Friday, March 12, 2010

Elwood's John Glenn HS Wrestling Won County Championship

For nearly two months, Newsday has continued to rank the Varsity Wrestling Team of John Glenn HS as Number 1 in all of Nassau and Suffolk, among all HS teams of all winter sports. Given the fact that Elwood is the second smallest school district in the Town of Huntington, and one of the smaller school districts on Long Island, that is a notable achievement.

Last month Newsday's Gregg Sara noted that "The Knights won their second straight Suffolk championship with 213.5 points." What he could not say, in the relatively small space allotted, was that the runner-up team, Hauppauge, scored 166.5 points, and that the third place team, Longwood, scored 161.0.

Just look at that spread: 47.0 points above the Number 2 team, and 52.5 points above the Number 3 team, with only 5.5 points separating the Numbers 2 and 3 teams.

On the individual front, Mr. Sara wrote: "Nick Meinsen (130 pounds) and Nick Terdick (152), the Knights' only two finalists, each won Suffolk titles. It was Meinsen's second title in as many seasons."

Ten of the eighteen qualifying Glenn wrestlers placed in the top six thereby earning All-County honors in their respective weight classes: Mike Bosco, Matt Fusaro, and Joe Giaramita (all taking 3rd); Jarid Cheatham and James Dekrone (who placed 4th); Matt Gannon and Vin Punzone (who placed 5th); and Kevin Massa (who placed 6th), .

As a team the season concluded with the Knights finishing undefeated at 21-0, which makes their dual meet win streak 59 victories and dates back to 2007. They were efectively ranked the Number 1 HS wrestling team in all of New York State (imagine, such a small school district being able to achieve this position) and are recognized as the 2010 New York State Dual Meet Champions

The team was honored during the NYSPHSAA Championship tournament at the end of February, during which the qualifying individual wrestlers competed for titles in their weight classes, and Nick Meinsen won the State championship in the 130 pound class, while Nick Terdick took 3rd place in the 152 pound class.

This was clearly an outstanding achievement for the Glenn team, and even more amzing given the size of the Elwood School District.