Cold Spring Harbor wrestling's Sebastian Mayer captures 175-pound title at Nassau D-II championships
Sebastian Mayer of Cold Spring Harbor has his hand raised during the Nassau Division II boys wrestling finals at Cold Spring Harbor High School on Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. Credit: Sam Johnston
Unseeded Sebastian Mayer made it through a few tough matches and in the search for his first county title, the final wouldn’t be any easier.
The Cold Spring Harbor junior earned a sudden victory in overtime to beat North Shore’s James Wu, 4-1, claiming the 175-pound title at the Nassau Division II championships at Cold Spring Harbor High School on Saturday.
“I had a couple of tough matches, but I knew that I could make it through,” Mayer said. I really pushed myself and I was glad to get to overtime here. At that point, I really just put everything out there.”
Mayer scored a point in the second period on an escape and Wu would do the same in the third, leading to a 1-1 tie and overtime. Wu had picked up a 9-3 decision over Mayer earlier this season, but this time Mayer would score three back points in extra time to earn a trip to the state championships in Albany.
“This was my first title and I’m pumped for it,” Mayer said. “Get to keep going with my teammates and coaches. It’s a new place to get even better and I’m excited for that.”
Cold Spring Harbor got to celebrate earlier in the day after Devin Pellizzi pinned North Shore’s Diego Villacis in 3:07, at 144 pounds. The junior stood at the top of the podium for the second straight year, after winning the 131-pound title last season.
Both Pellizzi and Mayer have taken on bigger roles within the team after the graduation of three-time county and two-time state champion Greyson Meak, who now wrestles at the University of Pennsylvania.
“We’ve all got to work harder, now that we don’t have that crutch in Greyson to rely on,” Mayer said. “We all have to push ourselves every day.”
Seaford wrestlers had a strong day, with five wrestler being crowned champions. At 118 pounds, top-seeded Joel Diaz pinned teammate Jake Wilhelm in 51 seconds. Diaz was the runner-up the last two years at 101 pounds and then 108 pounds.
“Things didn’t go my way the last two years, so I used that as motivation to train harder,” Diaz said. “With this being my third time in the finals, I just wanted to finally win it.”
The sophomore was named Most Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament and had the most pins in least time, with three pins in 3:07.
“I just took things one match at a time,” Diaz said. “It is kind of weird going up against a teammate in the end, but we both have the same mindset. Once we’re on the mat, we’re competitors.”
Diaz’s older sister Ashley, was the first girl in Long Island history to place in a sectional tournament back in 2022. Now the younger sister has a bit of bragging rights as the first of the two to win a county title.
“Yeah, there’s definitely a little bit of bragging rights there, but she did win a state title,” Diaz said. “So I think I have to bring home one of those too, then I can really have bragging rights.”
Seaford’s Connor Murphy defeated Oyster Bay’s James Panetta by major decision, 10-0, to claim the 132-pound title. Murphy was named Champion of Champions.
The finals started with an entertaining match at 103 pounds between Locust Valley’s Declan Mueller and Island Trees’ Ioannis Papadatos. Mueller trailed 7-5 going into the third period. The lead would change three times before Mueller earned three back points with 15 seconds remaining, earning a 14-10 decision.
Oyster Bay’s lone champion of the day, Christopher Barbera, pinned Seaford’s Thomas Mirenda in 2:21 at 165 pounds.
North Shore also had a wrestler atop the podium as Chris Parisi earned a 13-11 decision over Locust Valley’s Liam Roberts at 215 pounds.
At 138 pounds, Island Trees’ senior John Mignanelli earned an 11-7 decision over Oyster Bay’s Jonathan Ulloa.
“I didn’t want to lose in the finals again, so I knew I had to do this,” Mignanelli said. “I had so many people supporting me, my coaches, my family, they’re all rooting for me. I didn’t want to let them down.”
The top seed earned his first county title since winning at 102 pounds as a freshman.
“It was on my mind this past week. Thinking about losing last year in the county finals and what I could do to improve in the neutral position,” Mignanelli said. “When it came to scoring, I just made sure I was more aggressive. In the back of my head, I kept thinking I’m a senior, this is my last shot.”
Christopher Matias covers high school sports for Newsday after spending time in Athletic Facilities and Operation at St. John’s and in Sports Information at CUNY York college.
