Schreiber’s varsity wrestling team, one of the most physical teams in the school, looks to continue to do what they have done time and time again: win. This year, the team believes that its talent and leadership are exceptional.
The boys wrestling team had high expectations going into this upcoming season with four ranked wrestlers in Nassau County on their team, including seniors Sam Goldman, Elmer Mendez, and Anton Livshin, and junior Teddy Tanenbaum.
“The captains have done a great job leading the way,” said Tanenbaum. “Younger athletes like Mikey Nahas and Brandon Liu have also been showing significant improvement and winning some close matches.”
But the team is always striving to win, and it believes that this year’s squad has a good chance of succeeding past the regular season.
Along with the ranked wrestlers, the team has other players to balance out the lineup. Petty and Nahas have already beaten ranked wrestlers this season.
Another piece to this team is freshman Jake Diamond, who is in the lowest weight class.
Wins by Diamond can help give the Vikings an advantage in that weight class.
“We’re always contenders for the playoffs and tend to have winning records. Sometimes we get unlucky with injuries and filling some weight classes, but our team is always ready to compete,” said Tanenbaum.
The team thinks this “ready-to-compete” mentality contributes to wins. So far this season, the team has had some quality wins against teams such as Plainview, Jericho, and Hicksville.
Many current seniors have had a chance to serve as leaders for this team and to relay their experiences to the younger core of the team.
With a coaching staff that encourages work all year round, the team believes it is taking the right steps to succeed. With the playoffs approaching in late January and leading into February, the team also hopes to have its injury-plagued wrestlers back and healthy in time.
“Most of the guys are progressing and peaking at the right time,” said Goldman. “Freshman Brandon Liu has shown a lot of improvement from last year, and Teddy Tanenbaum has become one of our most consistent guys on the mat. Senior Brian Carstens is also a big team player, using his strength to his advantage on the mat.”
If these factors continue to piece together, the wrestling team thinks it will have a significant advantage in the playoffs.
“The team can go far in the playoffs and I believe Teddy, Sam, Elmer, and Mike Petty can go very far in the county tournament and potentially even go to the state tournament,” said Livshin.
Some factors that make wrestling such a difficult sport are weight and fitness. At times, wrestlers may need to lose weight in order to stay in shape and stay competitive.
Although it can be dangerous, these wrestlers take precautions to ensure their safety and make sure they are not doing anything to hurt their bodies.
“It is crucial to maintain your weight during the season. The hard practices every day allow the wrestlers to get in great shape, and eating right is essential for maintaining a healthy optimum weight throughout the season. The more competitive wrestlers on the team tend to ‘cut weight’ to maximize their performance throughout the season. The goal of ‘cutting weight’ is often to get to a weight where you feel healthy, while giving you the best chance to succeed,” said Tanenbaum.
The wrestling team has a tough schedule coming up, facing fellow playoff contender Calhoun in their next match.
But the team is sure that if they are able to get a win against them, it could make some noise when the postseason comes around.