Bellport wrestlers shine at national tournament

Two wrestlers from Bellport High School earned All-America honors last month at the U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals championships.

Camryn Howard, who is going into his sophomore year, won the men’s 16-and-under freestyle event at 157 pounds, becoming the first wrestler from Bellport High School to win the tournament.

Caitlin Maragioglio, a rising junior, was seeded No. 8 in the women’s 16-and-under freestyle at 125 pounds and finished sixth. Maragioglio’s top-6 finish earned her All-America status. She’s the first female wrestler from Bellport High School to reach that milestone.

The two wrestlers were among more than 8,500 wrestlers from across the U.S. to compete in the tournament, which was held July 12 to July 19, in Fargo, N.D.

South Country School District athletic director Martino Sottile called it the premier tournament in the U.S. for high-school wrestlers.

“It’s the toughest tournament in the country,” Sottile said.

Howard is the first wrestler from Long Island to win a national U-16 freestyle championship since 2016, according to USA Wrestling. He finished third at last year’s Fargo nationals.

Earlier this year, Howard won the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championship, in Albany, in the 138-pound weight class. He is Bellport’s first state wrestling champion since 2001 and a three-time county champion. He also won double gold medals at the Pan Am U-16 world games.

Howard is already “one of the most accomplished wrestlers in Suffolk County history,” Sottile said.

“He’s very modest, a very humble, great kid,” who focuses on his team, not himself, Sottile said.

Maragioglio is an all-state and all-county wrestler. She captains the Bellport Surge wrestling team, which includes female wrestlers from several area high schools, including William Floyd and Patchogue-Medford. The team won the New York State Public High School Athletic Association tournament earlier this year.

“Her growth throughout the season was incredible to witness,” Sottile said of Maragioglio. “She’s an extremely coachable kid, an extremely hard worker… As great a wrestler as she is, she’s an even better leader.”