Newsday Athlete of the Week is Long Beach wrestler Gregory Walpole

Gregory Walpole is a Long Beach Marine through and through.

The senior has been bringing unmatched energy to high school wrestling mats for four years. Any given bout, you might find him firing up his teammates after an exciting win.

When he graduates in the spring, he will be getting ready to bring his energy to the U.S. Marine Corps.

Walpole has several family members that have served in the Marines, including a cousin who is actively serving.

“I think serving your country is a great thing to do,” Walpole said. “I don’t think I’ve had any family member in any branch of the military besides the Marines. I see it as a symbol of respect and honor.”

Walpole is Newsday’s Athlete of the Week.

Walpole scored a 96 out of a possible 99 on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, a standardized test that measures a person's aptitude for military service. Walpole will specialize in cybersecurity in the Marines and plans to enroll in an online master’s program in finance through Villanova University.

“He’s in my economics class and he’s very into monitoring the stock market,” Long Beach wrestling coach Ray Adams said. “We talk about that stuff all the time. He’s a very smart kid.”

While he exudes energy on the mat, Walpole is generally quiet and calculated.

“He leads by example and he brings great energy through his performance,” Adams said. “He’s not a very vocal guy. But when people see him wrestle and train, that ignites them and motivates them.”

In last Friday’s Nassau Conference 2A-clinching 35-26 win over MacArthur, Walpole pinned Sebastian Calderon in 2:56 at 124 pounds to give Long Beach a 26-22 lead. He immediately turned to his teammates and screamed in celebration, igniting the entire gym.

“I like being a crowd-pleaser sometimes. I can admit that,” Walpole said. “I go for some high-risk, high-reward things and I just try to have as much fun as possible. But at the same time, I try not to be a showoff. I don’t like to brag or talk smack. I let my wrestling talk for me.”

“He brings an exciting style to the mat,” Adams added. “It’s a wide-open style with some good throws in there, so people love watching him wrestle. You don’t know what he’s gonna do next.”

Walpole took fourth in Nassau at 118 pounds as a sophomore and was last year’s runner-up at 116 pounds before placing seventh in the state tournament. His goals for this upcoming postseason? Win his first county title and earn another spot on the podium at MVP Arena in Albany.

“Wrestling isn’t my entire life. I’m not doing it in college, so I really have nothing to lose,” Walpole said. “I want to wrestle other people and I want them to be like, ‘I never want to have to wrestle him again.’ Even if I lose, I want them to feel that.”