SENIOR NIGHT SUCCESS FOR NORTH SHORE WRESTLERS

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 Friday January 16 marked the annual "Senior Night" for the North Shore Wrestling Team as they took on their conference rivals from Lawrence in what was the last ever home match for the North Shore Seniors. This year the team consisted of 6 Senior members. Surprisingly, this is a much larger number than in recent years as the demands of the sport will generally cause many to drop out before their Senior season. As the great wrestler Dan Gable once said,"Once you've wrestled, everything else in life is easy," and this year's Seniors all know that to be true.

 Before the beginning of the varsity match, all Seniors were recognized as their names were announced and they came out alongside the mat with their parents to take a picture in front of the crowd.

This year's Seniors, and their respective weight classes, are: Keith Ford (120 lbs), Vinny Giacomo (138 lbs), Tristan Vitale (138 lbs), Mike Dileo (152 lbs), Brandon Sirlin (182 lbs), and Giorgio Recine (285 lbs).

Lawrence came out with a lineup that was very strong in the heavier weight classes, and so with the match starting at the 160 pound weight class and working its way up, they jumped out to an early lead. North Shore was down 25-0 as the match circled back down to the 99 pound weight class.

However, 8th grader Stevie Grabher picked things up for the Vikings with a pin at 99 pounds and the first points on the board for North Shore. This put the North Shore light-weights and middle-weights on a run that would eventually end in an exciting 39-34 victory for the Vikings.

The night was highlighted by the heavyweight battle between Lawrence's Dimitri Samuels, ranked 1st in Nassau County at 285 lbs, and North Shore's Giorgio Recine, ranked 2nd in the county. In this prospective County Finals matchup, the two seemed dead even in an all out war of strength and will. The match ended in a dramatic quadruple overtime finish with Samuels just barely edging out a 5-4 victory. However, it would be no surprise if the two faced off again later in the season and the result was different.


In all, it was a great night of wrestling for North Shore, and the victory was the perfect way to honor the hard work and dedication of the Senior members.