Trio of Southampton Wrestlers Compete in State Tournament

The New York State Division II Wrestling Championships can be an unforgiving tournament for any wrestler, seasoned or not.

With so many small schools scattered across the state, the competition between them makes for a dynamic group of wrestlers by the time they all descend onto MVP Arena in Albany, and that was on full display this past weekend with three Southampton wrestlers all making their debut in the state tournament.

Seniors Cole Fox (190 pounds) and Jack Nastri (138) and sophomore Liam Squires (145) each reached states after their “true second” placements at the Suffolk County Division II Championships on February 9-10. Each wrestler placed third in their respective weight classes at counties, and were given the opportunity to wrestle the county runner-up after having not faced them in the tournament. Fox, Nastri and Squires each pinned their opponents to earn true seconds and bids to the state tournament.

But states was as promised with strong competition throughout. Fox was the only Southampton wrestler to manage a victory. After losing to Maine-Endwell junior Logan McGuire in his opening-round match, Fox pinned Horace Mann senior Ivan Dolphan, a Private Schools Athletic Association champion, in 2:56 to advance in the consolation bracket, where he lost his next match, 9-0, to Port Jervis junior Maddox McCormick, who would go on to place eighth in the state.

Nastri lost his opening-round match, 16-4, to Saranac senior Alex Clancy, then lost his consolation match by technical fall to Locust Valley senior Justin Dvorak. Squires lost his opening-round match to Cold Spring Harbor junior Raymond McNulty, then lost his consolation match, 7-2, to New Paltz senior Justin Coiteux.

Southampton head coach Lester Ware said that all three of his wrestlers were battling illnesses leading up to and throughout the tournament. They each caught what appeared to be a virus right after counties, Ware said, or the first practice for states with the rest of the county placewinners. They weren’t 100 percent, he said.

“Cole could have won that first match. He was giving the kid everything he could handle,” Ware explained. “He had a double-leg takedown that was just out of bounds that he got no points for. He was down and escaped twice to be down, 5-2, then he went for one of his famous suicide cradles, which they call it that for a reason — if you land it you can win, but if you don’t it could spell trouble — and he wound up getting pinned.”

Fox spent five years in the Southampton program. Including one year spent at St. Anthony’s High School during the COVID-19 pandemic, he was a six-year varsity wrestler.

“I would say it was a bittersweet season for Cole,” Ware said. “Yes, he finally got to states, but after his final match he said, ‘I can’t believe it’s all over,’ even though he’d been wrestling for six years. Sometimes it’s like that, it’s gone in a twinkle of an eye.”

Ware said for Nastri and Squires, just getting to the state tournament was an accomplishment as they were only second-year wrestlers.

“Liam is ready to go. If there was practice today, he’d be out on the mats already. He got a taste of the big-time and is ready to go for next season,” he added. “Jack Nastri is probably our MVP this season. His family used to summer out here and decided to move here for his senior season and he wrestled like a seasoned kid. He was Steady Eddie, one of the hardest working kids on the team and was extremely coachable. If you show him something, he might actually use it the next match. It was a great run.”

Squires will return next season as a legitimate contender as a junior, and Ware likes the core of wrestlers he’ll have returning with him in current eighth-graders Edward Gaspariano and Cruz Espinoza, current junior Hudson Fox, Cole’s younger brother who placed fourth in the county this season, and David Castillo, who spent this school year in Riverhead, but is expected to return to Southampton next year. Ware also expects a bounce-back season out of Juan Pichardo and is excited about current sophomore Ernesto Morales, among others.

“Edward was a starter for us, but hurt his knee in late December. He took second recently in the kid counties,” Ware said. “He’s on a scholarship path. He’s a hard worker and a pretty smart kid. Wrestling is like chess except with some blood and broken bones on occasion. You have to keep getting better and you can’t rest your laurels. What works today, may not work in two weeks, and so our guys have to keep that in mind.

“We’ll have three All-County kids back, with Liam, Hudson and David being All-County the last time he wrestled for us, and that’s where our base is,” he continued. “We’ll have a bunch of kids back and a bunch of them will be second-year kids, so we’re looking forward to having a better team next season than we did this season. I think all of the kids are feeding off of these last two tournaments, and I always tell the kids, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. We started the season probably overcompetitive, going into some really quality tournaments where the competition was really high. I’m not anticipating that to be the case next year.”