Thursday, October 1, 2026
Who’s better?
It’s a sports debate that has been waged since the beginning of time. And it has taken shape in the Massapequa wrestling room.
Is it the 2019 Chiefs who won the Nassau Division I and New York State dual meet championships and had four winners atop the podium at the Nassau D-I championships?
Or is it the 2026 squad?
Joe Brooks and his teammates had the final word after a dominant performance Feb. 15 at Hofstra University, with all five Massapequa finalists winning county titles.
“It’s pretty special,” Brooks said. “We always argue with the guys on the 2019 team about who’s better, and they had four champions and we had five. So we get a little chirp on them.”
Massapequa captured the Nassau Division I title with 242.5 points, 70 points more than second-place Manhasset.
Jake Nieto got things started, defeating Freeport’s Christian McCravey by technical fall to capture the 138-pound title.
“I’m just trying to get right for states as best as I can, and I’m trying to do some big things. The job is not done,” Nieto said. “I thought I was pretty strong, very dominant, and I just went out there and tried the rest of my style.”
At 150 pounds, top-seeded Kai Tiringer edged Anthony Pica from Garden City, 4-2, for his second straight county title.
“It feels good,” Tiringer said. “I came in with the same attitude as last year, just come out here and put on a show.”
Brooks then dominated top-seeded Gabe Cohen from Garden City to win by technical fall at 157 pounds.
“It felt great,” Brooks said. “I’ve been waiting for this since my freshman year. It’s been my goal forever, and it felt great to finally get it done.”
James Mulhern made it 4-for-4, defeating Lynbrook’s Richard Tinyes at 285 pounds on a takedown with 42 seconds left.
“It feels great. It’s like no other feeling,” Mulhern said. “This whole week I’ve prepared for this. I’ve been thinking to myself, the better wrestler isn’t the one who’s better, it’s the one who wants it more. And I wanted that more.”
And in the main event, Jon Tutku avenged a loss in the Eastern States semifinals by defeating Long Beach’s Ethan Andreula, 1-0, in the much-anticipated 110-pound final.
An escape point to open the second period was the difference for Tutku, who won the county and state title at 101 pounds last year.
“It feels amazing, one of the best experiences in my wrestling career,” Tutku said. “It just means so much more to me than the last one because it was my get-back match because he beat me at Eastern States and I got him. He’s a good competitor, but I tried my best and made it happen.”
Plainedge’s Devin Downes took home a third straight county championship, with the University of Maryland commit pinning Sewanhaka East’s Justin DePietro in 1:37. And Farmingdale’s Jovens Theodate won his first Nassau title with a 5-4 win over East Meadow’s James Galiano at 175, winning on an escape in the final two seconds.
