Cumberland & Hendricken in New York Duals

[atlantaal]

This event was over a week ago but it provides an interesting comparison between RI and NY wrestling as Cumberland and Bishop Hendricken traveled to New York to take on powerhouse Wantagh as well as Long Island stalwart Locust Vally and Yorktown Senior. Wantagh finished 5th in New York Division I State Chmapionships last year with three returning state place-winners including champion Justin Vines and won easily over both RI teams. DiSano and Rivet were the only winners for BH while Dias at 99 lbs. (an official weight in NY) and Maguire won for Cumberland. Not surprising Wantagh won, but very decisive over Defending RI champs Clippers and N.E. 5th Place BH. In some strength-on-strength match-ups NY 4th place (99) Josiah Encarnacion pinned Gillis at 106 and 3rd place Jonathan Loew pinned Sangare at 195. At 120 Christian Encarnacion majored both Williams and Passante. New York champ Vines pinned both matches. Rivet had close battles in all three of his wins.

Both RI teams fared well the rest of the way, with Cumberland topping both Locust Valley and Yorktown while BH swamped Yorktown but was edged by LV. Note Yorktown had a NY place-winner last season so they're not a moribund program although they're not filling out their roster this season. The top NY teams are usually better than any schools in New England, even Connecticut, so this is how our teams get better, by facing the tougher competition in the area. I don't think it's coincidence that Cumberland and Hendricken have been doing this out-of-state competition for a long time and they are consistently among the top teams in RI.

The results are on Trackwrestling via RIIL.org.

[wrestlersdad]

I think it depends on the situation. Bishop Hendricken and Cumberland both have 800 plus males to draw a team from. With that depth you can push the competition hard and expose the kids to what is out there so they understand the intensity required at practice, and are exposed to different techniques that help them understand the importance of position.

With smaller schools like Ponaganset with probably less than 400 boys you have to keep the roster healthy as well so you have to get all that stuff some other way.

In my opinion practice intensity is more important. It is just hard to get without high level competition to confirm the need.