4 Photos
Rocco Gurrera of Hampton Bays works on taking down Jacob Conti of Shoreham-Wading River. DREW BUDD
Rocco Gurrera of Hampton Bays works on taking down Jacob Conti of Shoreham-Wading River. DREW BUDD
GianFranco Putzulu of Hampton Bays works with Port Jefferson's Chris Lotten. DREW BUDD
After the Suffolk County Division II Wrestling Championships on Saturday, Hampton Bays wrestling head coach Mike Lloyd admitted that this season was very much a roller coaster for him and his program.
After starting out the season on a high note with a record turnout of nearly 40 wrestlers with just about every weight class covered, that number dwindled substantially throughout the season to the point where the Baymen only had 12 entrants this past Saturday, none of whom reached the placement rounds.
“Over the course of the season, between a few injuries, student academic performance and naturally losing a few for various other reasons, we shrank to 12 entrants in the county tournament,” Lloyd said. “We had a good core group of guys that consistently put in the time and effort despite some of the tougher competition we saw on the schedule. We had hoped to earn a few All-County spots, but the team has been undeterred and already begun talking about how they can improve and where they see themselves next year.”
Zach Bahamondes (138 pounds) and River Gutierrez-Tyler (172), the only two seniors for Hampton Bays, were part of that core group, along with David Orellana (138), Brayden Havens (145) and Agron Bytyqi (189), who all reached, or came close to, the “blood round” of their respective weight classes, where a win and a loss is the difference between placing and not placing and becoming All-County or not.
Both Bahamondes and Orellana lost matches to eventual fourth-place finisher Matt Cuccinello of Mount Sinai. Orellana had pinned his opponents in two of his wrestleback matches before losing, 4-1, to Cuccinello in the consolation semifinals. Gutierrez-Tyler lost a close 8-4 decision to Mount Sinai’s Nick Reilly in his consolation semi match.
With most of the core of those wrestlers returning, Lloyd is hoping with a young crop of wrestlers coming up from the middle school, that they can continue to build the program back up next season.
“We expect to see good things from the rest of our team next year, which is mostly ninth and 10th grade,” he said. “Our middle school program also looks like it should produce a healthy ninth grade class as well. We’ve been talking to the team about offseason camps and open tournaments and hope to continue to hone our skills for greater success next season.”
