Long Beach’s Jacori Teemer has chance to be five-time state champ

There is a hallway outside the Long Beach wrestling room that has pictures of many of the greats that have wrestled for the storied Marines program.

Inside the room, there are plaques that include Long Beach’s Nassau and state champions, as well as high school All-Americans and Long Beach products who have gone on to become All-Americans in college.

A name you will see time and time again on the Long Beach Wrestling Wall of Champions is Jacori Teemer.

“I can’t really believe it,” Teemer said, “but I also have one more year left until I’m done.”

However, Marines coach Ray Adams has held back when it comes to his talented senior and his place on the wall.

“I haven’t put all the things he’s done up there yet,” said the 21-year Marines head coach. “I don’t want him to rest on his laurels.”

Those laurels from last season include winning his fourth state crown, a National High School Coaches Association junior national title, as well as first-place finishes at the prestigious FloNational and Fargo tournaments.

Teemer also won at the Cadet World Team Freestyle Trials in Akron and qualified for Cadet World Championships in Athens, Greece, where he finished third at 63-kilograms (138 pounds).

“It’s unreal, you know,” said Teemer, who went 29-1 for the Marines last season. “You’re going for gold but you never think it [standing on the podium] is actually going to happen.”

When it comes to Nassau and state wrestling championships, Teemer has been a fixture on the podium. The four-time Nassau champ also has won state titles as an eighth-grader (at 99 pounds), freshman (106), sophomore (126) and junior (132). Teemer hopes to become the second wrestler in state history and first from Long Island to capture five state championships.

“We don’t really talk about it much,” said Adams about Teemer winning a fifth title. “All we discuss daily is giving a great effort and having fun.”

Teemer was having a little too much fun as a seventh-grader, when he had trouble handing in his homework when he wrestled on Long Beach’s junior varsity. Teemer’s mom, Krystal, told the coaches she was going to pull her son from wrestling if he missed one more assignment, Adams said. Teemer eventually didn’t do his homework and his Mom followed through — taking him from the team.

“At that point, we didn’t know he’d be as good as he was,” Adams recalled. “It sent a message to him that you better do your school work.”

Teemer, who now has a 3.0 grade-point average, talks about his early struggles with members of the Long Beach youth wrestling program.

“I tell the kids my story,” said Teemer, who recently signed a letter of intent to attend Arizona State and has a career record of 170-5. “Trust me, no one wants to be removed from a team. I think that motivates them a lot.”

What motivates Teemer now is another state title, which would put him in rarefied air, not just in Long Beach, nor Long Island, but the entire state.

“He has the opportunity to be the first five-time state champion in Long Island history,” Adams said. “That’s pretty special, man.”