Zenie Takes Over Westhampton Beach Wrestling, Looks to Keep Momentum Going

Although there was a change at the top, the Westhampton Beach wrestling program is looking to maintain continuity with its next head coach.

Jared Zenie has taken over as head coach of the Hurricanes after Jakob Restrepo stepped down after leading the program the past two seasons. Zenie was an assistant under Restrepo last season, and while he has his own way of coaching a team and the program is bound to be run somewhat differently, he’s not looking to change that much so as to keep the program’s young wrestlers on track.

“We, as a staff, really try to spearhead and maintain continuity in the program, and fortunately, so far, we’ve been able to do that,” he said. “We took some kids to Fargo, North Dakota, and a handful of kids to Kutztown for a camp there in the summer. We were able to bring certain things back in the room so there should be a lot of familiarity.

“Any time there is a head coaching change, innately there may be a slight connotation of a rebuild, but again, I think we’ve done a really good job as a staff of continuing to build a culture that has been going on with what is really a great group of guys,” Zenie continued. “Everything we’ve been doing is in lead up to this season so I couldn’t be more excited to see how that all plays out this year.”

Zenie is originally from South Huntington where he attended and wrestled at Walt Whitman High School. He followed up his high school wrestling career with a two-year stint at The Citadel in South Carolina before transferring to SUNY Brockport. After graduating with a degree — he’s now a physical education teacher at Westhampton Beach High School — Zenie spent time coaching at upstate St. John Fisher University before moving back to Long Island, where he heavily pursued his teaching career at Half Hollow Hills West High School just before coming to the East End. Zenie has also spent ample time in the club wrestling circuit, most recently the past five years or so with Savage Wrestling Academy, which has produced numerous state and national champions at that level.

Returning senior captain Carmine Esposito admitted it’s a little odd to have a new head coach once again but the familiarity with Zenie certainly helps.

“We’ve known Zen from last year, but having him as a head coach ... it’s a different feeling,” he said. “He’s got a higher position so he’s got to be more tough on us as, you know, a coach does. [But] he gets us right, we drill hard, he pushes the pace, he keeps us going. There’s never really a dull moment.”

What Zenie has inherited at Westhampton Beach is a program that has been building for some time and appears ready to take that next step forward with a strong group of juniors that are leading the team in Dylan Blenk, a returning league champion from last season, Andrew Lewis and Darren Cangelosi, and Esposito, all of which are returning All-League wrestlers and are captains this season.

Lily Blenk, Dylan Blenk’s twin sister, is also back but will be splitting her time between Westhampton Beach and Bellport, where a large group of girls wrestlers practice and workout together. She is a returning county champion and state finalist in the girls circuit, and the Hurricane coaching staff is confident she’ll have equally or an even more successful run this season.

Esposito was the closest of the boys to earning All-County accolades at last season’s county tournament, and that’s the next goal for all of the returning wrestlers.

“We had so many guys this offseason really put in work and I feel like that’s were the switch has kind of flipped,” Lewis said. “I’ve seen so many guys jump levels this offseason, not just the captains, but we have so many other guys who are going to be starting for us and making huge jumps compared to where we were last year, and that’s going to really help out our team.”

“Taking it very serious and making sure everything you do is 100 percent, which we’ve done a really good job this year,” is what’s going to get the team over the hump, Blenk added. “Also did a good job last year with that, but this year it’s a lot different. The mindsets changed, and we’re a lot more focused and everyone’s ready to go. Everyone wants to scrap.”

Zenie didn’t want to necessarily categorize some of his wrestlers as “dark horses” because he’s seen them on the mat before and knows what they can do. But, for some, staying on the mat consistently has been an issue due to injuries and illnesses, so they haven’t been always been able to show it, and there are a select few that fit into that category. That includes Nicholas Hochhauser and Tadgh Green, both additional juniors, and sophomore Logan Munsch. And Constantine Reilly is the team’s only other senior right now along with Esposito.

“Nick Hochhauser, stud, no other way to put it really,” Esposito said of his teammate. “He puts his nose down, he gets serious, goes out there and does what he does best and that’s wrestle hard and technical. He’s knocking some of that rust off at the moment, but he’s one of those kids who you put him out on the mat, it’s going to be a good match and you’re probably coming out on top.

“Tadgh Green, just another killer,” he continued. “Same as Nick, puts his head down, gets right to work, no play, no joking around. It’s, ‘I’m here and this what I do, and you’re going to know it.’”

Westhampton Beach took a rather small group of nine wrestlers to the Manhasset Invitational this past weekend where seven of them landed themselves on the podium. Munsch was a champion at 103 pounds after defeating Seaford’s Connor Hanly by technical fall. Blenk (118 pounds) reached the finals against defending state champion William Soto of Newburgh Free Academy and lost by tech fall. Esposito (165) and Lewis (190) were both runners-up in their respective weight classes while Cangelosi (126) and Reilly (215) each placed fifth.

Zenie said it was a great start to the season and he’s expecting to get a few wrestlers back this week who should give the team better numbers so it could start to put itself in the conversation of team standings at some of the upcoming tournaments.

“I couldn’t be prouder of them,” he said. “Placing seven of the nine that we had there with four in the finals and one champion, that’s a pretty good start.”

The ’Canes will continue to compete in League VI during the regular season and the start of the postseason. There were some changes, such as neighboring rival Eastport-South Manor moving up to League VI, and Hills West dropping down into their league. Amityville, Harborfields, Islip, Rocky Point and Sayville round out the league, and the coaches and players are looking forward to seeing some of them teams for one reason or another. Zenie has that prior connection to having worked at Hills West, Esposito has had a good rivalry with one of the Rocky Point wrestlers, and Lewis is looking to avenge a team loss to Islip last season that he thought was a winnable match.

“We’re pretty junior heavy and very blessed that we’re not graduating a huge crop of our lineup at the end of this season,” Zenie said. “We’ll miss those seniors who are in our room with us now but we really are blessed to have most of our team coming back next year.”