La Salle’s Pino pushing hard for State Tournament success
TROY, NY » The La Salle Institute wrestling room is hard to find, it is pretty small, and boy, is it hot.
Exactly the way Head Coach Zach Taber likes it.
“It’s amazing. Our room is a little small, I would like it to have another section mat, but we are right next to the boiler room, we get it up good and hot in here,” said Taber. “It doesn’t take long to break a sweat. It is exactly what wrestlers need, an environment like this. This is our little space and you can truly feel that when you walk in here.”
That tiny little piece of La Salle wrestling has been bouncing with excitement with senior Nick Pino preparing for his debut at the Times Union Center this Friday for the New York State Wrestling Championships. Pino will be the first La Salle wrestler in five years to fight in the New York State Tournament.
“We ended the season with eight kids and every single one of them, except for one, was here today to support Nick,” said Taber. “That’s amazing. That’s a testament to what La Salle is about and our team is about. It’s about teamwork.”
Joining the team to help prepare Pino for his appearance at the Times Union Center was former La Salle Wrestling Coach Jim Sutton and former wrestler Connor Sutton. Connor Sutton wrestled at La Salle before having a successful wrestling career at Columbia University.
“It’s huge in any sport you are involved in. If you don’t have alumni and that past coming back to help bring that program up, it’s so hard to be succesful,” said Taber.
“I’ve had so much help from the Sutton’s this year, both Connor and Jimmy, coming down here and teaching technique. Connor has been working out with the guys. It’s amazing to have a New York State Champ and four year Columbia Division 1 wrestler here working out with us. It speaks volumes to how much they care about wrestling and La Salle.”
Benefitting most from Connor Sutton joining practices is Pino, who has gotten a chance to wrestle someone in a higher weight class than his own.
“Connor coming in and wrestling me, you can’t get better technique than that, anywhere in the section” said Pino. “Especially because I am a little small for 160 so it helps to wrestle guys who are a lot heavier, even Ray [Hutton], Ray is 170, and Connor is 180-190, so it helps a lot to have that extra weight when moving and you get stuck underneath on a shot and holding some up and then exploding up from the bottom.”
Pino was the Section II, Division II, 160 pound sectional champion this year, beating Salem-Cambridge’s Doug Pennington with a pin on February 15 at the Section II Sectional at Cool Insuring Arena in Glens Falls. Pino had a 36-6 record this year with 24 pins, solidifying himself as the indisputable number one wrestler for La Salle this year.
“There’s no individual I ammore proud of to step up and step out of the shadow,” said Taber. “He has done everything possible since his loss last year in Section II, to get himself to where he is today. He is such a hard working, humble, respectful, young man that absolutely deserves what he has gotten this year.”
That hard work Pino has led up to this week. In the La Salle wrestling room Tuesday, Taber and his coaching staff pushed Pino to continue to work hard and persevere through the pain. Taber and Pino were making one last push to strengthen Pino for the weekend and make sure, if nothing else, he is conditioned for what lies ahead.
“Last week was a little bit more intense, a little bit more cardio based, and a lot more drills, get after it, and a lot more alive,” said Pino. “This week is really about perfecting my craft. Really getting my form down, getting the technique, making sure all my doors are closed, and then a lot of cardio. Lots of rowing.”
Pino fell just short last year in the sectional. With that on the back of his mind, he has pushed himself to be the best wrestler he can possibly be this weekend.