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Community Corner

Hills West Hosted LI Tournament of Champions

Six HHH wrestlers competed: Five place and receive All-Long Island Honors.

Hills West hosted the first annual Long Island Tournament of Champions (the "LITOC") this weekend.  

The event drew the best of the best on Long Island.  Over 200 wrestlers including 56 league champions, 60 all-county wrestlers, 20 county finalists and 10 all-state wrestlers.  A true all-star competition.

Six Half Hollow Hills wrestlers competed, with five placing and being awarded All-Long Island Honors.

The idea came about in a discussion between Hills West wrestling coach Mike Patrovich and LITOC organizer John Passaro.  

"Why not get all the best wrestlers on Long Island together and crown a champion?" Passaro asked.  

Patrovich added, "Long Island is the home of some of the toughest kids in the country.  Let's roll out the mat and let them wrestle."

It was co-sponsored by the LIWrestlingTournaments.com, RaZor Wrestling Club and Hills West Wrestling Booster Club. 

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Junior Tommy Shair of Hills East placed 6th and sophomore Joe Piccolo of Hills West place 7th at 168 pounds. Sophomore Jagger Rebozo (West) placed 6th and senior Chris Golinowski (West) placed 7th at 174 pounds. Only junior Zach Aal (West) failed to place.  

Sophomore Hills West wrestler Tyler Grimaldi had a tremendous tournament. Grimaldi, who won all-county honors at 145 pounds two weeks prior, bumped up to 152 for the tournament.  

In his path was Suffolk County finalist and #2 ranked Shoreham-Wading River junior John Keck as his semi-finals match. Grimaldi pulled out an exciting 5-4 victory.

That left him to face NY State finalist Rocky Point senior Matty Ross in the finals. Ross was pushed to the limit with Grimaldi almost pulling a switch to tie the match up as time ran out.  While disappointed that he didn't win the tournament outright, Grimaldi was voted Most Outstanding Sophomore Wrestler and was also voted winner of the Most Exciting Match for his semi-final victory over Keck.  
Grimaldi said, "This was an incredible tournament, some of the best wrestlers in the state.  I'm disappointed in not finishing the way I wanted, but I'm proud of being selected MOW and Best Match. This is a great stepping stone to the nationals in a few weeks."

Grimaldi’s father, Frank, who is also the head of the Hills West Wrestling Booster Club and a HHH Board of Education trustee, said, "This was an unbelievable event. Mike (Patrovich), John (Passaro) and the rest of the RaZor Wrestling team truly put on a show here.  We are so proud to be associated with such a class group of people.  This is a great event for Long Island wrestling. I hope we can make this an annual event."

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