The Stony Brook Wrestling Club will be holding its first home meet on Saturday, Feb. 16 at Ward Melville High School. Its members will be taking on another SUNY school, Cortland. The team is currently 1-3 in dual matches, but is looking to improve its record on Saturday.
Head coach Shaun Lally decided it was time for the team to finally have a home match. “It needed to be done. They should be entitled to at least one home competition,” Lally said. “We needed to have a home match and show everyone how its being supported.”
This will also serve as a homecoming for some of the wrestlers at Cortland—Mike Piro, Nicholas Falco and John Widmann are from Long Island, so they will be returning to the area where they started wrestling. “They have a lot of guys from Long Island and they’re known in the SUNY system,” Lally said. “It’s a battle between upstate and downstate.”
Unlike Stony Brook, Cortland has two wrestling teams—one that is part of Cortland athletics, the other a club team. Stony Brook will be taking on the club team, which is coached by Justin Altro.
This home match is just the beginning for the program, according to coach Lally. “We wanted this for a very long time. We’d like to host a tournament and more matches every year,” he said.
With the season coming to an end, Lally has reflected on what has been a very successful year for a new program on campus. “I love the competitions and tournaments. I’m looking forward to regionals, which we’re working towards,” Lally said.
Tickets are available through the Stony Brook wrestling club and can be found on the club’s Facebook page.
