The J. Taylor Finley Middle School wrestling team is now in its third week of practice. Coaches are rebuilding the program after the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the season from being held last winter. None of the current team members have any experience on the middle school level. The last time a Finley team was on the mat was in March 2020 just prior to the pandemic taking hold.
Finley is coached by Syosset teacher Jonathan Oliveri, who has experience as a wrestler and coach and who has been spending time this winter helping with the Huntington High school team. Oliveri will be assisted by Jose Alfaro, who is best known as one of the Blue Devil boys’ soccer coaches, but who unbeknownst to many, was a Huntington High School wrestler himself. He was coached by Hall of Famer Lou Giani.
The team is practicing on a gorgeous brand new wrestling mat complete with practice circles and a Velcro system that allows each of the nine sections of the mat to be attached and kept in place without tape.
Finley practices in half of the school gym from 3-5 p.m. each afternoon while the girls’ basketball team practices in the other half. The daily workouts are going well as wrestlers condition themselves and learn the moves and strategies they will need to be successful.
The roster includes seventh graders Blake Bender, Joseph Conklin, Steven Contreras, Jude Creegan, Justin Feliciano, Braedon Kline, Nico Meloni, Josue Villatoro and Ryan Waters and eighth graders Frank Algieri, Brandon Canas, Sean Egan, Gueniel Elysee, Carlos Espinal, Angel Flores, Xavier Garcia, Dago Garcia, Kernneth Gilhuley, Jack Larson, Ethan Lawless, Jason Mejia, Milton Maldonado, Justin Manzanares, Jonathan Morales, Thomas Nicotra, William Peters, Jose Rodriquez, Josue Velasquez and Rudis Villatoro.
Finley will wrestle a 10 meet schedule. Away matches are set for Elwood, Hauppauge, Brentwood-West, Oldfield and Kings Park. Meets will be held at Finley against Copiague, East Northport and Nesaquake and in the Jack Abrams STEM Magnet School gym against Brentwood-North and Northport.
The meets in the Finley gym will be livestreamed on the Huntington Blue Devil Sports YouTube channel.