Although undermanned, the Garnets finished the regular season on a high note at home February 2 against Hastings, winning every match but one. The camaraderie the team enjoyed despite a less-than-ideal season-long situation that equated to many forfeits was all the more evident, with senior captains Joe Simolacaj, Ben Breitel, and Jeff Dempsey leading the way.
By Melanie Cane
Although undermanned, the Garnets finished the regular season on a high note at home February 2 against Hastings, winning every match but one. The camaraderie the team enjoyed despite a less-than-ideal season-long situation that equated to many forfeits was all the more evident, with senior captains Joe Simolacaj, Ben Breitel, and Jeff Dempsey leading the way.
Dempsey, wrestling in the 138-pound weight class, defeated his opponent in a back-and-forth affair for his 19th win of the season. Breitel (160) pinned his opponent in the third period to pick up his 21st win, and Simolacaj won via forfeit to improve to 24-6. Tyler Conway, also a senior, missed most of the season due to an injury, but finished with a flourish by scoring a pinfall victory in the first round of a 152-pound weight class tilt.
Niko Herrera, Fritz Zahringer, and Alex Reisner all won their respective matches, and will join Walter Florio, Alex Raynor, Brian Gardner, George Knudsvig, Jackson Kligerman, John Arenas, and Danny Archino to form the nucleus of next year’s team.
The Garnets sent five grapplers – Simolacaj, Breitel, Dempsey, Zahringer, and Raynor – to Divisionals February 4. Thanks to strong showings, Simolacaj and Dempsey punched tickets to the Section tournament, which begins February 11.
“It was a tough day for our team,” said head coach Matt Beatty. “However, we did have two wrestlers qualify for the Sectionals by placing in the top four of their weight class. Simolacaj, a strong force on our team the entire season, was upset early and had to fight back to earn third place.
Dempsey was also upset early and battled back only to be beaten again by the same wrestler from earlier in the day.”
He added, “We’ll train hard this week and show up at Sectionals focused and prepared to win.”
Dempsey is honored to represent Rye along with Simolacaj at the postseason tournament.
He added, “We had some very strong wrestlers on the team this season, especially the seniors, but Divisionals were filled with tough competitors.”
—Additional reporting by Lauren and Lisa Dempsey
