GREAT EXPECTATIONS
Cohoes’ Reggie Poulin prepared for NYS tournament this weekend
COHOES, N.Y. » Cohoes senior wrestler Reggie Poulin has his mind made up about this weekend’s New York State Public High School and Federation wrestling tournament, he knows what he wants and he is going after it.
It’s a changed mindset for him and one that he has shared with his coaches.
“A goal is just something you want to achieve and then an expectation is something you need to achieve, you do whatever it takes to get to that,” Reggie Pou- lin said. “It is a goal, but you make it an expectation by doing what you need to do to get it.”
That included becoming the first Cohoes wrestler to capture a Section II title in the past 25 years, winning the 220-pound Division 2 title with a 49 second pin over Catskill’s George Hillenbrand.
“That was an expectation, that’s one of those things where I expected to get it,” Poulin said. “I knew it was my year, I knew I was going to get it, nothing was going to stop me.
“I put in all the work, I felt like I deserved it and now I’m on to
the state tournament and my expectation is to win that too.”
Cohoes head coach Phil Tommasino and assistant coach Dom Bondi have seen Poulin reach his goals and meet his expectations.
“Last year he had a great season, I think he surprised himself a little bit with how well he was doing,” Phil Tommasino said. “This season he knew what he was capable of and right out of the gate he knew what he needed to do to achieve his ultimate goal of getting to states and winning it.
“He spent a ton of time in the weight room, a ton in the off- season going to tournaments. After practice he goes to his club at Curby (3- Style Wrestling) and he wrestles down there, wrestles on Sundays. He’s put in the time and effort this season, all year to get where he needs to be. He kind of expected to be where he is right now; he put himself in the position where he needs to be.”
His dedication to his strength conditioning is an example to wrestlers throughout the Tigers wrestling room.
“Halfway through my freshman season my coach got me into it,” Poulin said. “I was waking up at 5:30 a.m. to get to the school at 6 a.m., but since I have an earlier class now I wake up at 4:15 in the morning to get to the gym at 5, workout, shower at the gym and then go to school. It just stuck with me.”
At a solid 220- pound weightlifting has helped him on the mat in a varsity of starting positions.
“I’m able to pick guys up now, my eighth- grade, freshman year I wasn’t able to pick up any guys off the mat, so now I can do that,” Poulin said. “It’s an advantage. Most guys don’t expect it at a 220weight class and if you can do it, catch them off guard and you can get a takedown off it, its two points. It can help you win a match.
“My best strength is getting out from bottom. I feel like I’m already going into a match 1- 0 because no one holds me down on the mat anymore.”
Poulin is seeded sixth in the state tournament, facing Section XI’s Khystian Magee from Center Moriches in the preliminary round of the bottom 220-pound Division 2 bracket. If things proceed positively, he wouldn’t see the No. 1 seed, Section III’s Joe Benedict from South Jefferson- Sandy Creek until the televised finals Saturday night at the Times Union Center.
Any position on the podium, from first to sixth on Saturday night that would accompany his Section II title will continue to add to his lore within the Tigers wrestling room.
“We’re trying to re-build the team here, so Reggie’s championship can be a focal point for what our younger wrestlers can achieve and we can show them what Reggie put in to get to where he was and what they need to do to get to that level,” Tommasino said. “Reggie can come back and talk to them; we can put his poster up in our (wrestling) room.
“It gives us someone that the kids can relate to, the kids know, they can see went and did it, someone they can look to as a role model.”