The Mineola Mustang wrestling team finished up their year in style by hosting the Division II Nassau County Championship. Although the team was very young, they had a successful tournament and year. With only two juniors and four seniors on the squad, the team managed to win six matches while losing 10. The freshman and sophomores really had to step it up to make the year as successful as it was. With 14 of the 18 total boys returning next year and an excellent middle school wrestler who will join them, next year looks promising.

Among the seniors finishing up their careers was Gabe Garcia, wrestling at 125 lbs. Gabe finished up the year by making All-County. Zane Kerney did a good job by filling in during matches from 125-135 lbs. Captain Mike Marques (145 lbs.) was named All-County, making it to the county finals for the third straight year. Mike Roo (215 lbs.) also made it to the county finals. Even though the matches were close, neither wrestler was able to reach his goal as county champion.

Junior Marlon Cardona (189 lbs.) had a good year as a first year wrestler and with some hard work can really help the team next year. Junior Helder Santiago (140 lbs.) had an excellent year becoming All-County for the second time as he made the county finals only to lose a close match to the defending county champion by a score of 3-1. The Mustangs are looking for Helder to be the team leader next year.

Sophomores Troy Kerney (112 lbs.) and Sean Gonzales (275 lbs.) also had good years and with some improvement by next year can really help the team. Sophomore Leonard Dul (160 lbs.) had an excellent year with 22 wins only to be cut short with an unexpected illness that prevented him from competing in the county tournament. The Mustangs are looking for big things from Leonard next year. Sophomore Mike Goldstein (140 lbs.) was this year's most improved wrestler, winning 17 matches and making All-Conference. With continued hard work, Mike should be very tough in his next two years. Sophomore Paul Krumholz (130 lbs.) had a tremendous year, finishing with a team leading 26 victories. He made it to the county finals only to lose a tough match by a score of 12-8. Paul improved greatly during the year and with continued improvement and hard work, a county championship is within his reach.

This year's freshman group really did a great job as they all improved during the year while wrestling in many varsity matches and adding greatly to the team's success. Joe Hill (275 lbs.), although injured for most of the season, really started to show promise by the year's end. Tyler Cashin (103 lbs.) proved to be very tough as he won 13 matches and looks like he has an excellent career ahead of him. Billy Gerstner (119 lbs.) showed tremendous improvement and resiliency as the year went on. Having missed the eighth grade season due to injury, Billy took a while to get going. He did not let the fact that he wrestled mostly varsity matches against superior opponents get to him. He kept working hard and by the end of the year, he was really wrestling well and for his efforts, he was rewarded for making All-Conference.

Bob Port (152 lbs.) had a good year, winning 11 matches against only three losses, as did Mike Escobar (152 lbs.), winning 18 matches and making All-Conference. Both of these boys have excellent athletic ability and could really be a force in the next few years.

Nick Grimaldi (96-103 lbs.) had a great year, winning 19 matches and making All-Conference. Nick also wrestled mostly varsity matches usually bumping up one weight class to 103 lbs. to so do. Nick handled it well and has an excellent three years to look forward too.

Finally, Arnold Gomez (171 lbs.) had a super year. He competed all year on varsity at 171 lbs. Competing at that heavy weight is very difficult for a freshman to do. He showed everyone how tough he was by winning 22 matches and making All-Conference. He lost some very close matches in the county tournament and with a little luck he could have easily made the county finals.

Although the year did not end up as successful as anticipated, The Mustangs have a lot of promise for the future.