The Glen Cove wrestling team was very busy over the holiday break. On the Friday before vacation the Big Red faced the Hewlett Bulldogs in a league match. Glen Cove dominated the match, winning 50-3. Danny Belfiore, Steven Suarez, Scott Michaleas and Harrison Balisky all had impressive matches for the Big Red.

On the Dec. 28, Glen Cove hosted the 10th annual Holiday Tournament. The tournament had eight teams from Nassau and Westchester competing for the title. This year's tournament was very competitive with three teams finishing within three points of each other. Senior Tom Marshall wrestled well for Glen Cove. Freshman Kevin Nicholas scored a pin while placing fifth in the tournament. Alexey Bogdanich also scored victories taking sixth-place honors. Sophomore Nate Booth won three matches to take fifth place. Senior Nick Martino also pinned his way to fifth place.

Glen Cove had a great quarter-final round sending nine wrestlers to the semifinals. Mike Marino and Kevin Gardrvits had solid days finishing in fourth place. Sophomore Mike Iannetta and senior Steven Paez had well-fought close matches to take third place.

The Big Red sent five wrestlers to the finals. Junior Pat Cook pinned his way into the finals where he lost to a tough competitor from New Rochelle High School. Pat finished his day with a second place medal. Sophomore Lewis Linares made it to the finals of his second tournament. In the finals he faced Joe DeNouvellis of North Shore. Lewis attempted a bear hug but was countered by DeNouvellis and Lewis lost the match.

Sophomore Hector Paez had a pin over Jesse Scott of New Rochelle in the semi-finals to put himself in the finals. Hector had a solid win over Pierce Janssen of North Shore to win his first varsity tournament. Sophomore Sasha Bogdanich scored a technical fall over Steve Marino of North Shore to reach the finals. In the finals, he upset No. 1 seeded Joe Papillo of Mepham 7-4 to win his second tournament of the year. Senior Ryan Pina had the best tournament of his career. Ryan scored pins over Alex Ferro of Port Washington, Paul Gill of Garden City, John Guerriero of Locust Valley and Peter Blackburn of North Shore to take first place honors.

The team scores were as close as possible with three teams battling for first place.

The final scores were North Shore 203 points; Glen Cove 201 points; Garden City 200 points; New Rochelle 176.5 points; Locust Valley 159.5 points; Mepham 149 points; Great Neck North 97 points; Port Washington 84 points.

Coaches Kodienda and Kopecky offer congratulations to the North Shore Vikings on a fine tournament, edging out Glen Cove by two points for the team victory. All of the local teams: Glen Cove, North Shore and

Locust Valley had solid tournaments. Special thanks go out to Linda Perlman, the Booster Club, the parents of the wrestlers, Chris Barry, and all of the staff members who helped make this tournament one of the highlights of the winter sports season at Glen Cove High School. Thank you all. Congratulations to the wrestlers on a fine tournament.