NCC Men's Wrestling Takes Home National Championship

Nassau Community College's 2013 men’s wrestling team captured its second consecutive national championship Feb. 24-25 at the NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association) champion wrestling tournament in Iowa.

Wrestlers also won individual awards at the successful weekend tournament, including four who reached the finals (the most in the college's history), six who were named NJCAA All-Americans and seven who made the NJCAA All-Academic team.

“Repeating as champions is great,” NCC wrestling coach Paul Schmidt said, “but what made it particularly satisfying this year was that we had to take on not only other schools but also the adversity brought on by Superstorm Sandy and the blizzard that affected our training schedule and facilities.”

Schmidt added, “The guys were really resilient and handled every adversity thrown at them. At the end, I was very proud of all of them when they held the National Trophy up high."

Individual Accomplishments:

125 lbs. - John Pellegrino, 2nd place

141 lbs. - James DeKrone NJCAA 2013 national champion (NCC’s 11th national champion)

149 lbs. - Kyle Wade sixth place and NJCAA 2013 Sportsmanship Award

174 lbs. - Chanse Menendez 2nd place

197 lbs. - Ian MacInheirghe 7th place

285 lbs. - Yaseen Mudassar 2nd place and two-time NJCAA All American

The following wrestlers were Academic All-Americans, with GPAs of 3.0 or higher: Juan Diaz, Basil Lawson, Ian MacIneirghe, Chanse Menendez, Hector Paez, John Pellegrino and James Rolla.

“This team simply was not going to be denied,” NCC’s acting president Kenneth Saunders said. “It took on the competition. It took on the elements. And it took home the championship to NCC. We could not be more proud.”