Wrestlers Compete In National Championships

Three Garden City High School wrestlers competed in the USA Wrestling High School National championships in Fargo, North Dakota the week of July 21 through July 28th. Danny Lofresse (112 lbs-Cadet division), Dave Foxen (140 & 145 lbs-Junior division) and Spenser DeSena (215 lbs-Junior division) wrestled for Team New York in both the Freestyle and Greco-Roman tournaments. This is the largest and most prestigious high school wrestling tournament in the world with over 4,000 athletes competing in 8,000 plus matches over six days in Fargo. The wrestlers are split into two age groups, Cadet (mostly freshman and sophomores) and Junior (juniors and seniors) and can compete in one or both Olympic styles of wrestling. All of the participants must qualify in a State or regional tournament in order to enter the National championships. New York State sent 119 wrestlers and finished 2nd in the Junior Greco roman division and 12th in junior freestyle. The Cadet team finished 15th and 14th in the two tournaments. The Garden City wrestlers all did very well over the course of the six days of competition, participating in both styles. Danny Lofresse finished with a 3-4 record defeating opponents from Minnesota, Iowa and Ha-waii. Dave Foxen finished up 6-4 with victories over Illinois, Minnesota, Arizona, the Armed Forces, Ohio and Illinios while Spenser Desena posted a 5-4 record defeating Ohio, NC, Minnesota, Idaho and Oregon. Forty six states, as well as Puerto Rico and the Armed Services team, were represented in the tournament which was won by Pennsylvania (Cadet GR and Freestyle), Minnesota (Junior GR) and Illinios (Junior Free-style). For more information about the tournament and USA Wrestling go to www.themat.com which is the website for USA Wrestling.