State Championship Updates, Semifinals
Albany-
St. Anthony's had nine wrestlers at the state tournament, but it took until the final match of the semifinals for the Friars to get a state finalists. Jonathan Desir took down Nassau Champion and previously undefeated David NG (46-1) of Plainedge to advance to the championship against New Rochelle's Malcolm Allen.
215- Wantagh's Tom Hall lost 10-4 to Adam Donner of Niagara Wheatfield, while Kings Park's Warren Bosch advaned with an 8-2 win over Brockport's Jesse Kozub.
At 160, Longwood's Pat Jennings (35-3) had control of his semifinal match... until he didn't. After controlling the first five-plus minutes of his semifinal match with Kyle Diesel of Minisink Valley, he held a 3-1 lead with 10 seconds to go. With five seconds left, Diesel scored a two-point takedown to fore overtime. In the OT period, Diesel notched another takedown with two back-points as the cherry on a 7-3 OT win.
171- Hauppauge's Chanse Menendez (41-5) took a 4-1 decision from Colonie's Joe Shell and advances to face Queensbury's Matt Lashaway in the finals.
189- The Joe Kavanagh Express keeps rolling. The Wantagh senior, last year's runner-up at 171, overcame some early difficulties to dominate Shenendehowa's Tony Fusco, 13-5. Kavanagh (37-0) was down 2-0 after one period and did not take the lead until midway through the second. He draws Mt. Sinai's Frank Abbondanza in the finals. Abbondanza controlled Reggie Williams of Johnson City, 13-7.
96 pounds- Both Long Island representatives lost in their respective semifinal matches, as St. Anthony's Freddy Dunau lost 6-5 to Somers' Dylan Realbuto and Ward Melville's Nick Piccininni dropped a 6-4 nod to Chenango Forks Kyle Kelly.
103- Mark Raghunandan of Long Beach advanced to the finals with an 8-2 decision over Amsterdam's Brandon Lapi, while his cousin, Krishna Sewkumar, dropped an 11-5 nod to second-seeded Jimmy Duckham of Arlington.
112- Top-seed Sean McCabe of Connequot fell 11-4 to Sean McCormick of Johnson City.
119- Reigning state champion Nigel McNeil (112) of Huntington won his his semifinal match, 13-1, against Glenn's wildcard Vinny Punzone. McNeil goes for a second state title later today against Danny Ventura of Fox Lane.
125- It will be an All-Suffolk final, as Hills East's Anthony Abidin and Brentwood's Alex Gomez (who clung to win a 6-5 decision over St. Anthony's JImmy Morris in the semis) won their respective semifinal contests. After his win over Shenendehowa's Max Miller, the top-seed Abidin pointed to his friends and families and mouthed the words: "one more."
130- Glenn's James DeKrone beat MacArthur's Chris Perez, 6-4, and will take on top-seeded Steven Rodrigues of Fox Lane in the championship.
140- Hauppauge's Adam Lepkowsky defeated Shenendehowa's JIm Carucci, 3-0, and will face LaSalle's Connor Sutton in the championship.
145- Longwood's Nicky Hall lost in his semifinal to top-seed James Kloc of Iroquois, while Matt Ross of Rocky Point held on to beat Long Beach's Dylan Palacio, 2-1.
152- Undefeated Kyle Wade (40-0) advanced to his second straight state final with a 5-3 win over Beacon's Vin Grella. Wade takes on Niagara Falls' Irvin Buck, who defeared Long Beach's Adam DeJesus by injury default.