Swimmers Entered Week 5-0, Wrestlers Were 0-4
Jim Stewart, East Hampton High’s wrestling coach, said before the meet with East Islip here Friday that he was still looking for some pieces with which to fill out his jigsaw puzzle — quite a few as it turns out, for the Bonackers had to forfeit in more than half the weights that day.
Of the six who did wrestle, only Santi Maya, at 106, and Caleb Peralta, at 126, won — Maya by a 14-1 decision, and Peralta by pin near the end of the first period.
Marco Rabanal lost 10-5 at 152, and Danny Suculanda, at 160, Sebastian Cruceta, at 170, and Martin Soto, at 182, were pinned — Suculanda and Cruceta in the first period and Soto in the second. Of the matches contested, East Islip won 33-10, but with the forfeits figured in the score was 75-10.
At a tournament at Half Hollow Hills East on Dec. 28, Caleb Peralta twice defeated the second seed in his division, Stewart said, first by a score of 13-12 in the opening round, and the second time in the finals of the wrestlebacks. As a result, Peralta placed third, with three wins (two by pin) and one loss, “a narrow defeat . . . he was seconds away from the finals.”
Stewart went on to say that Peralta and Brian Barahona “wrestled valiantly in a big tournament with a talented field. Big hearts and tons of courage.”
The news was quite a bit better last week when it came to boys swimming given the fact that Craig Brierley’s team extended its win streak to 5-0, and to 3-0 in League II, by defeating North Babylon 83-76 here Friday.
Serious competition loomed as of earlier this week, however. Northport-Commack (2-3 over all) was to have played host to the Bonackers at Sachem North High School Tuesday; Hauppauge (3-0, 5-1), the defending league champion, is to swim here today at 5 p.m., and Sayville-Bayport, which shared the league lead with East Hampton as of Monday, each at 3-0, 5-0, is to vie with the Bonackers here Monday, also at 5 p.m.
In Friday’s meet, East Hampton finished one-two in the opening 200-yard medley relay, swept the 200 freestyle, won the 200 individual medley, placed one-two in the 50 free, won the 100 free, and swept the 500 free before Brierley began to exhibition his entrants in the final four events, the 200 free relay, the 100 backstroke, the 100 breaststroke, and the 400 free relay.
Joey Badilla, a Pierson sophomore, was named by the captains as swimmer of the meet for having swum county-meet qualifying times in the 100 butterfly and in the 100 breaststroke. He shaved 2.5 seconds off his previous best in the breaststroke. Others who swam county-qualifying times that day were Aidan Forst, in the 50, 100, and 200 freestyle races, Ethan McCormac, in the 200 I.M., and Ryan Bahel, in the 100 backstroke.
Luke Tyrell, Jordan Uribe, Ethan McCormac, Daniel Piver, Forst, Owen McCormac, Nicky Badilla, Miles Copolla, Bahel, Joey Badilla, Thor Botero, Colin Harrison, Kevin Pineda, and Christian Gaines all swam personal bests.
Ethan McCormac, moreover, has qualified for the state meet in four events — the 50, 100, and 200 free, and in the 100 butterfly.
East Hampton will have entries in all of the county meet’s swimming events. Seven Bonac swimmers (Ryan Duryea, Botero, Forst, Harrison, Edward Hoff, and the McCormacs) have qualified for the county meet’s 50 freestyle race, six (Joey Badilla, Nicky Badilla, Forst, Harrison, Ethan McCormac, and Tenzin Tamang) for the 100 butterfly, five (Jack Duryea, Ryan Duryea, Forst, Hoff, and Ethan McCormac) for the 100 free, and three (Joey Badilla, Jack Duryea, and Ryan Duryea) for the 100 breaststroke.