Wrestler to watch: Wantagh's James Corbett
Wantagh's James Corbett, left, battles Giovanni Santiago of Sachem North during the David Bloom Memorial Duals at Wantagh. Corbett won the 182-pound match by decision, 5-2. (Dec. 15, 2012) Credit: James Escher
James Corbett started the 2011-12 season as a strong 160-pound wrestler, but that didn’t last for long. Corbett (above, left) quickly outgrew that weight class and ended up at 182 pounds. He parlayed a second-place finish in the league into a fourth-place finish in Nassau.
“He just grew all of a sudden,” Wantagh coach Paul Gillespie said. “He put on like 15 pounds and at that point we put him up at 182. He did a good job in the county tournament as an undersized 182. Now he’s a full-blown 182.”
And that is a scary thought for the competition.
“His tenacity is great,” Gillespie said. “He keeps shooting and shooting — he’s always on offense. He doesn’t give the guy a chance to breathe and he’s always on top of you.”
He also brings that same hard-working mentality into the classroom. “He is a tireless worker,” Gillespie said. “Whatever he does — and that includes academics — he works hard at.”
Corbett, a senior, hopes to attend Brown next fall but right now he’s busy putting the rest of Long Island on notice. An early season win over defending Suffolk 182-pound champion Gio Santiago of Sachem North helped put Corbett atop the rankings.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
