Bellport wrestler Camryn Howard earns 157-pound state title
Camryn Howard of Bellport defeats George Johnson of Iona Prep, 21-6, in the 157-pound Division I final match at the state boys wrestling championships on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, at the MVP Arena in Albany. Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara
ALBANY — Camryn Howard has been on the podium of the state wrestling championships since the start of his career, but it took him a few years to reach the top. After winning his second straight state title Saturday, it will take a lot to knock him off.
“It’s going to take someone pretty tough, someone that’s going to want it more than me and someone that works harder, which is going to be hard to find,” Howard said. “I’ve just got to stay hungry.”
Howard, the top-seeded Bellport sophomore, defeated No. 2 George Johnson of Iona Prep, 21-6, by technical fall in 4:33 for the Division I state title at 157 pounds at MVP Arena.
Last year, Howard bulldozed his way to the Division I 138-pound state title, then won multiple national championships in the offseason. He has yet to slow down.
His win Saturday makes him Bellport’s first two-time state champion.
“There have been a lot of really good wrestlers to come out of Bellport, so it just feels really good to be a part of that,” Howard said.
Howard pushed the pace from the start Saturday. He picked up three takedowns in the first period and another three in the second, to take an 18-6 lead. He earned his seventh takedown to secure the technical fall, and held up two fingers on each hand to celebrate his second state title.
Howard picked up a pin and two technical falls on his way to the final. He finished the season 48-0 and owns a career record of 190-7.
“I’ve coached some great wrestlers and state champions, but I’ve never seen anything like Cam,” Bellport assistant coach Rob Cuffie said. “Nobody has had everything he has as far as being humble, being a great student, being coachable, respectful. . . . And the skill is crazy.”
Howard placed seventh in the state tournament as a seventh-grader and third in eighth grade. Howard is the third wrestler from Suffolk to place in the state tournament in seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th grade.
Jesse Jantzen of Shoreham-Wading River did it (1995-98), as did Eastport-South Manor’s Adam Busiello (2014-17).
Howard and Jantzen are the only wrestlers to win four Suffolk titles by their sophomore season. Howard could eventually join Jantzen as the only six-time Suffolk champions.
“My main goal is to be the best version of myself,” Howard said. “Seeing those comparisons with guys that have come out of Suffolk County and New York. . . . . Me accomplishing the same things as them gives me that extra motivation to keep doing what I’m doing and I’ll get there. I’ll be where I want to be.”
“He came into the room the first day of practice as a seventh-grader and was wrestling a senior All-County kid and he was just manhandling him,” Cuffie said. “I thought it might’ve been a bad day for the older kid, but Cam came back and did it every day. You usually see kids that age at 99 pounds. He was 128 pounds wrestling upperclassmen.”
Cuffie, a Phys-Ed teacher, first met Howard when Howard was in fourth grade. The two have developed a strong relationship that extends beyond the mat.
“He’s the most humble kid you will ever meet,” Cuffie said. “If you talk to him, you would never know that he’s that good. He’s always thinking that he can be better and he respects everyone else that’s out there. He’ll call me out of the blue and say, ‘How do you think I wrestled? What can I do better?’ He might’ve been a little cocky as a seventh-grader, but I’ve seen him grow so much from then.”
When Howard joined KD Training Center in fifth grade, it wasn’t clear that he would blossom into a superstar.
“He was always a tough kid who worked really hard, but early on he just lacked wrestling experience,” said Khaled Dassan, KDTC’s owner. “He was decent on top and struggled in the other two positions. Now, he’s just a hammer from every position.”
With two years of high school left, there isn’t much Howard hasn’t accomplished. So, what’s next for the burgeoning star?
“There’s so much more,” Howard said. “Right now, just training to make the world team at 71 kg. The world team trials in Vegas are in late May, so I’m going to gear up for that and get into freestyle and just keep going.”
Matt Lindsay is a high school sports reporter who joined Newsday in 2022 after graduating from Stony Brook University.
