Great Neck South's Cataldi a happy winner
How excited was Great Neck South's Dan Cataldi after he won the 140-pound final at last night's Nassau County Division I Wrestling Championships?
First, after his arms were raised to signify his victory over Long Beach's Dylan Palacio, Cataldi nearly jumped over his coach in celebration. That celebration lasted so long, he interrupted his postmatch television interview - twice - because he was too excited. The second time Cataldi left to run, singlet still on, into the Great Neck South cheering section at Hofstra.
"He's from one of the greatest wrestling families in Nassau history," Cataldi said of Palacio. "He's a former county champion. I've never placed higher than fifth. My school hasn't had a county champion in 32 years."
Unseeded after falling in last week's qualifiers, Cataldi scored three technical falls and a pin before his 9-3 win over Palacio.
"I'm really more of an academic," said Cataldi, who will wrestle next year at Brown. "But to tell you the truth, I love this sport."
Despite Palacio's loss, Long Beach held on to win its first team title in 16 years. The Marines edged Wantagh, 207.5-187.
Mark Raghunandan (96), Long Beach's lone individual champ, pinned his teammate and cousin, Krishna Sewkumar, in 56 seconds in the night's first match.
Raghunandan said he had a strong feeling all year that he might meet his cousin in the final. "I just wrestled him as I would anyone else," he said.
For Wantagh, Joe Kavanagh (171) and Matt Loew (189) each won a second straight title and Joe Barbato (103) won with a first-period pin.
Syosset's Nick Arujau (125) cruised to his fourth consecutive county title and 120th consecutive victory with a pin over teammate Sam Galasso in 1:26. He's two away from the county consecutive wins record set last year by Wantagh's Paul Liguori.
Freeport's David Agu (285 pounds) successfully defended his county title with a 2-1 overtime victory over Yaseen Mudassar (Division).
That almost topped the previous match, won by Plainedge's David Ng (215) over defending county champion Connor Horl, 3-1, in overtime. "Last year left a bad taste in my mouth," said Ng, who finished third in 2009 but went 44-0 this year.
Long Beach had four wrestlers in the finals but lost three straight close matches. Syosset's Dan Gewolb (130) broke a tie at the buzzer to win a 5-3 decision over Edisson Tigre-Borja. Calhoun's Joe Chiaffiella (135) held on, 4-3, over Nick Khoury at 135 pounds and Cataldi won the next bout.
