Joe Conklin Carries Huntington to Runner-up Finish at Mamaroneck

Junior Joe Conklin has been paying the price. He’s changed his lifestyle over the past year, focusing it around family and school responsibilities and training for wrestling. The time and effort paid off last Saturday at the 50th annual Mamaroneck Tiger Tournament as Conklin swept through four matches to claim the 150 lb. title.

The Blue Devils finished second in a field of 19 teams, scoring 197 points to trail only tournament champion Iona Prep.

Conklin’s victories included pins in 0:28 and 5:00, a 12-4 major decision and a 15-0 technical fall. The Blue Devils also benefitted from the strong performances of Christopher Granito, Dante Francis, Walter Kusterbeck and Vincent Pupillo, who all took second place in their respective weight class.

For Kusterbeck and Pupillo, it was their first time competing this winter and both did well. Kingsley Evans won four matches to place third at 157 lbs. The sophomore wrestled with more confidence than he has previously displayed, winning a close decision, two major decisions and a pin.

Jose Quintanilla continued to make strides, winning a 4-1 decision and a pin in 3:00 to capture fifth place at 190 lbs. Charlie Cirlincione was sixth at 138 lbs. winning a major decision and a technical fall.

Eighth grader Jason Bencivenga shook off a week of illness to place sixth at 110 lbs. Will Peters appeared headed to the finals at 215 lbs., but he was injured in the semifinals and defaulted the remainder of his matches.

"The coaching staff feels real good about how we competed this weekend in general," said second year head coach Andy Marlow. "We were attacking at a higher rate and we wrestled with more determination than last week. We competed hard to the final seconds of each match. We can build off a performance like this."

In other action:

• Jose Gonzales (103 lbs.) won his first varsity match ever with a 20 second pin of Archbishop Stepinac’s Michael Yordan.

• Rasiere Blizzard (132 lbs.) won a 12-0 major decision over Hauppauge’s Chris Minor.

• Shane LeGrow (144 lbs.) looked excellent in pinning three opponents, including a pin in 5:00 over Archbishop Stepinac’s Edwin Chen; a pin in 4:24 of Mamaroneck’s Alexander Flores and a pin in 4:08 of Martin Luther King’s Benjamin Dror.

• Gevonne Henderson (157 lbs.) pinned Minisink Valley’s Ryan Flynn in 3:00 and Grand Street Campus’ Josiel Guerrero in 0:54.

• Jeremy Ramirez (285 lbs.) pinned Iona Prep’s Matthew Williams in 1:00.