Newsday Athlete of the Week is Brentwood's Jason Kwaak

It’s been a long time coming for Jason Kwaak.

For the third time in the Brentwood senior’s five-year career, Kwaak stood on the podium following the state wrestling tournament. This time, he stood atop the podium.

Top-seeded Kwaak defeated No. 2 Jackson Koppers (Rush-Henrietta) by 12-2 major decision for the Division I title at 160 pounds last Saturday at MVP Arena in Albany. He became Brentwood’s first state champion since 2013 and 13th overall.

“It means everything to me. It’s what I’ve worked for since I started wrestling in second grade,” Kwaak said. “I’ve always wanted to be a state champion. It’s a dream come true.”

Kwaak is Newsday’s Athlete of the Week.

The NC State commit placed third in the state tournament at 110 pounds as a freshman and took fourth at 152 last year. The key to Kwaak’s title run this year was health. It was the first time in his career that he entered the postseason fully healthy and wasn’t bothered by any nagging injuries.

A two-time Suffolk champion, Kwaak took sixth in the 2023 county tournament after suffering a partially torn hip flexor.

“It felt great to have that peace of mind that I know I’m at the best that I can be,” Kwaak said. “Every other year, there was always a doubt in the back of my mind. Like, ‘Oh, this is hurting. What if it affects me in the match?’ This year, it was just my ability versus their ability, and I knew mine was better.”

Kwaak picked up two pins in the early rounds and won a 9-3 decision over No. 4 Wyatt Boice (Minisink Valley) to advance to the final.

“The five-year rollercoaster journey we made with ups and downs, injuries and falling short of our goals and him finally being on top of that podium was such a relief and an amazing wave of emotion for him and his family,” Brentwood coach Ralph Napolitano said. “There was a feeling of pride and happiness, but also sadness realizing this amazing journey has come to an end.”

Kwaak finished the season 41-0 and improved his career record to 162-8. In January, Kwaak defeated fellow NC State commit Griffin LaPlante (St. Francis) by 10-5 decision in the finals of the Eastern States Classic. LaPlante won the state title at 152 pounds last weekend.

Napolitano, a 1985 Brentwood graduate who just completed his 23rd year as coach, said that Kwaak is now one of the greatest Brentwood wrestlers of all time.

“Carl Adams, Bob Antonacci and Pete Galea were All-Americans at the D-I level in college, so we’ll have to see what (Kwaak) does next. But as far as high school wrestling goes, nobody in the history of Brentwood wrestling has been more dominant than Jason Kwaak,” Napolitano said.

“It’s great to be up there with all those legends that are up on the wall at Brentwood,” Kwaak added. “Every day at practice, I would look up and I’d want to be just like them. It’s just great to even be compared to those guys.”