By Anna Levinson and Valerie Evans 

The boys wrestling season ended with a slam.   

That’s because seven of their wrestlers all placed in the Top 5 of the PSAL Boys Wrestling City Championships on February 11-12 at Harry S. Truman High School. Overall, the team finished in fourth place at the tournament.   

 “(There were) about 45 schools (participating) in the city,´ said coach Dariusz Mikolajczak. ‘So to come in number four is still a pretty big flex.”   

Seniors Davit Abjandadze and Justin Lee were crowned winners in their respective weight group. Abjandadze won the 215-lb weight class while Lee won the 138-lb weight class.  

 Images: Members of the Murrow Magic boys wrestling team are awarded prizes for their individual performance.

“Personally I feel like I still have a lot to improve,” said Lee. “But as a team I feel like everyone did what they had to do, so I think they did good.” 

Kerolos Gorgy (215-lbs) and Vadym Mysiv (132-lbs) both took second place in their respective weight category. Gus Harmon (126-lb weight class) and Sobir Salimov finished 3rd, while junior Jackson Spallone finished in 5th in his 160-lb weight class. 

 Harmon said his third-place result was bittersweet because he’s upset that the season ended and he didn’t achieve his personal goal of becoming a city champion.  

“I think I could have gone in with a better mindset,” said the 17 year old. “I think I wrestled scared and the semi-finals kind of got to me.”   

However, co-captain Harmon said he did experience some highlights throughout the season.    

“I beat the city champ in my weight class above me and below me,” he said, “so those were a couple highlights in the season.”   

Gorgy said he expressed his disappointment as he has to wait to continue to practice his sport till next season.   

“It’s very sad, just because wrestling to me is like everything,” said the 16 year old, “so the season ending, just gotta find somewhere else to train now until next season.”   

Gorgy said the wrestling season was a huge time commitment for him but he is looking forward to next year.   

“You have to sacrifice a lot of things,” said Gorgy, “your time, hanging out with friends and everything, you have to be really dedicated to the sport.”   

Image: Coach Mikolajczak poses with members of the team.

Lee, who is also co-captain, said he looked back on what he could have done differently last tournament.   

“I could’ve, you know, scored more,” said the 17-year-old, “been a little more offensive instead of defensive, shot more, and pushed the pace a little more.”   

Two weeks after the PSAL City Championships, Abjandadze and Lee competed in Albany at the New York State HS Wrestling Tournament. 

“I performed pretty good, won 2 and 2, two wins and two losses,” Lee said. “I was one match away from placing.”   

Abjandadze recognized his mistakes after the tournament and understood how he could improve for the future.   

“I could’ve done better,” said Abjandadze. “My terrible mistake was I celebrated too early.”    

Mr. Mikolajczak looked back on what may have stopped the team from winning.   

“Experience was one that hurt us,” he said.  

Image: The boys wrestling team poses for a group photo.

Featured Image: The team at a recent PSAL tournament.