Friars' Alessandrini makes trek to wrestle
St. Anthony's Paul Alessandrini (left) won his 189 pound match during the quarterfinals of the CHSAA High School state wrestling championships. (Feb. 12, 2011) Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy
Paul Alessandrini spent three hours traveling 150 miles Saturday to wrestle for 218 seconds.
Alessandrini, St. Anthony's 189-pound wrestler, pinned Fordham Prep's Pat Argast with a bar-arm tilt combination in 3:38 (or 218 seconds) in the quarterfinals of the CHSAA state tournament at Chaminade to advance to this morning's semifinal.
Alessandrini, the defending tournament champ, didn't take the mat until nearly 2 p.m. But his day, like countless others, began well before that.
Every morning, Alessandrini, his father Paul, and his younger brother Nick begin their journey from their home in Southampton to South Huntington at 6:30 a.m. That means the Alessandrini boys usually awake by 5:30 a.m. They don't return home until at least 8 p.m.
"I chose to do it for wrestling, it's pushed me to the next level," Alessandrini said. "The trips aren't that bad, it's the hours that are a pain in the butt."
That's easy to say when you get to spend most of the ride asleep in the passenger seat. After Mr. Alessandrini drops the kids off at school, he works a full day at his office in Central Islip before picking the boys up after practice and embarking on the long trip home.
"I wanted them to be a part of a program like this," Alessandrini's father said of a Friars program in position to win its second straight CHSAA state title. "There's not many options out ."
Paul's younger brother Nick was the 96-pound Division II county champion for Southampton two years ago. But he and his brother longed to wrestle at the highest level. And Paul Sr., who rarely misses a match, obliged.
"My dad does a lot for my brother and I," Allessandrini said. "He always wants the best for us."
Paul, who will wrestle at Franklin & Marshall next season, is 28-5 on the season. Two of his losses came early while he was fighting a ligament strain in his shoulder, and another came against a nationally ranked wrestler from California. Though he's on the right track, Friars coach Tony Walters has one wish for his senior star.
"To know Paul is to love Paul," the coach said. "You tell him to do certain things, and he'll do it. But conditioning? That's not Paul."
Because of his sheer strength, Alessandrini generally coasts against weaker foes. But in the public school state tournament, where he went 1-2 last season and failed to place, that doesn't always fly. Still, Walters is expecting big things from him.
"Luckily it's tournament time," he said. "That's when a new Paul tends to rise."
The boys' two younger sisters still attend the Southampton schools. One was at a field hockey tournament in New Jersey this weekend, so for the Alessandrinis, the road trips never end.
Paul's will end in the near future, but there's one final stop he needs to make - Albany in two weeks for the public school state tournament.
Said Alessandrini: "That's the last stop."
