On Thursday, January 26th we honored six seniors on our Varsity Wrestling team. Below is what Coach Cullen had to say about each player. For photos more photos from the night,
Sam Van Auken
Sam has been our 126/132 for the last 4 years. He's one of those kids that shows up in the room and you know he’s coming. He’s a kind soul and has a heart of gold. He’s a pleasure to have in the room, and we hate to see him go. Sam plans on attending community college.
Eric Heath
Eric’s that kid that’s going to go wherever you tell him to go. If I told him he needed to go up to 172 today from 138, he would. Now obviously he can’t physically do that, but he’s the kind of kid who would run through a brick wall for you. He’s ctively involved in FFA and always has his hands involved in something whether it’s work, school, or wrestling. He brings a fire that’s tough to explain. In a sport like wrestling, you need someone who will go hard the entire time and never quit - he’s that kid.He plans on attending SUNY Cobleskill.
Vincent Calcagno
Every year we have this one kid, and it’s becoming a trend. The last few years, we’ve had seniors who decided to come out and wrestle for the first time against kids who have been wrestling since they were tikes. Vincent is one of those kids and brings something special to the room. There’s something about him, he likes to fight, he likes to scrap and we love having him in the room. To show up your senior year and participate in a sport you’ve never done, especially wrestling, it takes a lot of heart.
Devin O’Connor
Devin is our 172. He’s one of those kids who just makes you laugh. You don’t know what he’s doing or what he’s up to. He’s been such a pleasure to have in that room. He’s grown not only as a young man but as a wrestler. In the last year, he’s really blossomed. He’s turned into the kid who’s a great partner in the room. He’s not sure where he’s going to college yet, but he know he’s going to finish getting his pilots license.
Sawyer Peak
Sawyer is like Eric, he’ll do anything you ask. He just shows up with that look on his face like “alright coach I’m here and ready to go.” He’s very involved in FFA, and a pleasure to have in the room. He’s another guy who will wrestle up if we need him to - he’ll swear he can go up to 285 and weigh in at 190. Whatever it takes. He’s just one of those kids. We love having him, hate to lose him.
Jack Van Gorden
We got Jack a couple of years ago, he was a volleyball player for Catskill and we converted him over. It was a wonderful trade-off for us. At 215 the next weight class up is 285. Jack usually weighs in with his jacket and boots on at 204. He’ll wrestle up at 285 and has had great success in the last few weeks, one of his opponents that he defeated was actually ranked at 285. He’s had a great season.