanted to push the pace like we did at Eastern States so Dunia could wrestle to his strengths.”
Along the way to the state championship, Sibomana met a familiar foe. Friday’s quarterfinal battle with Valley Stream North junior Andrew Poh was a rematch of the Nassau final and this time Sibomana needed just 104 seconds to pin his fellow county resident.
In Saturday morning’s semifinal, Sibomana racked up 16 points in a tech fall win over Anthony Lagala Ryan of Longwood in Suffolk County.
Andreula All-State again
It was another All-State finish for Long Beach’s Ethan Andreula.
The freshman won four straight decisions following a quarterfinal defeat to No. 1 seed and undefeated eventual champ Will Soto of Newburgh to earn the third-place spot on the podium. It was a state Three-Peat for Soto.
Andreula allowed just seven points in wrestlebacks and claimed third with a 2-1 OT victory over Vincenzo Mannello of Hawthorne.
“I’m very proud of Ethan,” Adams said. “He got the 9-seed and was in a tough spot in the bracket. He was so upset after the loss to Soto but wrestled really well all weekend. It’s his third time All-State and that’s the first time in program history anyone has done that by their freshman year.”
