Mineola Grapplers Take Conference Title

The Mineola High School varsity wrestling team came up big on Feb. 12 by winning its qualifying tournament and grabbing the conference championship.

The Mustangs upset tournament favorites Locust Valley and Wheatley to win the 4-A title. Eleven Mineola wrestlers got to the finals compared to eight for Wheatley and six for Locust Valley.

The Mustangs emerged with three individual champs and eight second-place finishers while five placed third and one fourth. A wrestler must place in the top four to earn a spot in the Nassau County Championships. Mineola is sending an amazing 17 wrestlers to the county meet, which was held prior to press time, the weekend of Feb. 19 and 20 at Nassau Community College.

"What made this victory very unlikely is that we only have one senior on the team. The majority of the team is made up of freshmen and sophomores," said coach Dan Guido.

That lone senior, Julio Gauto, was voted the tournament's most-outstanding wrestler. Gauto defeated tournament favorite Joe Rios 14-6 to become the 171-pound champion. Sophomore Mike Marques defeated teammate Tiago Rodrigues 14-9 in a close match to win the 140-pound class. Rodrigues had to defeat last year's All-County wrestler from Carle Place to get to the finals and Marques had to beat the number one seed, which he did in overtime 4-2.

Sophomore John Hock was also a surprise winner in the 160-pound class. "He wrestled his best match of the year in the finals, pinning his opponent in the third period," coach Guido said.

Another sophomore, Gabe Garcia, was awarded a trophy for most pins in the least amount of time. Garcia recorded two pins in less than two minutes.

Here's how the Mustangs placed in the qualifying tournament:

Zane Kearney, Soph., 2nd Place at 103 lbs.

Chris Granath, Soph., 2nd Place at 112 lbs.

Mike Granath, Fresh., 3rd Place at 119 lbs.

Nick Tonini, Jr., 2nd Place at 119 lbs., captain.

Mike Vansconcelos, Soph., 3rd Place at 125 lbs.

Helder Santiago, Fresh., 4th Place at 125 lbs.

Gabe Garcia, Soph., 2nd Place at 130 lbs.

Marco Santiago, Fresh., 3rd Place at 130 lbs.

Andrew Gross, Soph., 2nd Place at 135 lbs.

Mike Marques, Soph., Champion at 140 lbs.

Tiago Rodrigues, Jr., 2nd Place at 140 lbs.

Bryan Gallego, Jr., 2nd Place at 152 lbs.

Jon Hock, Soph., Champion at 160 lbs.

Julio Gauto, Sr., Champion at 171 lbs.

Mike Reis, Fresh., 3rd Place at 171 lbs.

Leo Morales, Jr., 2nd Place at 189 lbs.

Mike Roo, Soph., 3rd Place at 215 lbs.

More Track and Field Honors

The Mineola High School girls varsity track and field team continues its terrific season. Senior pole vaulter Nicole Lapin has qualified for the New York State Championships. Sophomore Lauren Mobyed also qualified for the State Championships in the 1,000-meter run. She will run as part of the four-member distance medley relay team representing Nassau County. The state meet will be held at Syracuse University on Sunday, March 6. It doesn't stop there, though. Mobyed and her twin sister Kristin, both sophomores, plus juniors Allie Kain, Kasey Hughes and Julia Yan have qualified to run in the National Scholastic Championships to be held in Maryland March 11-13.

Final Look at Mustang Bowlers

The Mineola boys bowling team finished fifth in its conference. Coach Helms Bohringer felt, "The team didn't do as well as we would have liked. But, individually, the team had five award winners. We had two All-County bowlers in juniors Anthony Tretolo and John Carnabucci."

Tretelo finished ninth overall in the county. Other award winners were senior Chris Williams and juniors Joe Calvao and Brian Ciuffo. First year bowler Dan Vezo helped the varsity team with his 175 average.

"With many underclassmen returning, I am hoping the team can finish in the top 16 next year so we can compete in the county tournament. We've not made it to that tournament since 2003," said coach Bohringer.

The Mineola JV team finished fourth in the conference on the strength of the improved bowling of Matt Ponte, Bryan O'Malley, Timmy Pappagiannis, Matt Wojis, Paul Tapias and Matt Vuolo. "I'm looking forward to next season because each year, the boys' averages continue to travel upwards," said coach Bohringer.

The coach also picked the play of Carnabucci as the highlight of the season. He averaged over 200 for his final five games to attain All-County status. This allowed John to qualify for the individual tournament. "The tournament at Garden City Bowl had 60 other bowlers competing for the chance to go upstate and represent Nassau County in the statewide tournament. John competed hard, but he didn't finish in the top six. Now, he has the experience and we hope he will return next season," said coach Bohringer.