MALENFANT NOT DONE
Malenfant enters New York State Tournament with a Section II title
TROY, NY » Averill Park’s Sean Malenfant has an impressive resume as his junior winds down. Malenfant has two back to back Section II titles, owns the Averill Park record for most wins, and is heading back to the State Meet at the Times Union.
Despite all this success, Malenfant stays grounded.
“He’s going to continue to come to Curby. We have higher level coaches and higher level wrestlers from a wide variety of schools,” said Averill Park Head Coach and Sean’s father Mike Malenfant on how Sean keeps focused and level headed after the success he has found.
“I think Sean has another piece. Certainly the New York State Championships that we are attending this weekend are his ultimate goal. He would like to make some strides in this tournament. He would like to win a match. He’s going to take it one match at a time and he would love to place and that’s certainly a goal of his, I know.”
Malenfant is 39- 0 this season at 152 poinds with 28 pins with a total of 222 points. He
has not allowed any points to any opposition.
“It’s about finding a way to break them and get them to their back,” said Malenfant on the process of getting a pin. “It’s a thing of patience and making sure you do it right and not rushing anything and getting caught up. If that happens then they start taking you down and it works against you. Working my plan that I have mapped out is how I have efficiently gotten all those pins this year.”
The preparation since the Section II tournament in Glens Falls has been one of hard work for Malenfant. The Averill Park wrestler is trying to maintain his conditioning for the big stage any way possible.
“It’s been staying prepared, keeping myself in check, and putting myself in the best position to do as good as I can,” said Malenfant on the work. “It took a lot of hard work and patience and I took my time to get there, doing whatever I needed to do, but I definitely felt rewarded for what I put in when it came to the Sectional.”
Thursday night Malenfant got a chance to get a quick glimpse of the Times Union Center and what to expect Friday when the opening ceremonies and opening fights kick off. For Malenfant, it is all about soaking it in and focusing for the task ahead.
“When I get to the TU tomorrow, I am going to be working on getting myself focused in there,” said Malenfant. “I want to make sure I have the right emotions in that building, have the right scenery in that place, and make it my home so i wrestle like I would if I were at home.”
Malenfant’s accolades speak for themselves. He has proven himself on the mat, whether it be at Averill Park, Glens Falls, or the Times Union Center. The junior still finds a way to stay grounded, focused, and ready to wrestle, not letting anything get out of his control.
“I have still got more to go in the high school accolades and that sort of thing,” said Malenfant. “But I like to teach my younger team mates and help them out. That makes me feel like I am expanding what I do for the sport and while I am helping out those younger guys, I think it helps me out too. It’s like review. They say teaching is the best way to learn”
Sean’s ability to help out his younger team mates and push them to grow is admirable and it is something his father and coach feels great pride in.
“He also loves the sport and he loves to teach. He really enjoys working with his team mates and teaching them setups and takedowns and things that he knows he would like them to experience. I think that’s another piece for him,” said Mike Malenfant.
Sean will be at the Times Union Friday for preliminary matches in hopes of extending his season to Saturday for the Semifinals and Finals.