By John D'Onofrio
Lockport Union-Sun & Journal
TOWN OF LOCKPORT —
If winning one state wrestling championship isn’t enough, the Lockport Kids Wrestling Club went four times better, producing a record four state champions at the recent state youth wrestling championships in Cornell.
The LKWC celebrated these and other top finishes and performances on Friday at its annual banquet at the South Lockport Fire Hall.
J.R. Leuer, 6; Andy Lucinski, 8; Mitchell Seaver, 12; and Anthony Orefice, 14; won state titles for the LKWC.
Sixteen club members went down to the state tournament late last month, along with five coaches, LKWC president Kevin Lucinski, Jimmy Leuer, Chris Duncanson, Shawn Murray and Jerry Kapuscinski.
It was Lucinski’s second straight state title. Last year, he won at 50 pounds and this year, he claimed the 55-pound Empire State championship.
“I was down 2-0,” Lucinski said of his state finals match. “Then in the last period, with about 10 seconds left, I reversed him and got back the points. I want to thank my dad and my mom and all my coaches,” Andy said.
Leuer won the 37-pound title, Seaver, making his second straight trip to states, claimed the 75-pound crown and Orefice won the 118-pound title.
Seaver, whose favorite move is the Lateral Drop, is one the longest standing members of the LKWC, now in his sixth year.
Placing second at states for the Little Lions were Stephen Kapuscinski (95) and Kirk Feeney (130). Feeney went 19-14 at 120 pounds for Joe Scapelliti’s LHS varsity Lions this past season as just a freshman.
“You get a lot out of the club,” Feeney said. “Youth is harder than modified. You have seventh and eighth graders just starting out going against some guys who’ve been in it for five or six years already.”
Placing third for the LKWC was Dontay Gill (80). Placing fourth for Lockport were Max Feeney (70), Julias Williams (75) and Mike Daskavitz (172).
The Little Lions finished fifth overall out of the 107 clubs attending and were the top school-based team in the state.
“Other clubs are all-star teams or paid clubs where the kids can come from anywhere. Lockport had nine place winners, four of them are state champions,” Kevin Lucinski said.
The LKWC currently boasts 58 kids and has had membership numbers as high as 70.
Coming up next are two spring tournaments. The Gene Mills International is this weekend in Syracuse and the Brute Empire Nationals in Rochester follows a week after that.
