Number of Participants: 40
Hours Donated: 1
Value of Time Served: $338
Event Type: Health & Medicine
Sport: Wrestling
Date: January 16, 2020
Location:
Cold Spring Harbor
NY, USA
About:
Coaches Stephon Sair and Randel McCoy, childhood friends from Huntington Station, embraced before last night’s dual meet in Manhasset. The two enjoyed those youthful years as teammates playing football, basketball and wrestling. Both men went on to become mentors, teachers and coaches.
The battles on those playing fields years ago are nothing compared to the one they face together now. When Sair, the head coach for the Manhasset wrestling team, learned his longtime friend was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig disease), he was crushed. Only the resolve and the fight in McCoy could lift Sair’s spirits.
“He’s an amazing person, a lifelong friend, with such positivity and strength,” said Sair, a 2002 Huntington graduate and state wrestling champion. “I admire Randel. He was always a guy that found a way to come out on top. He’s comfortable building awareness in a public fight against ALS and that’s a selfless thing to do. I wanted to help in any way that I could.”
Sair reached out to Cold Spring Harbor coach Mike Ferrugiari and offered a home-and-home wrestling event as a fundraiser with all the proceeds going to ALS research. McCoy, an assistant coach at Cold Spring Harbor, was floored by the outpouring of support and the amount of people reaching out to join in his fight . The Manhasset gym was packed Thursday night.
“When you have a diagnosis that’s terminal how much fight can you have,” said McCoy, a 2003 Huntington graduate who starred in basketball and wrestling. “You’re only as strong as the people in your corner. My mental strength is at its peak because of all the love and the strength of the people all around me.”
Cold Spring Harbor and Manhasset packed the gym Thursday night for the Takedown ALS dual meet.
Jackson Polo decisioned Rishabh Jajoo, 10-5, at 113 pounds as Cold Spring Harbor and Manhasset tied, 33-33, in an exciting non-league dual meet. Cold Spring Harbor, the top ranked Division II team in the state, won the dual meet by criteria by winning eight of the 15 bouts.
https://www.newsday.com/sports/high-school/wrestling/cold-spring-harbor-manhasset-wrestling-1.40686331
