BY WAYNE WITKOWSKI
Staff Writer
District and region champion Mike Elshamy of Brick Memorial went out quietly in the state championships at the Atlantic City Convention Center, but had no complaints on an otherwise storybook 19-8 season in the 189-pound weight class.
"I did OK.. I was really nervous. That’s what killed me," said Elshamy, who dropped a 5-2 decision in the pre-quarterfinals to River Dell’s Rick Vitale on Friday night and then got pinned by Kingsway’s Mike Toomey at 5:02 in the wrestlebacks on Saturday.
"I just wish I could have focused a little more," he said. "My mind was all over the place, [it was] my first time in Atlantic City."
"He was a little spooked with eight bouts going on at the same time and all of the people in Atlantic City," said coach Dean Albanese.
Elshamy twice picked up an escape point in his pre-quarterfinal bout, but never could pick up big takedown points.
"I was playing catch-up most of the match. He was getting points off my shots," he said.
And then Elshamy got caught by Toomey when he realized he was in a must-pin situation.
"Everything I did, he’d step over and go for some finish and reverse it," he said. "I was getting crushed [by the score] and I reversed him but my leg got caught between his and I couldn’t get out, and then he got me in a headlock."
"He had a bad style for Mike," said Albanese. "The wrestler he fought before him definitely was a better wrestler."
The good news for Elshamy, who has come a long way from a 10-10 record and third-place finish in District 23 as a sophomore, is that he’ll be back on the mats later this year for his senior campaign. He was the only district champion as Brick Memorial won the team title, and he was the only Region VI champion as well.
"This definitely showed me all of my weaknesses. I know what I have to work on," he said.
"I think this will help him a lot for next season," Albanese said. "Now he knows what it’s all about and what he has to do. He overachieved for us during the season, wrestling at times at 215, where he got two of his losses. But even last year, when he got to the regions, he was a 170-pound wrestler in the 189-pound class."
And it makes him hungrier to prepare for next season.
"Oh, definitely. I’ll be ready to start early on in the club," Elshamy said, referring to the Shore Thing wrestling club.