Four of five top seeds at 101 pounds advance to semifinals at Suffolk Division I wrestling tournament

The 101-pound weight class has delivered throughout this boys wrestling season.

“From a coach’s standpoint, I mean, it’s a stressful weight class,” Ward Melville coach Garrett Schnettler said. “I’m sure for everybody else, it’s probably the most exciting bracket to watch.”

On Saturday inside Island Federal Arena at Stony Brook University, four of the top five seeds in the class — North Babylon freshman Xavier Seabury (No. 1), Ward Melville sophomore Chase Phillips (No. 2), Smithtown West freshman Tyler Conzo (No. 3) and Hauppauge sophomore Trevor Patrovich (No. 5) — won their Suffolk Division I quarterfinal matches to set up a massive Sunday for the lightest weight class with the semifinals and the championship.

Whoever emerges will become a first-time county D-I champion.

Phillips defeated No. 7 Carmine Catapano of Sayville by 8-0 major decision in the quarterfinals for his 100th career victory. He will face Conzo, who beat No. 6 Santino Pascarella of Half Hollow Hills East in the quarters by 4-0 decision.

Conzo defeated Phillips by 4-2 decision in the 101-pound Suffolk D-I semifinals last year. Phillips defeated Conzo in a 2-1 decision to take first place at 101 at the Smithtown Tournament on Jan. 4.

Phillips said last year’s finish provided motivation heading into his sophomore season.

“Always driving for a better goal, a bigger goal,” Phillips said. “Going for state champ this year.”

Said Schnettler: “He’s just one of the hardest workers in the room, man, every day. All business, 24/7. Offseason work, no days off. He’s a stud. He’s all business, does what he has to do. He does whatever it takes to get the job done.”

Seabury defeated ninth-seeded Sano Restrepo of Sachem East by 13-2 major decision in the quarterfinals. Patrovich beat No. 4 Ayden LaBella of Sayville by 11-3 major decision in his quarterfinal to set up Sunday’s showdown against Seabury.

The matchup between Seabury and Patrovich is a rematch of the Eastern States Classic semifinals, which the former won in a 13-4 major decision on Jan. 11. Seabury then defeated Conzo by 4-1 decision in the title match.

Conzo and Patrovich also met recently, with the latter earning an 11-0 major decision in the Suffolk League V Tournament finals last Saturday.

“I think it’s great,” Seabury said of the competition in his weight class. “We all kind of grew up with each other, and we were all on different levels. And now we’re all like at the peak right now, so best man wins.”

Reigning 101-pound county champion Dario Guglielmo, a Ward Melville junior, has not wrestled this season because of injury.

Twelve of the 13 No. 1 seeds advanced to the semifinals. At 190 pounds, East Hampton senior and ninth-seeded Adam Beckwith pinned top-seeded John Rowland in 3:30.

Several reigning county champions held serve Saturday. Hauppauge senior Connor Sheridan, the 108 champion in 2024 and 102 champion in 2023, advanced to the 108 semifinals. Lindenhurst junior Anthony Severino, last year’s 116 champ, advanced to the 131 semifinals. Bellport freshman Camryn Howard, the defending 138 champ and the 126 champ in 2023, made the 138 semifinals. Brentwood senior Jason Kwaak, the reigning 152 champ, advanced to the 160 semifinals.

Northport senior Kingston Strouse, who was ruled ineligible for unknowingly breaking a state eligibility rule last week but was ultimately reinstated before winning the Suffolk League III 152 title last Saturday, advanced to Sunday’s 152 final.

Sachem North leads the team competition with 77.5 points. Connetquot is in second with 69.5 points and Bellport third with 66.

In the 138 quarterfinals, Comsewogue senior and second-seeded Mason Mangialino pinned Connetquot’s Zachary Carlson in 1:19. Mangialino became a county champion as a freshman at 102 pounds. He lost in the 110 final as a sophomore and the 124 final as a junior.

Mangialino, who will face sixth-seeded Niko Marnika of Commack in the semifinals, is two wins away from once again becoming a county champion.

“Freshman year when I won it, I felt like I was on top of the world,” Mangialino said. “It’s one of the best feelings that still to this day I’ve ever felt. It’s just awesome being the man in the arena with your hand raised.”

As much as the championship feeling resonated, so did the sting of falling short.

“I’m definitely happy I got to make it upstate and place again (in 2024), but second place doesn’t feel good,” Mangialino said. “It definitely hurts when you see the other guy get their hand raised. So this year, I’m just hoping to change that and not let myself feel that again.”