Were it not for five narrow losses in dual meets this season, “by 4 points or less,” the East Hampton High School wrestling team would have finished “at 14-9 rather than at 9-14,” Bonac’s coach, Ethan Mitchell, said Sunday.
Win or lose, his charges have been wrestling really well, he said, citing two wins at the Phantom Duals the day before, over the host team, Bayport-Blue Point, and over Riverhead, and recent losses, by 2 points to Comsewogue and by 4 to William Floyd in a tri-meet held here on Jan. 23. Bonac lost by 3 to Central Islip at the Phantom Duals.
At the meet here on Jan. 23, the team’s seniors were honored. They are Rock Hamada, a first-year senior who wrestles at 170 pounds, Thinley Edwards, a first-year senior wrestling at 190, Cassius Hokanson, a second-year competitor at 160, David Armijos, a three-year veteran at 160, and Luke Castillo, the most notable of the group, a third-year wrestler who, at 145 pounds, has 47 wins under his belt, and, according to Mitchell, ought to be one of the top seeds in Saturday’s League IV tournament at Smithtown West High School.
Castillo went 4-1 on the week, defeating Comsewogue, William Floyd, Central Islip, and Riverhead opponents and losing, by a technical fall, to Bayport’s Kyle Barber.
Adam Beckwith, a 170-pounder who co-captains the team with Castillo, fared even better, going 5-0 with four pins and a forfeit.
Besides Castillo, East Hampton winners vs. William Floyd were Juan Roque at 124 pounds by a technical fall; Justin Prince at 152 by pin; Beckwith at 170 by pin; Juan Espinoza at 285 by pin, and Francesco Palombino, also at 285 pounds, by forfeit.
Versus Comsewogue, Bronco Campsey won by technical fall at 101; Josue Elias won by pin at 138; Beckwith won by pin at 170; Aman Chugh won by a 4-3 decision at 215, and Palombino, at 285, won by pin.
At Saturday’s Phantom Duals, the Bonackers trounced Riverhead 59-21 as Campsey, Roque, Elias, Castillo, Prince, Beckwith, Chugh, Espinoza, and (by forfeit) Palombino registered wins.
That evening’s match with Bayport went down to the last bout, at 285, with Espinoza’s pin of his opponent midway through the first period treating East Hampton to a 35-33 win.
Espinoza’s fellow winners in the Bayport match were Campsey at 101, Roque by pin at 131, Anthony Petersohn at 138, Prince by pin at 152, Armijos at 160, and Beckwith by pin at 170.
Central Islip won eight of the 13 weight classes contested with East Hampton — at 108, 116, 124, 131, 138, 145, 160, and 190 pounds.
Eric Kaufman, an East Hampton High School Hall of Famer — a county champion and state finalist in 1987 who later wrestled at Cornell — said after the tri-meet here that he’d been impressed by the team’s “energy,” and by Mitchell, who, in his brief tenure, seems to have turned the program around.