East Hampton's Caleb Peralta Finishes Five-Year Wrestling Career At Counties

When speaking about his senior wrestler, Caleb Peralta, who finished his five-year career at the Suffolk County Division I Championships at Bay Shore High School on Saturday, East Hampton/Pierson/Bridgehampton/Ross head coach Ethan Mitchell recalled a quote he read a few years back that he thought was easily relatable.

After Kyle Snyder lost to Russian Abdulrashid Sadulaev in the 97kg final at the 2018 World Wrestling Championships in Paris, which many dubbed the “Match of the Century,” the American wrestler said, “wins or losses don’t define me. I mean, I love wrestling, it’s a big part of my life, but I’m not defined by the sport.”

After winning his first two matches by pin on Saturday, Peralta (126 pounds) lost his quarterfinals match, 15-12, to Ward Melville’s Jace Yannucciello, and then was pinned by Smithtown West’s Vincent Zaffarese, ending his chance of placing at what was his first ever county tournament.

“As much as he wanted to be on the podium, like Kyle Snyder said, Caleb is not defined by his wins and losses,” Mitchell said. “I was telling him, my biggest regret is not having him his full five years. He is what we want Bonac wrestlers to represent — someone who does the right thing, works really hard. All of his teachers have nothing but great things to say about him. He is that quiet leader who heavily leads by example. He’s just an awesome kid.”

Peralta faced an early 9-1 deficit to Yannucciello, the League II champion, early on in their quarterfinals match only for him to fight back and really make a match of it. Peralta was coming off a pin of Islip’s Max Haynes in 3:23 in his first match and a pin of Hauppauge’s Luke Clackett, the League IV champion, in 5:59 prior to the loss to Yannucciello.

Mitchell said the 126-pound weight class was so competitive that most likely four wrestlers will make it to states and all of them could place there.

“And there are guys who won’t make it to states who would make a serious run in any other section,” he said. “What really eats me is that Caleb really should have competed at counties last year, but with COVID and everything, he didn’t get that opportunity. So with this being his first time there, it’s hard to replicate that feeling, that atmosphere and that energy of a county meet.”

Peralta is expected to wrestle in college, and Mitchell can’t wait to see what the future holds for him.

“The big thing I was trying to get across to him, as my mentor Paul Bass says, ‘It’s not the destination, it’s the journey,’” he said. “It didn’t end the way he wanted it to end, but there is no doubt he’ll be extremely successful in whatever it is he ends up doing. Whatever he does, he’s going to be a stud.”