The area’s top high school wrestlers descended on Yonkers Middle High School on Jan. 20 to compete in the annual Westchester County Championships, and while Fox Lane may have taken top team honors, a number of local teams—and athletes—also shined on the county’s biggest stage. As teams look ahead to the upcoming postseason schedule, last weekend’s event should serve as a good measuring stick for the road ahead.
With three champions and five finalists, the Foxes amassed 196 points on the day, creating some separation between themselves and second-place finisher New Rochelle, which tallied 140 points. But despite falling short of a county title, Huguenot head coach Eddie Ortiz was enthusiastic about his charges’ performances.
“I was very pleased with the way we wrestled, this may have been our best tournament of the year,” he said. “Especially because we ran into a few losses early on and guys had to battle through wrestle-backs and they did a great job.”
The Huguenots’ lone champion on the day was junior Jake Logan, the top-ranked 182-pounder in Section I. For the second time in two weeks, Logan earned a victory over second-ranked Jacob Ferreira from Horace Greeley, topping him 3-1 in the finals. At the Eastern States meet on Jan. 13, Logan edged Ferreira with a 5-4 victory.
“[Jake] has been winning so many matches with pinfalls this year, that match at the Eastern States was really the first time he had to go a full six minutes,” Ortiz said. “But he looked more dominant [on Saturday]; you could tell that his stamina had increased and he was wrestling with a lot more confidence.”
Logan was the only Huguenot wrestler to reach the finals, although Kobe Simpson (126 pounds) and Aidan Lilly (220) both advanced to the semis.
Other area schools in attendance included Mamaroneck, led by 145-pound runner-up Crew Fullerton, which finished in eighth place; 14th place Eastchester, who saw Steven Bilali claim the 170-pound championship; and Harrison, led by 113-pound champ Tyler Joseph, which placed 17th.
Rye finished 22nd and was led by Chase Bekkerus, who fell to Bilali in the 170-pound semis.
But New Rochelle’s second place finish might be even more impressive given the tumultuous week in the school district leading up to the county meet.
On Jan. 10, a New Rochelle High School student was stabbed to death at the North Avenue Dunkin Donuts, and an escalation after another off-campus assault on Jan. 17 led to an in-school stabbing the following day.
Ortiz said that he is happy that athletics can provide New Rochelle students with some level of routine in a trying time and was proud of the mental toughness displayed by his athletes over the last few days.
“It has been a tough week for everyone, and I think the kids just tried to go to practice, work hard, because for those two hours a day, they can forget about the other stuff that’s happening, be it problems in school or problems at home,” he said. “I know the New Rochelle community is going to come together, and for the athletes, this is the best thing they can be doing in a challenging time.”
