The Mineola High School varsity wrestling squad has a surprisingly strong season and made coach Dan Guido proud of what the team was able to accomplish. "When the season began, the expectations for the Mustang wrestlers was not very high. The first half of the line-up was made up of freshmen and sophomores," the coach said.

In addition, the Mustangs were not seeded very high in their 12-team conference, which was divided into a strong group of six teams and a weaker group of six teams. The Mustangs were seeded sixth in the stronger division. But a tough tournament schedule in December helped prepare the squad for the dual meet part of the season in January.

Team captains Jim Holubowich and Tom Grimaldi each finished as champions twice. Grimaldi won the Hank Paris and Valley Stream North Invitationals while Holubowich won the Hank Paris and Islip Cup.

Perhaps the turning point in the season came right away in the league dual meets. Mineola opened with a match against the top rated team in the league in Clarke. With big wins by sophomore Nick Tonini (112 lbs.) and Freshman Mike Vasconcelos (119 lbs.), the team went on to a 34-27 victory.

With other freshmen Andrew Gross (125 lbs.), Gabe Garcia (130 lbs.), Mike Marques (135 lbs.) and sophomores Brian Gallego (135 lbs.) and Tiago Rodriques (130 lbs.) rotating in, the team continued to win.

Another factor in Mineola's success, according to coach Guido, was the emergence of sophomore Leo Morales (189 lbs.), junior Julio Gauto (171 lbs.) and senior John Boland (160 lbs.). "All three of these boys worked very heard in the weight room during the year previous to the season and improved strength that added greatly to their success," the coach said.

After the win over Clarke, Mineola went on to defeat Locust Valley, Wheatley and North Shore. With a record of 7-4 and a conference mark of 4-0, the Mustangs went to Seaford to wrestle for the league championship. It was a tough match. Mineola fell behind early, but came back to make it close. The senior captains, Grimaldi and Holubowich, both won by pins. But it was not enough as Seaford prevailed 39-27.

Although all the boys on the squad wrestled with heart, Seaford, this year's small school Nassau County champion, proved to be too strong.

Coach Guido also credited some of the other wrestlers who helped along the way such as freshmen Zane Kearney, Chris Granath, Carl Nunziata, Kevin Brostek and John Hock along with junior Jason Vega. "This season turned out to be an exciting one. Although the team will be very young again next year with only two seniors, with some hard work in the offseason, our wrestlers can look forward to another exciting season," said Coach Guido.

Mineola's senior captains, Tom Grimaldi (140 lbs.) and Jim Holubowich (189 lbs.) both finished their final seasons as All-County wrestlers. Grimaldi finished fourth in the county as he also did last year. He lost a heart-breaking match 5-4 in the semi-finals to eventual champion Tom Moriarty of Long Beach.

Grimaldi finished the season with a 29-6 career record and a career mark of 100-35, joining Beau Bruno (Class of '99) and Dan Coiro (Class of '92) as the only wrestlers in school history to win 100 matches.

Holubowich also wrestled all the way to the county finals, where he lost a very hard fought 7-5 decision to Ray Lanzilotta of Massapequa, who lost in the finals last year and finished sixth in the New York State Meet this year.

Holubowich finished with a record of 28-3 and a career mark of 92-29.

"Both boys were captains of this year's team and did a terrific job of motivating a young team that just missed winning the league championship," said Coach Guido.

Sophomore Nick Tonini (112 lbs.), junior Julio Gauto (171 lbs.) and senior John Boland (160 lbs.) were named All-Conference.