Jackson Polo, Keegan Gagnon help Cold Spring Harbor to Division II dual meet title
Cold Spring Harbor celebrates Keegan Gagnon's victory which sealed their win over Seaford at the Nassau Division II dual meet championship at Clarke on Saturday. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
During its preparation heading into Saturday, Cold Spring Harbor wrestling coach Mike Ferrugiari was quite candid about his expectations for the finals.
Specifically, he did not anticipate a meeting with one of their longtime rivals, especially with a trip upstate on the line.
"We expected to be in the finals, but we weren’t expecting to be wrestling Seaford," Ferrugiari said. "They did a fantastic job of getting there and they were the one team we didn’t game plan for. I should’ve known better; they do a great job with their team."
Caught off guard by the matchup, No. 1 Cold Spring Harbor responded soundly to the challenge nonetheless, coming away with a 33-28 victory over No. 5 Seaford in the Nassau Division II Dual Meet tournament at Clarke.
Cold Spring Harbor (12-4) advances to the Dual Meet State Championships at SRC Arena and Events Center in Syracuse on Jan. 29 for the third consecutive season.
"I’m just super proud of our team," said senior Jackson Polo, who is ranked No. 1 in the state in the 145-pound division and earned his 150th varsity victory by pinning Peter Toscano in 1 minute, 28 seconds. "We’ve come a long way. We have a ton of freshmen and it took a full team effort."
Cold Spring Harbor led Seaford (6-11) by two entering the final match before senior Keegan Gagnon pinned Matt Martorana in 1:49 to close out the victory.
Prior to Gagnon taking the mat, Ferrugiari provided him with strong words of encouragement.
"I told him to be a hero and that it was his moment," Ferrugiari said. "He went out and as a leader he did it."
Despite its relative youth, Polo said Cold Spring Harbor will be anything but intimidated upstate.
"We’ll get a good week of practice and just need to keep believing in ourselves and defying the odds a little bit," Polo said. "We can’t let those upstate teams get to us and know that we can hang with these guys. We’re coming for the title."
