Monroe Woodbury junior Vinny Vespa has been selected to compete in two prestigious post season events – the inaugural “D1 vs. D2 Challenge” as part of the NYWAY State Championships as well as the annual “NY vs. NJ Charity Challenge.” Port Jervis senior Dan DeCarlo will join Vespa on Team NY in the Charity Challenge.
The D1 vs. D2 Challenge takes place on Saturday 3/15 as part of the NYWAY State Championships in Syracuse, NY. In this event Vespa, who finished 3rd in NYS at 106 D1, will take on Luke Yankloski form Wayne HS in Section 5. Yankloski finished 2nd at 106 in the D2 tournament.
** Vespa wound up wrestling Theo Powers from Section3. Vespa won 3-0…congrats!!!**
Now in it’s 4th year, the NY vs. NJ Charity Challenge promises to be better than ever! This year’s event takes place on Tuesday 3/18 at Baldwin HS on Long Island. Vespa and DeCarlo are only the 3rd and 4th Section 9 wrestlers ever chosen to represent Team NY. Minisnk Valley’s Kyle Diesel was selected for the inaugural event and fellow Warrior Josh Bonneau wrestled for Team NY last year. Vespa will be the 106 pound representative for a team that will include nationally ranked wrestlers Vito Arujau, Nick Piccininni, Louis Hernandez, and James O’Hagan. Although not officially announced, there is a chance that Vespa will be squaring off against NJ state champ Ty Agiasse who is currently ranked 3rd in the country by FloWrestling! DeCarlo will be wrestling at 160 and his opponent is still undetermined. If Team NJ gets a commitment from their state champion, DeCarlo will be taking on Jonathan Schleifer who is currently ranked 6th in the country by Flo!
The NY vs. NJ Charity Challenge is organized by Pinning Down Autism founder Jason Bross. All proceeds from the event will go two autism charities – one in NY and one in NJ. The Ethan Foundation in northern NJ provides summer camps and programs for kids where typical camps don’t have programs for them. Danny’s Wish, based in Westbury, Long Island, provides iPads for children with autism whose families cannot afford them.