Wantagh Three-Peats as dual meet champs

Wantagh avenged two regular-season dual meet losses to Plainedge when it mattered most.
The Warriors, who had dropped two matches to the Red Devils in the last three and half weeks, flipped the script last Saturday with a 31-28 triumph in the Nassau County Division I Dual Meet Championships at Clarke High School in Westbury. It marked Wantagh’s third straight season as county dual meet champions.
“The kids really have improved since we wrestled them before,” said 13th-year Wantagh head coach Paul Gillespie. “The hard work that they put in during the offseason really showed in terms how you make yourselves a lot better when you put a little extra time into something.”
The dual meet championship came on the same mats where Plainedge had edged Wantagh 38-34 in the finals of the Clarke Duals on Dec. 27. Plainedge then defeated Wantagh by a 35-23 score on Jan. 10 when the Warriors were without key starters due to illness.
The three-peat dual title was fittingly clinched by twins Anthony Clem (124 pounds) and Joe Clem (131), who both won by major decision to put Wantagh up 15 with two bouts left, which were both forfeited with the championship now locked up. The senior wrestlers will both be competing on the collegiate level next year at West Virginia University.

Senior Jesse Vanorden, an Air Force Academy commit, jump-started Wantagh’s victory with a pin of Plainedge’s Ryan Gurien 36 seconds into the 152-pound finals. 
“When those guys are on, usually the whole team is on and they follow them,” said Gillespie of his college-bound tri-captains. “All three of them are very vocal but they don’t have to be because the kids really clench onto what they do.”
Freshman Andrew Perez also recorded a pin of Jayden Camp at 215 pounds to give the Warriors a 15-6 advantage. Also recording county finals victories for Wantagh finals were Cole Blaney (101), Jonathan Cuttrone (108), Matthew Merecka (160) and Shareef McMillan (170).
The county championship propels Wantagh to the state dual meet championships in Syracuse this Saturday. Wantagh captured the inaugural New York State dual championship in 2018 and was the runner-up last year.
“I’m delighted that we’re going back upstate with another shot at a state title,” Gillespie said. “We have a good shot but there are a lot of good teams competing there.”
After the states, Wantagh will turn its attention to the individual county championships to be held at Hofstra University’s Mack Sports Complex on Feb. 10-11. Gillespie sees many potential county champion or high podium finishers on his roster including the Clem brothers, Vanorden, Burkhardt, Perez, Andrew Montagano (138) and Darren Santucci (116).
Gillespie said rigorous competition his wrestlers have faced this winter against some of the nation’s top programs in the Beast of the East Wrestling Tournament in Delaware and the Eastern State Duals at SUNY Sullivan will prepare them well for upcoming championship matches.
“These kids are pretty experienced,” he said. “I think it is going to come together at the end.”