By:Karenlyn Barone
"He was upset when he got cut from the basketball team in eighth grade," said Zach's mother, Vicky. "Coach David Geiger asked him to wrestle. He thought it would be good for Zach and that he would be good at it."
Comer, eager to be part of a high school sports team, agreed to try out for wrestling. "At least I knew there were no cuts in wrestling," he laughed.
Comer won his first match in his first season, and was hooked. After years of rigorous conditioning and competition, the hard work has paid off: Comer placed second in the 160-pound weight class among Catholic high school wrestlers in New York state.
"From the day he started to wrestle, he loved it," said Vicky. "It became what he was all about."
Comer followed that first win with a strong commitment to wrestling, which has helped him develop intense focus and formidable strength. Along the way he learned how to push his body to limits he once thought unattainable. His training has included running untold miles and sculpting his physique to the point where he has almost no body fat.
"Because of the demands of wrestling, not everyone can do it," Comer said. "I did this because not everybody can."
Comer has attended Hofstra University's respected wrestling clinic, and he's also had his own personal coach in longtime family friend Dr. Tom Lubeski of Hewlett, who wrestled for Calhoun High some 25 years ago. Vicky jokes that for a time her home became the "Lubeski School of Wrestling," with Zach and Tom reviewing tapes of his matches and then re-enacting them on the playroom floor.
"Tom taught me intricate moves, and how to use pressure points," Comer said. "He taught me how to gain the upper hand with the element of surprise. He was one of my biggest supporters."
By his junior year, with a record of 26-12, Comer made it to the Catholic High School Athletic Association (CHSAA) state finals for the first time. "A lot of guys made states in ninth or 10th grade," he said. "By 11th grade I just had to make it. That was my goal. I needed states for my own validation."
Comer placed an impressive fifth in his first state tournament, which motivated him for his senior year. Even a month-long bout with mononucleosis couldn't dampen his spirit, or his desire to win. And win he did. This year Comer went undefeated in his first 14 matches, breaking a Kellenberg record. He finished the regular season 31-5 -- another school record -- and finished the season with a second-place finish in the CHSAA state championships.
"We are so proud of Zach," said his father, Larry, owner of Comer Construction of East Rockaway. "He has always been driven, and with wrestling it was always about being the best he could be."
With his wrestling career now neatly chronicled in the pages of Kellenberg's record books, Comer plans to attend SUNY Maritime College in September to study marine engineering, but he hasn't decided yet whether to wrestle on the college level. After four years of attending every one of their brother's matches, his siblings -- Heather 14, who attends East Rockaway High; Trisha, 10, and Ryan 8, students at Centre Avenue Elementary School -- hope their brother continues to wrestle.
"Without wrestling," Heather laughed, "what are we going to do on weekends?"
