East Wrestlers to Grapple at Nationals and Empires

Every summer in late July the nation's best high school wrestlers travel to Fargo, N.D. to battle it out for the right to be called All-American. The Asics Junior/Cadet Freestyle & Greco Roman Nationals is held annually in the Fargo Dome and is considered to be the toughest high school wrestling tournament in the America.

Freestyle and Greco Roman wrestling are the styles of wrestling contested in the Olympics and are slightly different than folkstyle wrestling, which is the style wrestled in the regular High School Season. The tournament routinely draws college coaches from around the country to scout out potential recruits. This year three Sachem East Wrestlers will be among the combatants in Fargo.

Wrestling in the Freestyle and Greco Junior Nationals (Grades 12 and under) will be Sachem East captain Sean O'Malley, who just represented New York in the National Duals in Oklahoma and is an experienced Freestyle and Greco wrestler.

This past May O'Malley was New York State Champion in Freestyle and will be looking to earn his first All-American Honors. A senior this September (competing at 145-pounds), he placed third in Suffolk last season and is a three-time League 1 finalist.

Two Sachem East Wrestlers will compete in the Cadet Nationals (9th and 10th grade). Conor O'Hara will compete in the Cadet freestyle at 112 lbs. He is making his first trip to Fargo and is entering his sophomore season. 

"He is coming off an impressive freshman year where he was a League 1 Champion and Section XI runner-up compiling a 35-3 record," said Sachem East head coach Sean O'Hara.

Also representing Sachem in Fargo will be Mike Rothbaum, who will compete at 119 pounds in both Freestyle and Greco. Rothbaum will be a junior in the fall.

"He is a very talented, hard working wrestler who is looking to crack the varsity line-up this winter," O'Hara said.

Sachem East Wrestlers will also represent Long Island in this summer's prestigious Empire State Games in Buffalo from July 21-25.

Rob Sedar will compete in the Scholastic Freestyle at 154 pounds. He was an All-League wrestler last season and will be entering his senior year in the fall.

Tyler Monsees, who will be a senior, will compete in Scholastic Greco at 123 pounds, Frank Merante will compete in the Freestyle Open division at 189 pounds. Frank, entering his senior year, was a League 1 Champion in 2010.

East alum Nick Kiernan will compete in open freestyle at 123 pounds.