Matt Long Sets Mineola Wrestling Record

The following article was posted by Geoffrey Walter. It was written by Zachary Englis.

“Wrestling is a rough sport, probably the hardest one aside from MMA, even if you aren’t the best, wrestling teaches a lot,” Mineola High School senior Matt Long said.

The Class of 2013 member didn’t set out in wrestling to be the very best, but used the sport to channel and release his anger in a competitive and dominate fashion. However, five years ago as an eighth grader in a JV wrestling tournament, Long faced three opponents and beat all three of them in under 30 seconds.

“I thought to myself I must actually be pretty good if I’m beating high school kids as a middle schooler,” he said.

Long has been on the varsity team ever since. His accomplishments and awards include one All-Conference title (2009-2010 season), and three All-County titles (2010-2011, 2011-2012, and 2012-2013 seasons), which is the most consecutive Nassau County titles in Mineola wrestling history. He was also a state qualifier for three years, the Nassau County most outstanding wrestler in 2012 and the New York State sportsmanship award winner in 2013.

A major accomplishment that Long reached and surpassed this year was the Mineola win record of 110. Long beat that and ended his high school career with 121 wins.

Long’s long list of achievements extends its roots into preparation and hard work.  In the eighth grade, Mineola varsity wrestling coach Dan Guido helped harness Long’s anger and teach him the fundamentals and proper technique for wrestling.

“I started to love the sport not because it was an anger reliever, but because I was good at it and becoming better a lot faster than everyone else,” Long said.

Recognizing his own advantage, he went beyond the bounds of high school wrestling and expanded his experience and practice to outside sources.

“My dad helped me a lot by taking me wrestling all year round, for the past five years, to tournaments and camps,” Long said.

This helped him expand his wrestling capabilities and get even better to become “the best wrestler in Mineola history,” which Long recalled coach Dan Guido saying at Mineola’s Varsity Dinner on June 3.

Long also attended Vougars Honors Wrestling Club for an extra two hours each day after regular practice. It was here that Long was helped by Vougar Oroudjov, a two-time world champion and Olympic medalist.

With all the achievements, with all the hard work, with all the extra time and effort he put in “I want to be that guy that all the wrestlers want to beat and I hope someday someone does,” Long said.

After graduation he is enlisted in the United States Army and plans to wrestle and represent his country in international matches along with a chance to try out for the Olympics in 2016 in Rio.

“I decided to pursue the army because I would have a chance to make it to the Olympics along with defending the country I love,” he said.

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