Cousins Raghunandan, Sewkumar facing off?
Matt Raghunandan of Long Branch takes a breather during his match against Vncent Deprez of Hilton during the NYS Wrestling tournament in Albany NY. (Feb. 25, 2011) Credit: Pat Orr
ALBANY - Long Beach's Mark Raghunandan and Krishna Sewkumar are first cousins, at least biologically.
But when the two are introduced as such, Raghunandan will respond: "No, we're brothers." To understand that mind-set, one must comprehend the closeness of the Raghunandan/Sewkumar families.
Raghunandan's mother and Sewkumar's father are siblings, and Sewkumar's mother and Raghunandan's father are also siblings. The families live only a few blocks apart.
And on Day One of the state Division I wrestling tournament at the Times Union Center, the Raghunandan and Sewkumar contingent saw their children advance to Sunday's 103-pound semifinal. Raghunandan draws Amsterdam's Brandon Lapi, and Sewkumar faces second-seeded Jimmy Duckham of Arlington.
As for potentially facing one another in the final, they'll deal with it if it happens.
"Our coaches told us that we gotta make it to the state finals," Sewkumar said. "And that is what we're trying to do."
But the cousins have history this season, as Raghunandan is 2-1 against Sewkumar, although Sewkumar beat his cousin in the Nassau Individual final with a come-from-behind pin. That match appeared less intense than your typical county final. Neither felt comfortable going all-out against the other.
That is something the Marines' coaching staff has attempted to rectify. Long Beach coach Ray Adams' message is always the same.
"I know you guys are family, but there are no friends on the mat," Adams said.
But the Raghunandan/Sewkumar families had much more pressing concerns than wrestling when, on Jan. 22, Bisundei Sewkumar, grandmother to both, passed away at 78 of complications from neck surgery.
Her death inspired the boys to reach this point.
"I think it motivated me a lot more, and I'm just more hungry for a state title," Raghunandan said. "We just understood that she would probably want us to be wrestling."
Added Sewkumar: "I kind of just kept it in my mind that she passed away, and I'm doing it for her now. I'm not doing it for myself anymore."
As the families continue to mourn, they have something to cheer about: their two boys, cousins by blood, brothers by choice, one bout away from a family state final.
"We'd rather them lose to each other than someone else," Sewkumar's father, Raj, said with a smile.
Wantagh 189-pounder, Joe Kavanagh, the state's top seed, extended his undefeated mark with dominant performances in both of his matches. In the opening round, he controlled Brighton's David Kelley en route to a 9-4 win. In the quarterfinals, he went ahead 15-0 on Niagara Wheatfield's Jake Kelly to earn the technical fall.
"I just went out there and wrestled my match and made sure I was in control the whole time," Kavanagh said of his quarterfinal win.
In Sunday's semis, Kavanagh will wrestle Shenendehowa's Tony Fusco. Kavanagh pinned Fusco in 3:13 on Dec. 11, which did not provide him with a detailed scouting report.
"I don't know much of what he does, but I'm just going to try and control things," Kavanagh said.
Kavanagh's teammate, 215-pounder Tom Hall, almost did not make the trip upstate. He is battling a high ankle sprain suffered during the Nassau finals, but after some prodding from his coaches, he decided to give it a try.
"It was kind of a day-by-day thing," Hall said of his injury. "Today, it just worked."
After an 8-3 win against Ballston Spa's Bill Cook in the first round, Hall faced old nemesis Andrew Danziger of East Meadow in the quarters.
He defeated Danziger in the Nassau final and had a 2-2 career mark against his intracounty foe. Hall broke the tie, ankle sprain be darned, with a 3-2 win to advance to the semis, where he will face Wheatfield's Andrew Donner.
