By Rob Potter
MONTICELLO — December 21, 2010 — Four Monticello wrestlers earned pinfall victories to help the Panthers record a 69-16 victory over the visiting Goshen Gladiators on Wednesday night in an Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) Division III wrestling match.
With the win, Monticello improved its season record to 5-8 and 1-2 in Div. III. Goshen dropped to 1-7 overall and 0-2 in Div. III.
In the 103-pound match, Monticello’s Victor Vargas pinned Goshen’s Mason Jones in a time of 1 minute, 22 seconds. At 125 pounds, Monticello’s Noah Madnick pinned Goshen’s Brandon Cardona in 3:29. Monticello’s Charles Dennison scored a pinfall on Goshen’s Pete Persoon at 45 seconds of their 140-pound match. And at 160 pounds, Monticello’s Todd Kolvenbach pinned Goshen’s Austin Kearns in 11 seconds.
Paul Gomez and Steve Padon also scored victories for the Panthers. At 112 pounds, Gomez earned a technical fall victory over Goshen’s Kyle Jashembowski in 2:04. At 135 pounds, Padon recorded a 16-7 major decision over Goshen’s Conner Gansrow.
In addition, five Monticello wrestlers registered forfeit wins. They were: David Ambra (96 pounds), John Bora (130 pounds), Antwan Vazquez (152 pounds), Nick Fiore (171 pounds) and Andrew Shore (285 pounds).
Scoring victories for the Gladiators were Luke Golubinski, Vinny Nastro and Tom Merenyi. Golubinski pinned Monticello’s Sajeth Soundararajan at 2:36 of their 119-pound match. At 189 pounds, Nastro pinned Monticello’s Robert Takourian in 3:27. At 215 pounds, Merenyi earned an 8-0 major decision over Monticello’s Dylan Kelly.
“We’re still learning,” Monticello Coach Justin Fenichel said. “We’re just trying to improve with every match. We want to keep getting better and peak at the right time in the season.”
Fenichel praised Dennison, Soundararajan and Padon in particular.
“Charles Dennison has corrected some of the mistakes he made in the last couple of matches,” Fenichel said. “Sajeth Soundararajan usually wrestles at 112 pounds, but he had to move up to 119 pounds and he’s been doing pretty well. Steve Padon seems to be picking up new techniques very quickly.”
Goshen Coach Ed Killenberger lauded Luke Golubinski and Tom Merenyi.
“I think they are our two best wrestlers right now,” Killenberger said. “Luke is doing well. He improved his personal record to 7-1 tonight. Tom is 8-0 and having a great season.”