Suffolk wrestlers rule the mat

Two Long Island wrestlers return to defend state championships. Six others come back to avenge losses in a state final. Four of those top-ranked wrestlers hail from Suffolk's Section XI, the state's top sectional team for the past three decades.

The numbers suggest that the Suffolk dominance should continue in the state Division I Tournament at the Times-Union Center in Albany. Suffolk rose to dominance in the 1980s, and has won eight of the last 12 state team titles. The Suffolk sectional team has captured 15 state titles in the last 27 years.

And there's been success in Nassau's Section VIII, which has taken 10 overall titles, with the last coming in 1987. There is a direct correlation between the end of Nassau's winning ways and the beginning of Suffolk's dominance.Someone from Long Island was always in the mix for the title. It's almost as if they shipped the balance of power on Long Island eastbound. As school populations grew east of Route 110, so did the number of championships.

Suffolk rewrote the record books in last year's state tournament. The sectional team scored a state record 280.5 points to win the team crown. It tied a 47-year-old record when it crowned eight state champions. Nassau had eight titlists in the first year of competition in 1963.

"Suffolk has been a wrestling hotbed for some time," East Islip coach Guy Leggio said. "And the gap continues to grow because there is such a great commitment to the programs on Long Island."

In 2004, the state public High School athletic association decided to split the individual wrestling tournament into Division I (Large Schools, 600 students or more) and Division II (Small Schools, 599 and under), thus creating more opportunity for wrestlers in the state. Most of the schools in Suffolk have a higher enrollment than the cutoff and were forced into the Division I Tournament.

But moving many wrestlers from upstate schools to Division II diluted the field and weakened the rest of the sectional teams in the state. The result has further embedded Suffolk as the team to beat at the state tournament. It also has fueled a debate as to where the top wrestlers reside - in Division I or Division II.

"It's like everything else in society," Leggio said. "Now there are two champions at every weight. It's the 'everyone gets a trophy syndrome.' And we're left wondering who the one champion should be - because now we have two wrestlers who take home the gold.

"We don't compete well in the Division II Tournament because we don't have the numbers. We have 44 schools in Division I and only 10 in Division II."

Leggio's contention is supported by the fact that neither Nassau nor Suffolk has had a state champion in Division II since the split six years ago.

And with no unified tournament, Suffolk should continue to dominate the state competition. Huntington's Nigel McNeil won the state 112-pound title and Hauppauge's Mark West earned the 96-pound crown in Division I. Both are looking to defend their titles.

The strength of the Suffolk and Nassau squads lies in their depth. You can bet wrestlers like Wantagh seniors Joe Barbato and Joe Kavanagh, Longwood junior Malik Rasheed, St. Anthony's senior Grant Greene, Islip senior Kyle Wade and Huntington senior Louis Puca would love to grab the elusive title that slipped away last season.

How good are they? Well, Rasheed lost to McNeil in the Suffolk title match and again in the state championship. So he's right there.

Puca lost to Rocky Point's Anthony Volpe in the Suffolk and state 160-pound finals. With Volpe graduated and wrestling at Rutgers, the door is open for Puca.

They put stars on the wrestling mat to honor the state champions at Huntington. Puca can earn his spot this year. He'd be the 26th state champion for the Blue Devils.

They don't call it Strong Island for nothing.