By Kim J. Harmon

W

hen James Monroe left Newtown High in 1999 as the greatest wrestler the school has ever known, it was difficult enough to imagine anyone coming close to the standards he set.

It was impossible to think of it happening so soon.

While it still seems unlikely anyone will break Monroe’s record of 140 career victories any time soon, both Steve Selezan and Nick Feola should come awfully close this season in yet another assault on their hapless competition.

Yes, Steve (6-1 this year and 91-13 in his career) and Nick (3-2 this year and 90-24 in his career) are the new standard-bearers of Newtown wrestl-ing.

And now it won’t be long (maybe as early as next weekend in the Danbury Tournament) before one or both crosses the 100-win plateau that only two other wrestlers – Monroe and Kyle Turoczi – have crossed. And if they should approach the totals each attained last season (Steve was 42-2 and Nick was 44-4) then they should finish very close to Monroe.

One of them will be No. 2 all-time.

The other will be No. 3.

So, does it matter which is which?

“Definitely not,” said Nick, now 18, the defending CIAC Class L 130-pound champion. “It’s a good feeling and considering we’re best friends and we do everything together, why not win 100 matches together?”

Together, they were the scourge of the South-West Conference in the 1999-2000 season, their first as tri-captains. Being nearly unbeatable in the SWC helped the pair, along with fellow captain Matt Sullivan, lead the Nighthawks to a 6-3 conference record.

Steve went on to the win the SWC title at 152 pounds by virtually destroying Franco Jean of Stratford. Steve had Jean in such a frightful hold in the final that Jean’s coach was forced to literally throw in the towel and quit the match.

Nick, meanwhile, ended up getting defeated by Mark Reher of Jonathan Law, 4-2, in the 130-pound final (the only conference loss by either of the two wrestlers) when Reher slapped a vise-like leg lock on Nick and rode him out for nearly six minutes.

That was a tough one for Nick to accept – but no tougher than what Steve had to accept a week later in the CIAC Class L state tournament. While Nick was able to get back at Reher, 8-6, to earn the 130-pound state championship (and a brief trip to the New England Tournament), Steve suffered through a bad tumble in his match with Chris Santacroce (hitting his head on a nearby chair and getting a concussion for his troubles) and lost out in his quest for a state championship.

 “At first, I thought all of my hard work had gone for nothing,” said Steve, now 17, who wrestled with the Cadet National Team and in the Mid-Atlantic Tournament to prepare himself for his junior season. “I thought I could have easily been first or second in the state . . . but it just didn’t work out.”

Explaining what happened in the SWC tournament, Nick said, “I was too cocky. I had beaten (Reher) in the Danbury Tournament something like 13-5. But at the SWCs I didn’t wrestle like myself, that’s for sure.”

Lessons – hard lessons – were learned.

“Everyone who talked to me said the loss in the SWCs was the best thing that could have happened to me,” said Nick, who added wryly, “Although it would have been nice to win since I haven’t yet.”

Steve added, “Like Nick, it was probably a good thing I lost (in the states) because, this year, it will give me even more motivation. And I won’t get over what happened last year until I win it this year.”

Starting Out

Even though Steve and Nick gravitated towards wrestling for somewhat different reasons (for Steve it was probably a way to get back at his cousin Mike, who was always whaling on him, while Nick first started because his friend Brian Tomasulo asked him to check it out) both knew – pretty quickly – that the mat was where they belonged.

“I thought it was real tough and I didn’t think I’d do as well as I did,” said Steve, who split time between the junior varsity and varsity teams in his freshman year. “It was frustrating, though, until I found my own style.”

Nick added, “I definitely knew it was hard – but I loved it. Then I lost my first match and hated it. Then I won my second match and loved it all over again.”

Nick was 15-10 his freshman year, wrestling at 119 pounds, while Steve was 11-6, wrestling at 130 pounds. It was just the start of something mighty big for two guys who were taking their cues from guys like James Monroe, Brian Tomasulo and Paul Giarratano.

“We looked up to those guys,” said Steve, “and we really wanted to be as good as they were.”

The transformation began when they started working hard in the off-season. And it wasn’t just the camps they attended between their freshmen and sophomore seasons that helped Steve and Nick take that huge leap forward but also the arrival of their new coach, Alan Potter.

“Our old coach just worked on being tough,” Steve explained, “but our new coach went with a lot of technique and showed us how it could all work together.”

Nick added, “Coach Potter introduced us to the Granby system and that has really helped me out.”

Sophomore year for these two guys was the last in the wrestling program for Monroe, Tomasulo and Giarratano and while Steve was going 32-4 in the 140-pound class and Nick was going 28-8 at 125 pounds, they were both busy figuring out what they had to do when it was their turn to lead.

“Our sophomore year, we were the next best kids,” said Nick, “but as juniors we were captains. We had to step out of the shadows.”

Steve added, “We wanted to make a strong influence on the younger kids like James did with us.”

Well, actions speak louder than words and with their work ethic and their drive, Steve and Nick said did all they had to do when, between them, they went 86-6 with one South-West Conference championship and one CIAC Class L state championship.

While each of these guys learned what it was like to be a champion, they also learned what it was like to have to lean on someone else – a friend – for a little help.

For Nick, it was a tough, tough loss to take in the SWC finals and he remembered, “Everyone was trying to get to me and I just told them to get away. Steve was the only one who could cheer me up.”

For Steve, a loss in the state tournament – following that hard knock on the head while tumbling off the mat – put him in such a mood that he was almost willing to chuck the whole thing. “Nick was the only one I’d listen to,” he said, “the only one who would even attempt to cheer me up.”

The two guys survived their trials and tribulations last year and returned to the mat for the 2000-2001 season more determined than ever and who could blame them if they are thinking in larger terms than the South-West Conference and the CIAC Class L tournaments.

They want to go to New Englands.

These guys want it all.

STEVE_SELEZAN

 

Freshmen      11-6

Sophomore     32-4

Junior  42-2

Senior 6-1

Total 91-13

NICK_FEOLA

 

Freshman      15-10

Sophomore     28-8

Junior  44-4

Senior 3-2

Total   90-24