Shen’s losses have them prepared
CLIFTON PARK » Shenendehowa will bring almost a full contingent of wrestlers to the Glens Falls Civic Center for the Division I (Class A and B) Section II tournament and several have been there before, some are making their first appearances and for many, they’ve never had their hand raised in the final round as a Section II champion.
Section II Class A champion senior Kevin Guardino captured the 138-pound A title last year, but lost in the sectional tournament to Niskayuna’s Eoghan Sweeney in the semifinal.
“Last year that loss woke me up and this year I’ve wrestled a little harder in practice and conditioned myself a little more to improve in the post season this year and it really paid off,” Guardino
said.
Losing in the semifinals his day wasn’t over, he had to wrestle twice more to earn a third- place finish in the tournament.
“It’s all about mental toughness and that’s what the coaches instill in us a lot,” Guardino said. “That loss, I tuned it out the rest of the tournament and wrestle back as hard as you can and work on it later.
I think about it a lot of times when I want to give up, but I need to keep on going, in practice especially.”
Senior Anthony Dinallo was tripped up in the Class A 160- pound semifinal, rebounding to finish third in the tournament and has hopes of improving this weekend at Glens Falls.
“That was tough, I wasn’t expecting that loss, but I knew he was a good wrestler,” Anthony Dinallo said about his 3-1 loss to Schenectady’s A. J. Melendez. “I had a close match with him two weeks before that and recovering from that I had an hour in-between matches. A lot is going through my head. I had to clear it, I got back out on the match and finished off with third so I came back enough to preserve my seed, either No. 2 or No. 3 , so I’ll probably see him again.”
Sh e n e n d e h o w a ’ s 126-pound Class A champion sophomore Kiernan Shanahan finishes second to Columbia’s John Devine last year at the Civic Center to the same wrestler who bested him in last year’s Class A final. Those thoughts linger. “I feel like it motivates me,” Kiernan Shanahan said. “Whenever I think about the Class As and when I went there the other day I associated it with my loss there, avenging the loss from last year and get my first Class A title.
“( Winning) gives me a lot of confidence in my wrestling. I wasn’t confidence before the As, but winning in the finals gave me some more found confidence heading into sectionals.”
Shenendehowa senior Danny DeGennaro jumped up the Plainsmen depth chart after an injury to Gabe Cruz moved him into the starting lineup. He made the most of it last week, finishing second in the 152- pound final.
“I wasn’t super confident with my technique early in the season, having that kind of success boosts your self- confidence,” Danny DeGennaro said. “It was in me the entire time, I’ve been with this program for years now and I have the training, it’s just a matter of going out there and performing.
“I used to get really worked up before my matches, but I took some advice from Kevin Parker, he’s normally really relaxed going into his matches. I’m still getting warmed up for my matches, but I’m not psyching myself out, trying to stay relaxed and know my training will perform for itself.”
He’s ready for the big stage this weekend.
( Anthony Laniew sky, Niskayuna) is a great wrestler, he goes to the Journeyman with me in the off- season it was my first actual match with him,” DeGennaro said. “I’ve wrestled with him before. It was great to wrestle him, I think he’s going to be the one seed going in.
“There are some good kids from the B’s, hopefully second in the A’s will get me a high seed line. I look forward to it having that first match with him I’ll know more of what I’ll be going in against him. He caught me towards the end, I feel as though I can put up a good fight against him even though he got me at As.”
Shenendehowa coach Rob Weeks prepares his squad for pins and decisions that may not go their way.
“I don’t think they dwell on losses because sadly our schedule dictates that a lot of them are going to lose several times,” Rob Weeks said. “Our records are much worse than the kids competing against right now because we’ve gone to much higher level competition.
“They’re not concerned about losses as much as some other kids are, there are a couple of kids coming into this tournament that don’t have a loss on their record and you’ll be surprised when you see any of those kids get a loss, sometimes they will get a second loss shortly thereafter and our kids won’t be in that position Weeks said. “If we get a kid that catches a loss, good chance he’s going to wrestle back in the tournament and minus the seniors that’s essential. Everything you do now helps you next season.”