Christian St. John Advances to State Mat Tournament

Huntington senior Christian St. John won three matches and finished second at 152 lbs. in the Section XI wrestling tournament last weekend at Stony Brook to qualify for the New York State championships later this month at the MVP Arena in Albany.

St. John (33-4) topped West Islip’s James Moore, 13-5 and then nipped Brentwood’s John De La Rosa in overtime, 6-4 before edging Kings Park’s Anthony Marino in the semifinals, 7-4. The Blue Devil great fell by pin in the finals to Brentwood’s Jason Kwaak in 1:25, but St. John’s second place finish was good enough to earn a berth in the state tournament on February 23-24.

Huntington’s Max Casiano (33-2) battled his way to a fifth place finish and All-County honors at 160 lbs. The senior pinned Patchogue-Medford’s Zack Ginas in 4:58 before dropping a 13-5 decision to Walt Whitman’s Chase Hinson.

Casiano then captured decisions over Bay Shore’s John Betancourt (9-0) and Lindenhurst’s Christian Campay (12-5) before getting pinned by Hauppauge’s Charles Olaechea in 1:45.

Casiano bested Isiah Gutierrez of North Babylon, 15-0 for fifth place to win his final match in a Blue Devil uniform. The teenager enjoyed a great career with Huntington, including reaching the state tournament last winter.

In other action, Jonathan Granito (25-10), Vincent Pupillo (18-8) and Thomas Smith (24-11) all got knocked out the tournament, although Granito did win two matches, including a pin over Sayville’s Matthew Reina in 0:54 and a 5-1 decision of Rocky Point’s Brody Donohue.

Huntington heavyweight Jeffrey Quintanilla (9-14) qualified for the tournament, but didn’t participate in it.

The Blue Devils finished 23rd in the team standings with 45.5 points.