By Dylan Grismer ’22

On February 9th and 10th, Chaminade’s top wrestlers competed in the CHSAA State Qualifier Wrestling Championships, capping off an extremely successful and much improved season. Over the course of two days, the CHSAA’s wrestling elite battled for supremacy at Holy Trinity Diocesan High School. The Flyers, led by head coach Scott Cole ’95, sought to send some first-place wrestlers on to the NYSPHSAA Wrestling Championships to test their mettle against New York’s best.

Finishing the season with an 11-3 varsity dual-meet record, an 8-1 junior varsity record, and four straight victories at the South Side, Kellenberg, West Islip, and Ted Petersen Memorial Island Trees tournaments, the Flyers were a force to be reckoned with entering the championships. Their regular-season successes translated well into the tournament where the Flyers managed to place second overall as compared to third in the tournament last year.

Of the impressive twenty-one Flyers that wrestled at the championships, sixteen were place winners, including two finalists, Michael Sanfilippo ’21 and Rocco Demartino ’21. Sanfilippo ground his way into the finals but, ultimately, lost to a senior wrestler from Monsignor Farrell, who ranked third in the state at his weight class. Demartino also worked his way up the ladder, but was edged out in the final minutes of his championship match after dominating for most of its duration, holding his opponent scoreless for almost two full periods. Overall, the wrestling squad competed extremely well over the span of the tournament. While they couldn’t push anyone through to the public state championships, placing sixteen wrestlers and finishing with two finalists are certainly a testament to the team’s hard work and effort.

Although the Flyers had a very respectable showing in the end, they put up a truly inspiring performance in not only the championships but also in their season as a whole. “I believe we had a successful season and showed significant improvement from last season, but there is still lots of work to be done. There is always room for improvement,” commented Coach Cole on the team’s overall season.

Despite a number of senior wrestlers graduating this year, the program seems to be in more-than-capable hands for next year. A number of up-and-coming wrestlers are bound for future success, including state finalists Rocco Demartino and Michael Sanfilippo; rising seniors Louis Moore, Davis Luckner, Michael Semeraro, Anthony Senft, and Joe Cosgrove; rising juniors Joe Nicotra and Nick Tudisco, and rising sophomores Joe Edelman, Ryan O’Rourke, and James Martin. With great potential for the future and many promising wrestlers returning next year, the Flyers are uniquely positioned to make a full run at the championships come next February.