The Glen Cove Big Red varsity wrestling team has won the Nassau Invitational Tournament for the second straight year. In the tournament, 18 teams from Nassau County compete in a dual match format.

The tournament began with Glen Cove defeating Carle Place by a score of 50-17. Harrison Balisky, Steven Suarez and Tom Marshall wrestled tough for Glen Cove. Big wins for the Big Red came from Steven Paez, Mike Marino, Kevin Gardrvits, Sasha Bogdanich, Hector Paez and Alexey Bogdanich.

In the second round the Big Red faced the Oyster Bay Baymen. The match started with an exciting bout between Edwin Franco and Ryan Pullman. Pullman is the returning small school county champ. Edwin took the match down to the wire, losing a close decision. Sasha Bogdanich and Steven Paez got the Big Red rolling with a pin and a win. Harrison Balisky lost a close decision to his Oyster Bay opponent. Kevin Gardrvits and Dan Belfiore each picked up pins to keep the Big Red on top. Kevin Nicholas got caught against a very tough Robert Morgan from Oyster Bay. The score became closer as Rahul Nath lost to his man in the 112-pound weight class. This is when Glen Cove's depth took over. Mike Iannetta, Mike Marino, Pat Cook and Ryan Pina all scored first period pins to seal the 50-18 victory.

The following week the Big Red traveled to Great Neck North for the semifinals. The Valley Stream South Falcons defeated Lawrence to reach the semis against Glen Cove. The match started at the 152-pound weight class. Sasha Bogdanich scored a first period pin over returning qualifier Bill Miller. Steven Paez followed the match-up with a close win over highly-regarded Brian Seletsky. Harrison Balisky continued to wrestle tough for the Big Red keeping the score with his opponent to within four points. Glen Cove was ready to make a move as Kevin Gardrvits and Dan Belfiore scored a pin and a win. Kevin Nicholas hit a headlock against Ryan Temkin, scoring a first period pin. Mike Iannetta also had a first period pin sandwiched between two forfeits by Valley Stream South. Hector Paez kept the Glen Cove momentum going with a hard fought 6-4 victory over David Millack. Pat Cook earned some quality points with a pin over Jon Hernandez. Ryan Pina won a close decision 7-5. The match ended with Luigi Coscarelli wrestling in his first varsity match. The Big Red was ready for the finals after its 54-10 victory.

In the finals, Glen Cove faced the Great Neck North Blazers. Glen Cove had defeated the Blazers earlier in the season and Great Neck was looking for revenge. Steven Paez got the action rolling with a 9-0 victory over Doug Shirian. After a good match from Harrison Balisky, Kevin Gardrvits faced last year's qualifying finalist Dan Bischoupan. The two wrestled each other twice this year with each wrestler scoring a win. The third match would prove to be the most exciting. Losing by 5 points, Gardrvits started to mount a comeback in the second period. With thirty seconds to go in the third period, Gardrvits needed a takedown to earn the one-point victory. The two wrestlers fought with Gardrvits scoring a takedown with three seconds to go for the win. Dan Belfiore followed that up with a pin over Rich Nazarian. After Glen Cove forfeited the 103-pound weight class, Rahul Nath faced the senior captain of the Blazers, Oren Raffi. Nath wrestled tough but gave up the pin. Mike Iannetta faced Joe Torby for the second time this year. Torby was set to avenge his loss in the first match. He scored 10 points early in the match to take a commanding lead. Iannetta was not ready to throw in the towel. Mike went on the offensive, scoring 11 points by the time the match ended. Torby won a hard-fought 16-11 victory. The match score stood at Great Neck 19, Glen Cove 13. Mike Marino made quick work of his opponent, scoring a first period pin getting Glen Cove rolling and tying the score at 19. The Big Red started to pull away as Hector Paez earned a second period pin to put Glen Cove up by six. Pat Cook then had the most exciting match of the night. After going down by a score of 9-2, Pat mounted a charge. Cook cradled his man for several back points. The last wave of the ref's arm came as time expired in regulation, leaving the score tied at 14 each. Pat took his man down to his back in overtime to get the win. Ryan Pina would lose a tough match 3-1 against Mike Kodsi. The Big Red needed one more win to seal the victory. Eddie Franco delivered a 22-7 technical fall over his opponent. Eddie scored 10 takedowns in the match to seal the victory for Glen Cove. Sasha Bogdanich finished the match with a first period pin.

The Big Red was very pleased with the victory. The team is not done yet. With the qualifier and Countys coming up, the Glen Cove grapplers will be working harder than ever to get some post-season victories. Coach Steve Kocienda and the community congratulates the entire Glen Cove team.