Following a pair of fourth-place finishes his sophomore and junior years, Atlas wanted the big prize and ensure himself a higher seed in the Section 1 Large School Wrestling Championships.
Atlas would make a statement, posting a 7-1 decision against Somers’ Anthony DiMauro to win the 120-pound title Saturday at a divisional at Sleepy Hollow.
The top four finishers in each weight at each of the four divisional tournaments advance to the large-school championships next weekend.
Teammate Mitchell Klein won the 145-pound title and was selected the most outstanding wrestler on the day.”
“This is my senior year, so I wanted to do a lot better than I had done my last two years,” said Atlas of his two fourth-place finishes. “Last year, I felt that I was not prepared for my matches and I just got by in all of them. “This year I worked a lot harder and I felt a lot better than I did last year. I was a lot more at ease and I wrestled a lot better.”
Atlas, now 33-8, came into the final fresh off a pair of pins in each of the first periods in his first two matches. Atlas grabbed a 2-0 lead on DiMauro with a takedown in the first period and continued adding to it.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Chappaqua and receive free news updates.