Publication: The East Hampton Press & The Southampton Press
By Cailin Riley Feb 12, 2016 7:55 PM
By Cailin Riley Feb 12, 2016 7:55 PM
Two years ago, there was not a more unlikely candidate to win a county wrestling championship than Dan McClure.
So when, at the end of his sophomore season, with zero varsity wins under his belt, McClure told Westhampton Beach head coach Paul Bass that he wanted to be a county champ, Bass’s initial response was laughter.
But later that night, Bass came up with a plan.
McClure followed that plan pretty much to the letter, and on Sunday night at the David S. Mack Arena at Hofstra University his dreams came true as he beat Kings Park’s Sam Schuyler, 12-5, to win the Division I county championship at 182 pounds.
McClure became the fourth Westhampton Beach wrestler to win a county crown, following in the footsteps of Nick Broccoli (2006), Steve Kobus (2007), and Alex Tanzman (2012 and 2013). The victory gives McClure a spot in the New York State Championships, set for February 26 and 27 at the Times Union Center in Albany. It marks the 10th time in 11 years that Westhampton Beach will have representation at the state meet, a streak no other program in the county can claim.
Two years ago, Bass never thought McClure would be the one to keep that streak intact.
“That’s what’s so special about this,” Bass said on Sunday night, moments after McClure’s win. “For most of his life, Dan was a knucklehead, he was a bad student, and got thrown out of everything.
“I told him, ‘you have so many things you need to change in your life to even think about that,’” Bass continued. “But the next day, I had a list of five things he needed to change in his life, and the first three had nothing to do with wrestling. One involved being a better person, a better student. And he has done everything I’ve told him to. He listened, and he just kept coming. It’s been an amazing turnaround in two years.”
McClure made it to counties last season, but fell one win short of placing in the top six and earning All-County status. That did not sit well with him, he said on Sunday night, overcome with emotion.
“I internalized that feeling and it did not feel good,” McClure said. “It was a learning experience. I grew from it.”
McClure admitted that he was far from the ideal athlete as a sophomore, but said his love of the sport helped him make a big turnaround.
“I was pretty much a big knucklehead,” he said. “But wrestling was really an outlet for me to exercise some kind of discipline, I guess you could say. I came off sophomore year getting pinned in my last match and I was like, no, I’m not making any excuses any more. It’s time to pick myself up and be a man.
“And, wow,” he added. “It really has changed my life.”
After winning the League VI title a week earlier, McClure was seeded third in the bracket for counties, but Bass maintained in the days leading up to the tournament that he felt McClure was the best wrestler in the weight class. McClure started the tournament by pinning Brian Williams of Sachem East in 3:13, before earning a 7-3 decision over Ben Aronow of Sachem North. He knocked off second-seed Luke Marino of Mount Sinai in a 4-0 decision before his dominant win over Schuyler. Schuyler wrestled at 170 for most of the season but bumped up to 182 for the postseason. McClure beat him in the semifinals of the league tournament in relatively easy fashion, but was even more dominant in the final. McClure scored the first takedown early on, and Schuyler reversed him quickly to tie it at 2-2, but McClure got out and then took control of the match from that point on.
McClure was emotional after the win, particularly during and after a long embrace with Bass.
“I love this sport,” he said, through tears. “It’s done so much for me in these last couple of years.”
As for what he hopes to achieve in his final varsity tournament, McClure said he’s still interested in shattering expectations.
“One of my football coaches told me that when you achieve your goals, sometimes you have to update them,” he said. “So I guess my next goal is to place at states.”
McClure shared one final, more short-term goal, still wiping away tears, before gathering his things and heading to the locker room.
“I just want some ice cream,” he said.
Mendoza Is All-County
Of the eight Hurricane wrestlers who competed at counties, four made it to the second day, and one other aside from McClure—junior Dane Mendoza—made it on the podium and earned All-County honors with a top-six finish. Mendoza (113 pounds) climbed one spot higher than his fifth-place finish from last year, taking fourth in his weight after a 4-2 loss to third-seed Danny Colondona of Connetquot. Mendoza started in the outer portion of the bracket, pinning Tristan Delaney of Hills West in 3:09 before beating fifth-seed Kenny Cracchiola of Ward Melville, 7-0. Mendoza got to the semifinals with an 8-3 win over fourth seed Mike Smith of Smithtown West, before running into a buzzsaw, top seed Tommy Cox of Deer Park, who is ranked in the top five nationally. Mendoza did an admirable job against Cox, losing a 13-3 major decision. Cox went on to beat Rocky Point’s Anthony Cirillo, 8-2, in the final.
In the consolation semifinals, Mendoza scored a 1-0 decision over Sean Fitzsimmons of Ward Melville before the loss to Colondona. Had he beat Colondona and taken third, Mendoza had a decent chance to go to states as a wildcard. Still, Bass was proud of his effort.
“I think Dane had a great tournament,” the coach said. “He wrestled very, very well.”
Hurricanes Liam McIntyre (145) and Billy Campbell (170) made it to what is known as the “blood round” in the wrestlebacks, where a win assures wrestlers of an All-County (top six) finish. Neither made it out of that round, however, with McIntyre, a freshman, losing 4-1 to Nick Munsch of Commack and Campbell losing 4-0 to Damien Caffrey of Glenn. Both McIntyre and Campbell went 2-1 with a pin each in the tournament. Hurricanes Tyler Skala (99 pounds) and Connor Glynn (120) each won their first-round matches with pins before losing their second-round matches in hard-fought, close decisions. Because the wrestlers who beat them did not win their next match, they were not able to advance—known as “piggybacking”—into the wrestlebacks.
Matt Tanzman (113) and Scott Rementer (152) both lost in the first round.
Overall, Bass was happy with the performance of all eight of his wrestlers.
“This tournament is a meat grinder,” he said, referring to the fact that Section XI has consistently been the most dominant section in the state for years. “I’m proud of the effort they showed the whole tournament. They all came to compete and they weren’t afraid of anybody.”
ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE
So when, at the end of his sophomore season, with zero varsity wins under his belt, McClure told Westhampton Beach head coach Paul Bass that he wanted to be a county champ, Bass’s initial response was laughter.
But later that night, Bass came up with a plan.
McClure followed that plan pretty much to the letter, and on Sunday night at the David S. Mack Arena at Hofstra University his dreams came true as he beat Kings Park’s Sam Schuyler, 12-5, to win the Division I county championship at 182 pounds.
McClure became the fourth Westhampton Beach wrestler to win a county crown, following in the footsteps of Nick Broccoli (2006), Steve Kobus (2007), and Alex Tanzman (2012 and 2013). The victory gives McClure a spot in the New York State Championships, set for February 26 and 27 at the Times Union Center in Albany. It marks the 10th time in 11 years that Westhampton Beach will have representation at the state meet, a streak no other program in the county can claim.
Two years ago, Bass never thought McClure would be the one to keep that streak intact.
“That’s what’s so special about this,” Bass said on Sunday night, moments after McClure’s win. “For most of his life, Dan was a knucklehead, he was a bad student, and got thrown out of everything.
“I told him, ‘you have so many things you need to change in your life to even think about that,’” Bass continued. “But the next day, I had a list of five things he needed to change in his life, and the first three had nothing to do with wrestling. One involved being a better person, a better student. And he has done everything I’ve told him to. He listened, and he just kept coming. It’s been an amazing turnaround in two years.”
McClure made it to counties last season, but fell one win short of placing in the top six and earning All-County status. That did not sit well with him, he said on Sunday night, overcome with emotion.
“I internalized that feeling and it did not feel good,” McClure said. “It was a learning experience. I grew from it.”
McClure admitted that he was far from the ideal athlete as a sophomore, but said his love of the sport helped him make a big turnaround.
“I was pretty much a big knucklehead,” he said. “But wrestling was really an outlet for me to exercise some kind of discipline, I guess you could say. I came off sophomore year getting pinned in my last match and I was like, no, I’m not making any excuses any more. It’s time to pick myself up and be a man.
“And, wow,” he added. “It really has changed my life.”
After winning the League VI title a week earlier, McClure was seeded third in the bracket for counties, but Bass maintained in the days leading up to the tournament that he felt McClure was the best wrestler in the weight class. McClure started the tournament by pinning Brian Williams of Sachem East in 3:13, before earning a 7-3 decision over Ben Aronow of Sachem North. He knocked off second-seed Luke Marino of Mount Sinai in a 4-0 decision before his dominant win over Schuyler. Schuyler wrestled at 170 for most of the season but bumped up to 182 for the postseason. McClure beat him in the semifinals of the league tournament in relatively easy fashion, but was even more dominant in the final. McClure scored the first takedown early on, and Schuyler reversed him quickly to tie it at 2-2, but McClure got out and then took control of the match from that point on.
McClure was emotional after the win, particularly during and after a long embrace with Bass.
“I love this sport,” he said, through tears. “It’s done so much for me in these last couple of years.”
As for what he hopes to achieve in his final varsity tournament, McClure said he’s still interested in shattering expectations.
“One of my football coaches told me that when you achieve your goals, sometimes you have to update them,” he said. “So I guess my next goal is to place at states.”
McClure shared one final, more short-term goal, still wiping away tears, before gathering his things and heading to the locker room.
“I just want some ice cream,” he said.
Mendoza Is All-County
Of the eight Hurricane wrestlers who competed at counties, four made it to the second day, and one other aside from McClure—junior Dane Mendoza—made it on the podium and earned All-County honors with a top-six finish. Mendoza (113 pounds) climbed one spot higher than his fifth-place finish from last year, taking fourth in his weight after a 4-2 loss to third-seed Danny Colondona of Connetquot. Mendoza started in the outer portion of the bracket, pinning Tristan Delaney of Hills West in 3:09 before beating fifth-seed Kenny Cracchiola of Ward Melville, 7-0. Mendoza got to the semifinals with an 8-3 win over fourth seed Mike Smith of Smithtown West, before running into a buzzsaw, top seed Tommy Cox of Deer Park, who is ranked in the top five nationally. Mendoza did an admirable job against Cox, losing a 13-3 major decision. Cox went on to beat Rocky Point’s Anthony Cirillo, 8-2, in the final.
In the consolation semifinals, Mendoza scored a 1-0 decision over Sean Fitzsimmons of Ward Melville before the loss to Colondona. Had he beat Colondona and taken third, Mendoza had a decent chance to go to states as a wildcard. Still, Bass was proud of his effort.
“I think Dane had a great tournament,” the coach said. “He wrestled very, very well.”
Hurricanes Liam McIntyre (145) and Billy Campbell (170) made it to what is known as the “blood round” in the wrestlebacks, where a win assures wrestlers of an All-County (top six) finish. Neither made it out of that round, however, with McIntyre, a freshman, losing 4-1 to Nick Munsch of Commack and Campbell losing 4-0 to Damien Caffrey of Glenn. Both McIntyre and Campbell went 2-1 with a pin each in the tournament. Hurricanes Tyler Skala (99 pounds) and Connor Glynn (120) each won their first-round matches with pins before losing their second-round matches in hard-fought, close decisions. Because the wrestlers who beat them did not win their next match, they were not able to advance—known as “piggybacking”—into the wrestlebacks.
Matt Tanzman (113) and Scott Rementer (152) both lost in the first round.
Overall, Bass was happy with the performance of all eight of his wrestlers.
“This tournament is a meat grinder,” he said, referring to the fact that Section XI has consistently been the most dominant section in the state for years. “I’m proud of the effort they showed the whole tournament. They all came to compete and they weren’t afraid of anybody.”
ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE
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