The Massapequa High School Wrestling team has come out on top in Nassau County for the fifth year in a row. This past week, at the Nassau County Wrestling Tournament, the Massapequa team and individuals from the school placed highest in the county, advancing them to the New York State Tournament which will take place the first weekend in March.

There are 13 sections in New York State and the winners in each of those sections go to the state tournament. Nassau County is in Section eight and consists of 48 schools. Teams had to qualify before competing in the county tournament. According to Massapequa High School's wrestling coach Gary Mims, "We won the tournament pretty convincingly." The school has a long history of county championships in wrestling. The team has won six out of the last seven championships and, according to Mims, are always one of the top teams in Nassau.

Individual Massapequa High School wrestlers also did extremely well in the Section 8 Championships. Eleven out of the 16 competing wrestlers placed in the tournament. There are six places in each weight class. Four Massapequa wrestlers took first place, three took second, one took fourth, two took fifth, and one took sixth. The four first place finalists will go to the state championships.

Mims credits the team's hard work for all the wins. He explained that the winning wrestlers put a lot of time and effort into their sport. Many of the wrestlers work out through the year and besides competing in the winter, go to clinics in the fall and spring and camps in the summer. They also enter a lot of tournaments during the off-season.

In explaining the success of the team Mims said, "There is no secret to success. It's real simple- you've got to work your butt off." He added that Massapequa kids are a great group to work with because they are willing to work for the wins.

Mims, a graduate of Massapequa, wrestled as well as playing football and lacrosse. He has been coaching at Massapequa High School since 1969. He said, "I love being here because Massapequa kids are great kids to coach." He added that his love of coaching comes from the heart and that he has a lot of fun doing it. "I enjoy being with the kids, watching them grow and get better." He believes that wrestling is just a continuation of the educational process of the school and that practice is an extension of the school day. He said that as a coach you can affect more students because they actually want to be there whereas many students are not in the classroom by choice.

Mims has found a lot of support for this successful wrestling program from the community and parents over the years. He explained that over the years many parents have expressed to him how happy they were with their child's experience with wrestling in high school and how good it was for them.

"Wrestling is a fantastic sport for the kids to participate in, in high school, and learn a lot of different things, especially about themselves," said Mims.