The Farmingdale High School wrestling squad grappled its way into the top 5 at the Ted Petersen Tournament in Island Trees on Jan. 4, scoring a total of 140 points — beating out students from the neighboring Bethpage School District by just three points.
Widely regarded as one of the toughest wrestling tournaments on Long Island, the annual Ted Petersen Wrestling Tournament pits some of the roughest and toughest wrestlers from Nassau and Suffolk counties against each other for a chance at taking home the gold. Although placing within the top 5 of the tournament is considered an outstanding accomplishment, finishing in first is considered one of the highest honors in the Long Island wrestling world.
Despite a bout of cold and snowy weather, wrestlers from across two counties put on their singlets and grappling shorts to compete against top wrestling talents from Amityville, Bethpage, Farmingdale (ranked No. 5 in Nassau County), Freeport, Huntington,
Hempstead, Lincoln Rhode Island, Massapequa (ranked No. 3 in Nassau), Mepham, Plainedge (ranked No. 2 in Nassau), and Uniondale.
Farmingdale’s showed a spectacular performance in the tournament, powered primarily by the efforts of Brandon Hecker and Bryan Tenny, two seniors who finished third and second in their respective weight classes.
Hecker would take third place in the 152 lbs. weight class with a 4-1 decision over competitor Robert Nash of Massapequa. Making it to the final round, in the 220 lbs. weight class, Farmingdale senior Bryan Tenny would take silver after 4-0 loss to Anthony Puca of Huntington.
Several other Farmingdale High School Varsity Wrestlers performed very well in this year’s tourney.
In the 99 lbs. weight class, the Dalers’ Tyler Sullivan and Kevin Depalma finished in fourth and fifth place. Sullivan, a Farmingdale freshman, lost his shot at third over Ethan Dwyer from Huntington with a 4-1 loss. Meanwhile, Depalma, also a freshman, landed in the top 5 with a 3-2 victory over Tom Yannaros of Plainedge.
Farmingdale senior Sam Cullen also finished four in his division, after losing his shot to third place Kearney Gutierrez of Freeport.
Senior Taylor Thompson would place fifth in the 138 lbs. class beating out Juan Hernandez of Freeport. And Farmingdale’s Javier Hernandez would finish fifth in the tournaments 285 lbs. weight class.
