Blog Posts - HURRICANE WRESTLING

HURRICANE WRESTLING

Hurricanes conclude successful Home Camp - Head to Kutztown

7/25/2017

7/25/2017
The Canes concluded their annual home camp on Thursday (7/20). Over 30 wrestlers were in attendance ranging from 6th-12th grade. There were 8 Hurricane wrestling alumni on hand to teach and help the Coaches out. The last two days of the camp, Anthony Bonaventura, the current Assistant Coach at Stevens University (Hobokern, NJ), ran the camp. Mr. Bonaventura is a former Division III national runner-up! A great opportunity to learn from a very impressive group of coaches and alumni wrestlers. After a quick weekend off, the Hurricanes headed to Kutztown University in Pennsylvania for the annual team TNT Summer Camp!

Hurricane Wrestling Donates $1,500 to the Live Your Cor Foundation!

5/29/2017

5/29/2017
The Hurricane Wrestling Team recently donated $1,500 to the Live your Cor Foundation. Hurricane Wrestling has now raised approximately $4,000 over the past 3 years for the foundation named in honor of fallen teammate Cory Hubbard. Two of Cory's teammates and now assistant coaches, Ethan Mitchell (left) and Pete DeTore (right) are shown above presenting the donation to Ralph and Holly Hubbard who founded and run the foundation (http://www.liveyourcor.com). The funds are raised through donations made through the annual "Pin Pot" fundraiser. Donors pledge an amount for every pin the Hurricanes get during the season. The donations are split between the Live your Cor Foundation and the Hurricane Mat Club. A very heartfelt thank you to all of this years donors!

Hurricanes Fare well at State Freestyle/Greco-Roman Tournament

5/15/2017

Seven Hurricanes competed last weekend (5/12-5/14) in the New York State Freestyle/Greco-Roman Tournament. The Hurricanes got a lot of mat time and brought home some nice hardware. The results were as follows:
Gavin McIntyre - 3rd in Greco-Roman
Jason Montagna - 5th in Greco-Roman, 6th in Freestyle
Jake Kass - 4th in Greco-Roman
Suraj Patel - 6th in Greco-Roman
Lucas Villareale - 6th in Freestyle
Liam McIntyre - 6th in Freestyle (was 3-0 when injured and did not wrestle again. Thankfully not serious.)

Congratulations to all the participants on a great tournament in Binghampton!

Three Hurricanes Honored by Coaches Association

4/20/2017

Last evening (4/19/2017), three Hurricanes were honored by the Suffolk County Coaches Association. Senior Scott Rementer and Sophomore Liam McIntyre we both honored for their all-county finishes. In addition, Seniors Scott Rementer and Dan Purkis were both honored as scholar athletes and awarded scholarships. Dan Purkis will be attending Clemson University, and Scott Rementer will be attending Worchester Polytechnic Instutute this fall. Congratulations to all three!

What wrestling means to me - Over a year later

3/15/2017

by Connor Glynn - WHB Graduate 2016

Westhampton Beach wrestling gave me the opportunity to become a part of something greater than myself. It gave me a purpose and a meaning during my high school years. It was a lifestyle, a distraction, a safe haven, and a classroom all in one. But, in the class that is wrestling, you learn about life in all types of ways, good and bad.
        In ninth grade, I was out to dinner with my parents at Squiretown in Hampton Bays. My high school sports career was a hot topic of conversation. Playing Football and being a one sport athlete, at something I was not very good at, just wasn't enough. I didn’t understand that at the time, but my dad clearly did. So as I sat there crying in front of an entire restaurant, hoping that the dim lighting would hide my tears, my dad showed no mercy. It became very clear that I would soon be a new wrestler for Westhampton Beach. I highly doubt my dad had any clue what he was getting me involved in, but I am extremely grateful that he did.
    Fast forward a few months to another freshman year crying instance. This time it was outside of Immaculate Conception Parrish Center in Westhampton. It was a Wednesday night in January, around 7 PM if I remember correctly, and my dad was dropping me off at religion class. As I went to get out of the car I started crying. I couldn’t do it, I had to go back. Westhampton Beach was wrestling the #3 ranked team in the state, Rocky Point, in what was the most hype wrestling match I’ve ever seen. Hell, it could have been Penn State vs. Iowa in that gym between the media, notoriously loud Rocky Point parents, and sets of bleachers packed with WHB students and fans. From around the county people came to watch perennial powerhouse Rocky Point secure a league VI championship. Even MSG varsity showed up to film the match. At religion we had a strict attendance policy, but I quickly convinced my dad to bring me back to the gym. Weird how things change, a few months ago I was crying about being “forced” to wrestle, and by the middle of my first season I was crying because I had been fully engulfed in the world of Westhampton Beach Wrestling, and nobody was going to remove me from it.
    That 2013 team was the greatest sports team that I have ever been apart of, and nobody will ever be that team. They had something that you can’t coach. I’m not even sure someone would want what they had. Yeah they were league champs, but the things that made those kids so amazing were tragedies. They were the best, but they paid a heavy price to be the best. When that dual meet against Rocky Point ended, the class of 2013 automatically became legends. They engraved their legacy into Westhampton Beach, and just like every senior class before them, they were gone shortly after. What remains is some paint on a wall, sharpie in a basement, words on a banner, and the memories.
    What this sport is all about is the legacy. When it’s all set and done, who or what have you made a mark on? Is it the league, county, or state tournament? Is it the wrestling banner hanging in the gym? Or is it the freshman you pointed in the right direction when he was trying to find himself early on? It’s ironic how it takes four matches to win a state tournament. It’s similar to the four years to get through high school. Every match is a stepping stone to the next one. That’s why you take it one match, or one year at a time. Focus on now, not next year, not next match, because before you know it, everything comes to an end. Ferris Bueller said it and I’ll say it again: Life moves pretty quick, if you don’t stop and look around every once in a while you might miss it. What you're doing now is what you're going to be remembered for. The relationships you develop, the goals you achieve, and the mistakes you make now are what you carry into the future. So if wrestling has taught me anything about life, it is to enjoy what you are doing now. And if you’re going to do it, you might as well do it big because in life there’s not enough time to go halfway on things. Take things one match at a time, go balls to the wall, and HAVE FUN.
    It’s pretty weird how easily things that are so important in life can just slip away. The stability around you, the things that make you who you are can all vanish so quickly. My high school wrestling career taught me about loss before I had to deal with it myself. I saw kids just like me, that sat in the same seats as me and walked the same halls as me, be put in situations that are hard for full-grown adults to overcome. I had seen my entire community capsize over the loss of people who had a profound impact on almost everything around us. But I also saw the resiliency. I saw how people took their grief and their sadness and channeled it to honor the ones we’ve lost in amazing ways. I saw how the Hubbard’s took the tragic loss of their son and built an amazing organization that is backed by an entire community. I saw how that 2013 team took the mat against teams that they weren't supposed to have a shot with and just used their experiences to give them the determination and strength to take it to whoever was across from them. I know it may seem like I’m making a group of high schoolers, similar to many others, seem like they are greater than god. But, from my perspective in 9th grade and even a little bit now, I can tell you that what that group had taught me that in life bad things are going to happen. It’s all about how resilient you are. It’s about how hard you fight back, what you do next, and how you learn and grow.
    On the Christmas Eve of my freshman year we had practice just like every other Christmas Eve. It was not long after the Center Moriches Duals and Bass had a long list of complaints for what was an excellent team. One of those complaints stood out to me as it was heavily conveyed during suicides was that we weren’t to show any emotion on the mat: no anger, happiness, funny faces, complaining to the refs, nothing. Bass was referring to how Alex Tanzman made a funny face to our bench as he routed Steven Lee, his county finals opponent from the year before. It didn't matter that Alex was the returning county champ and top ranked wrestler. Making a funny face while tearing up an all-state wrestler would not stand on his team. And that right there showed me that the little things matter. Bass knew he had an awesome team, but if they were going to be champions they were going to have to do the little things right. When you are able to do the little things right the big things should fall into place.
    Life is made up of milestones. Sometimes a milestone can be the beginning of a new chapter in life, or it is just the end of another. At the end of a chapter it is important to look back upon where it has taken you and the people you have met along the way. The memories that you make are carried into the future through the relationships that you make. Once it’s all over I believe it is important to take the values that the sport teaches you and apply it to your life in some type of way. Whether it’s the ideals of a brotherhood to fight for each other, and help your fellow brother up even when he falls. Wrestling gave me a circle of trust that I relied on heavily throughout high school, and I will have with me for many years.
    My junior and senior years are two that I will never forget. I was able to do some amazing things on and off the mat, surrounded by people who I cared for, and who cared for me. The greatness and legacy that my team carried with us those two years lied within our work ethic, our actions off the mat, the way we stepped up against kids 20x better than us, the way we wrestled for each other, and the way that we were a true BROTHERHOOD. Westhampton Beach Wrestling is a family, and as the shirts say, tradition never graduates.
    Every family has a core, something that holds it together no matter what. Ours was Coach Bass. He bought into us when we were freshman far more than we bought into him. So from all of us, thank you for everything you’ve done, and everything you continue to do for us. And for those who are still blessed with the opportunity to make memories wrestling, I have some advice: Work hard to achieve as much as you possibly can, form relationships that will never fall apart, and build YOUR legacy. Because when it's all set and done the legacy is what you and others have to look back on. So do whatever you can to build your legacy, because looking back, I am beyond proud of my legacy and the people who helped me create it.

Hurricanes end season with 2 all-county finishes!

3/12/2017

The County Section XI Tournament took place Saturday & Sunday (2/11 & 2/12) at the Brentwood campus of Suffolk Community College. Approximately 360 wrestlers (24 at each of the 15 weight classes) began wrestling on Saturday with the hopes of becoming a Section XI County Champion. The harsh reality though is that 23 of the 24 would fall short, 16 of them would be eliminated on the first day and 2 of the last 8 remaining would see their dreams die in the first match on Sunday. The County XI Tournament is physically and almost more important mentally exhausting for both the participants and coaches. The Hurricanes entered Saturday with 6 wrestlers and left that night with only 2 still remaining. Ending their season and in one case their wrestling career on Saturday were:

Freshman Jason Montagna (106)
Junior Tyler Skala (113)
8th Grader Jackson Hulse (126)
Senior David Cable (138)

Thankfully, 3 of the 4 eliminated Hurricanes will have a chance to scale the Section XI mountain again at least once more.

Junior Tyler Skala (113) - (2-2 tournament record)
The only Hurricane eliminated on Saturday to get a win was Junior Tyler Skala. Tyler faced Anthony Constantino from Walt Whitman in the pigtail round and was able to get a pin and advance. In the first round, Tyler faced #4 seed, and eventual 6th place finisher Matt Campisi from William Floyd. Campisi defeated Tyler in the finals at the Kujan tournament by a single point and squeaked by Tyler again by the thinnest of 5-4 margins. In the wrestle-backs, Tyler got a pin against Billy Nicholson from West islip in his first match. Needing a win to make it to Sunday and the blood round, Tyler ran into the eventual 4th Place finisher Denis Velasquez from Brentwood. A very tough Velasquez ended Tyler's all-county hopes with an 8-2 win. Tyler will be back to make some noise next year as a senior!

Sophomore Liam McIntyre (160) & Senior Scott Rementer (170) were both still alive facing a must win on Sunday in the "blood round" to become all-county wrestlers. The blood round is the potential dream killing first round on Sunday. If you win, you are one of the final six remaining wrestlers at your weight. If you lose, you one of the last two wrestlers eliminated, finishing in 7th or 8th place on a podium with only 6 spots. Your season and perhaps career end there. Here is a recap of how Liam and Scott's Section XI Tournament journey ended:

Sophomore Liam McIntyre (160) - (4-2 tournament record - 5th Place)
Liam entered the tournament unseeded after finishing 2nd in the League VI Championship behind #3 seed Joseph Bartolotto from Miller Place. He did, however, get a bye in the pigtail round. He defeated Alezandro Aponte from Sachem North before running into #1 seed and longtime nemesis Nick Munsch from Commack. Liam lost the 7-2 decision and was sent to the wrestle-backs. Liam needed 2 consecutive wins to guarantee himself a spot on the podium. He got the first one on Saturday with a 7-0 win over Andrew Passaro from William Floyd. That earned him a spot in the blood round on Sunday. Win and you are all county, lose and you are done. McIntyre faced Edwin Yanes from Copiague and achieved all-county status with a 5-0 victory! Liam then squared off against #5 seed Dylan Zabarra from Rocky Point. The winner would wrestle for 3rd, and the loser would wrestle for 5th. Liam fought hard but came up just short in the 7-5 decision which moved him into the 5th place match against JC Broems from Kings Park. Broems earlier knocked out the #4. Never in question, Liam dominated in the 10-0 victory, adding 5th place in the Section XI Tournament to his all-county status. All this as a Sophomore! With two years remaining in his career, we look forward to hearing much more about this talented young Hurricane in the upcoming years!

Senior Scott Rementer (170) - (4-3 tournament record - 6th Place)
Scott entered the tournament as one of two Senior participants. His teammate David Cable (138) was eliminated early on Saturday leaving Scott as the only remaining Senior. Though ranked 5th in Section XI, Scott was unseeded heading into the tournament after finishing 3rd in the League VI Tournament. Hurricane fans know that may have been a blessing. Scott was living "under the radar". A solid wrestler who had the potential to end some opponents all-county dreams. Scott met up in the pigtail round with Jake Ferraro from Smithtown West and advanced easily with a pin. That moved him into the first round against unseeded Gino Mitrani from Deer Park who had a pigtail bye and is probably still wondering what happened after Scott dispatched him with a convincing 17-9 decision. Scott then stepped up against #1 seed and eventual Section XI runner up Joe Eiden from Sachem East. Scott's undefeated run ended there and he was sent to wrestle-backs to fight for his wrestling life after a 13-3 defeat. Scott then had to face #6 seed Steven Holder from Hauppauge in a must win wrestle-back and advanced by pin to the blood round on Sunday with teammate Liam McIntyre. On Sunday, Scott, with his entire season and career on the line and all-county status just one win away, had to face the #4 seed Christian Moriarty from Northport. Moriarty had been knocked off 9-6 by unseeded Ivan Romero-Cisneros from Miller Place who finished 2nd in the League VI Championship and was also flying under the radar like Scott and a very good wrestler (remember his name). Scott stepped up HUGE and dispatched Moriarty in the must win match with a nail-biting a 3-2 victory. I wish I had a picture of his father in the stands during that match. It was amazing! Now an all-county wrestler, Scott then had to face eventual 3rd place finisher Alec Masiello from Commack. Masiello was all over Scott and took the 11-3 decision. Scott headed to the 5th & 6th place match and had to face fellow League VI "under the radar" wrestler Ivan Romero-Cisneros from Miller Place. Scott was leading 3-1 in a very tight match when Romero-Cisneros caught Scott using a lat drop (I hope that's right) and got a key takedown that turned into a pin. I'm sure he was disappointed, but Scott ended his career with an amazing all-county run and 6th Place finish at the Section XI tournament!

Section XI Captures 9th Straight State Title

2/25/2017

The Section XI state qualifiers captured the 9th title in a row for the county with an impressive 250 point total. Section % came in distant second place with a 198.5 point tally. Section XI had 2 champions, place winners at 14 of the 15 weights, and multiple place winners at over 50% of the weights (8). The breakdown is as follows:

99 - Did not place
106 - 1st (Ryder - HHHW), & 3rd
113 - 3rd
120 - 1st (Busiello - ESM) & 2nd
126 - 3rd
132 - 5th
138 - 2nd, 5th
145 - 3rd
152 - 6th
160 - 2nd, 6th
170 - 2nd, 6th
182 - 4th
195 - 3rd, 6th
220 - 2nd, 4th
285 - 2nd, 6th

Below is the full bracket if you would like to see detail.

2017_final_wrestling_brackets.pdf
File Size:	7511 kb
File Type:	pdf

Six Hurricanes Headed to Counties!!!

2/4/2017

The Canes headed to Miller Place on Saturday (2/4/2017) to take part in the League VI Championship. The young Hurricane squad wrestled hard against some very tough competition. In the end, Westhampton Beach saw 6 wrestlers on the podium. The Canes had 2 wrestlers in the finals but were not able to capture a title this year. Headed to the finals will be:

2nd Place - Junior Tyler Skala (113)
2nd Place - Sophomore Liam McIntyre (160)

3rd Place - Freshman Jason Montagna (106)
3rd Place - 8th Grader Jackson Hulse (126)
3rd Place - Senior Scott Rementer (170)

4th Place - Senior David Cable (138)

Keep an eye on these Hurricanes, because 4 of the 6 county qualifiers are Sophomores or younger, so they will continue to make an impact in upcoming years!

The Section XI Tournament will held next Saturday & Sunday and Suffolk County Community College Brentwood Campus. We hope to see Hurricanes fans at the event!

Westhampton Beach Graduate Builds and Donates Benches to Kid Wrestling Program!

1/26/2017

Local resident, businessman, and Westhampton Beach Alumni Anthony Bonner recently built and donated 3 benches, made from very dense and expensive IPE wood, to the Kid Wrestling Program. The benches give the young wrestlers a great place to sit and put their stuff when utilizing the wrestling room. They are amazing benches and we cannot thank Mr. Bonner enough! The benches are so popular that they were full of stuff before we could put them in place and take a photo. They will be used a great deal by the wrestlers, and thank you again to Mr. Bonner for his wonderful donation! It's the parents and alumni that continue to make our wrestling programs great!

Hurricane damage in Western Suffolk and Nassau counties after Westhampton Beach passes through on Friday and Saturday! Canes go 6-1 and take 2nd at Bethpage Duals!

1/21/2017

The Hurricanes headed to Bethpage on Friday afternoon for the Bethpage Dual Tournament. The Tournament consisted of 8 teams, 2 from Suffolk County and 6 from Nassau County. The team breakdown was as follows:

Nassau (Section 8)
Bethpage
Oceanside
Sewanhaka West (Floral Park)
Roosevelt
Locust Valley
Great Neck South

Suffolk County (Section XI)
West Babylon
Westhampton Beach

WHB went 3-0 on Friday, defeating Great Neck South (47-29), Roosevelt (43-36), and Oceanside (42-30). On Saturday the Canes defeated West Babylon (69-12) before running into #5 Section 8 Locust Valley. The Canes hung tough but came up on the short end of a 41-31 decision. Finishing the tournament off, WHB bested host Bethpage (46-31) and Sewanhaka West (57-21) to post a 6-1 mark and 2nd place in the tournament! The Hurricanes finished their dual meet season with a 18-7 record by finishing with a 12-1 run! The Canes will now prepare for the League VI tournament which will be held on February 4th at Miller Place High School. Good luck to all of the wrestlers!!!

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