By Gene Morris Newsday
Photos by James Escher

Preston Maucere didn’t want to wait any longer to wrestle in the state tournament in Albany.

In order to speed up the process, the St. Anthony’s senior made quick work of his opponents in CHSAA state tournament Sunday at Holy Trinity, capping his run with a 46-second fall over Keith Sherry of Kellenberg in the 132 pound final.

“It’s a great feeling,” Maucere said. “My career has been crazy and I’ve had ups and downs but I’m only focused on what’s ahead and that’s states.”

Maucere missed out on a wild-card to the state tournament because of a concussion when he finished second at 99 as a freshman in the Suffolk tournament while wrestling for Deer Park. He wasn’t eligible to wrestle in the CHSAA tournament last season because of transfer rules.

“My main goal is still taking states in Albany,” he said. “Just four more matches.”

Maucere will be joined at the state tournament, which takes place at the Times-Union Center Feb. 22-23, by six of his St. Anthony’s teammates. The Friars won the team title with 303 points. Chaminade was second with 254.5 and Kellenberg was third with 184.5. Chaminade, Kellenberg and St. John the Baptist all had two finalists.

“This is what we train for,” St. Anthony’s coach Antoni Walters said. “We’re pushing for Albany.”

In all, the Friars had nine finalists. Jordan Wellington beat teammate Mick Brown, 4-2 at 99, and Sean Flick pinned Jake Podolsky in 47 seconds at 106, both rematches from last weeks league final.

“I just wrestle every opponent the same, that’s it,” Flick said.

Joe Schultz, at 160, and Tyler Podolsky, at 170,  are also headed upstate.

Tommy Szilagyi had a rematch from the league final and once again defeated St. John the Baptist’s Joe Vacca, 5-4, in a tight battle at 138.

“I just go out there and wrestle like it’s any other kid and just get the job done,” Szilagyi said. “Every wrestler we have has the potential to win everything. Our main goal is Albany.”

Szilagyi was able to hang on to the victory after Vacca got a reversal with 15 seconds left in the match.

There was no such drama for the Friars’ Christian Hansen, who won his second straight CHSAA state title with a 13-2 win over Matt Baldwin of Canisius.

“I really just want to get up to Albany and make sure I finish top 3,” said Hansen, who won a Nassau DII championship as a seventh grader at Cold Spring Harbor. “The experience now is different — I only see the end goal and what I want to do.”

By Gene Morris Newsday
February 3, 2019 6:23 PM
Photot by Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke

Jordan Wellington looked across the mat at a familiar opponent Saturday at the CHSAA League championships at St. Anthony’s.

The Friars’ senior was about to wrestle his third consecutive league final at 99 pounds and was once again facing a teammate.

Wrestling a teammate on the biggest stages is nothing new for wrestlers at St. Anthony’s. Wellington dropped both the league and CHSAA state championship matches at 99 to teammate Sean Flick last season.

This time it was Mick Brown standing in his way. Wellington and Brown battled in an even match that went Wellington’s way when he scored a take down at the end of the first overtime for a 4-2 win.

“It’s tough - you’re not really getting coached and it’s just the fact that you’ve wrestled already so many times in the room,” Wellington said. “But you just have to push through.”

In all St. Anthony’s crowned nine champions and won the team title with 420.5 points. Chaminade was second with 360.

“I’m kind of bigger this year so it was a little easier for me but it will still be really tough if I have to see him again in the state final,” Wellington said. “It’s tough but the best kid will come out in the end.”

Flick bumped up to 106 this season and hasn’t suffered a drop off. The junior pinned teammate Jake Podolsky in 1:10 to win the championship.

“I’ve wrestled a teammate every single time I’ve been in the finals,” Flick said. “They know what I do and I know what they do so I feel like it’s all mental. You just have to go out there and wrestle you’re best no matter who it is.”

Flick will look to repeat as CHSAA champion in next weekend’s tournament at Holy Trinity.

“I actually get a little nervous in these matches with teammates,” Flick said. “You’d think eventually they would catch on to what you do and the gap would be smaller in every match. It’s just a mindset thing.”

St. Anthony’s Preston Maucere said his coaches drilled one mindset into him before the tournament - get on and off the mat as fast as possible.

It would be harder to go any faster than Maucere did, pinning all three of his opponents in a combined 1:08 to win the title at 132. He pinned Keith Sherry of Kellenberg in 27 seconds in the final.

“I wrestle confidently and I got the job done,” Maucere said. “My goal is a New York state title and to be wrestling in Albany.”

Christian Hansen and Tom Szilagyi each have the same goal in mind after winning CHSAA state titles and making it to Albany last year.

They’ll both get a chance to repeat after Hansen defeated Bryan Kuprian of St. John the Baptist by fall in 3:34 and Szilagyi won a hard fought 3-1 decision over Joseph Vacca of SJB at 138.

“My main focus was to grind him out and get him tired and work on top,” Szilagyi said. “I’m just trying to stay focused on myself and how I wrestle.”

Agate: 99: Wellington (SA) over Brown (SA), 5-3 OT 106: Flick (SA) over J. Podolsky (SA), Fall 1:10 113: Garcia (SJB) over Napodano (SA), Fall 3:03 120: Sanfilippo (C) over DiDonato (SA), Fall 1:29 126: DeMartino (C) over Semeraro (C), 3-0 132: Maucere (SA) over Sherry (K), Fall 0:27 138: Szilagyi (SA) over J. Vacca (SJB), 3-1 145: Nicotra (C) over Gomez (SJB), Fall 0:42 152: Hansen (SA) over Kuprian (SJB), Fall 3:34 160: Schultz (SA) over Griffo (K), Fall 4:24 170: T. Podolsky (SA) over Cascio (K), Fall 2:59 182: Tutuska (SA) over Jensen (K), 5-3 195: Watterson (K) over Holder (HT), 8-2 220: Taylor (SA) over Moore (C), 10-1 285: Hughes (HT) over Mollon (C), 6-4 OT

11/28/2018 11:18:00 AM

Continuing the popular series that began in 2016-17, each Wednesday MGoBlue.com will highlight a Michigan student-athlete and their academic pursuits. These are our Scholar-Athlete Stories, presented by Prairie Farms.

By Brad Rudner

The sport of wrestling, by nature, is extremely physical. Since ancient times, it's been a sport that's predicated on one thing: dominance over another.

It's what University of Michigan senior Ben Lamantia and every wrestler in the world strive for. Every time he steps on the mat, be that in a tournament, during a dual or just at a practice, his goal is to get the other guy on the ground any way he can. That never changes.

To be a wrestler is to be physical. Growing up in Commack, New York, at the center of Long Island, Lamantia is certainly that. But every wrestler -- and every athlete -- needs an edge, and his comes from the work he's put in between the ears.

"To me, wrestling is 90 percent mental," he said. "Anyone can run on a treadmill. It takes a different mentality to run while you're hungry or hot, cutting weight with extra layers on. While other people are out partying, you're in here grinding it out in an 80-degree room with 30 other people who want to chop your head off."

Lamantia crafted his mental edge through experience but also through his studies as a biopsychology, cognition and neuroscience (BCN) major. It's a course of study that deals with the body and its coexisting relationship with the mind.

Growing up, he wasn't much interested in math or English. But sciences -- particularly biology and psychology -- were fascinating. By his sophomore year at Michigan, it was all he wanted to learn about. Lamantia is currently taking classes on neuropsychology and linguistics, as well as a genetics lab.

"What makes a person drive? Why does someone do what they do?" asked Lamantia. "I want to better myself and understand why I do something different than other people do. With these classes, I can better understand why people react to certain situations. That's all interesting to me."

Lamantia started wrestling in the third grade, the first in his family to become heavily invested in the sport. He went 158-14 during his prep career at St. Anthony's High School, finishing second place at 126 pounds as a senior at the New York State Championships. That after he was third at 120 pounds as a junior.

Through four seasons at Michigan, Lamantia holds a 42-19 record and is listed on the roster at 149 pounds. All but three of his matches have come in tournaments, and of those three in duals, just one was a win. But boy, was that one memorable.

Back on Nov. 18, Michigan faced No. 6 Lehigh in its home opener at Crisler Center. With the starter at 157 pounds, two-time All-American Alec Pantaleo, out of the lineup, Lamantia moved up a weight class and stepped into the spot, knowing he'd be at a physical disadvantage against his Mountain Hawk opponent, Kent Lane.

After trading takedowns in the first and second periods, Lane took a one-point lead with an escape early in the third, but Lamantia responded with the deciding takedown midway through the period en route to a 9-7 decision.

It was Lamantia's first collegiate dual-meet win. Getting his hand raised in front of nearly 3,300 fans -- with his father, Joe, among them -- was a feeling he'll never forget.

"As soon as you show a sign that you're tired or fazed by something the opponent has done, you're vulnerable," he said. "My constant thought process was to keep going forward: calm, cool and composed. And to keep attacking.

"That moment ranks pretty high."

For every dual meet, only 10 wrestlers are chosen to compete. On a roster of 33 student-athletes, it's rarefied air. Every week is a team-wide competition and it's truly every man for himself.

"I was very competitive as a kid. I didn't like losing. Nobody does," Lamantia said. "Take football or soccer. You can give 100 percent and still come up short. There's still a team in college wrestling, obviously, but I get to control my fate a little more. On the mat, it's just you. I don't want to put my fate in someone else's hands."

The injury bug hit Lamantia twice: once as a sophomore (wrist surgery) and then again early in the spring (torn labrum). He got back on the mat in September, but it meant having to get back into the swing of things slowly.

"It's a long road with a lot of ups and downs, mental blocks," he said. "I use all of that as fuel. I'm reminded of the hard work, the doubts and the hardships. It's just an extra motivator to be better in the future."

He's on track to graduate in the spring, and he plans to go to graduate school while using his fifth year of eligibility. Despite the hardships and setbacks, Lamantia has developed a hardened resolve, and he wouldn't trade this experience for anything.

"I feel proud to wear this," he said, pointing to the block M on his shirt. "I feel like Superman. He's got the big S on his chest, I have Michigan on mine. The community is backing me no matter if I win or lose. They're always with me, and that gives me a great sense of pride."

Welcome to the 2018-19 Wrestling Season

If you are interested in joining you can sign up on Saturday Nov. 10th. 
at the Student Center at 10:00am

Come ready to run outside and dresses appropriately.

Coach Walters