Family matters
Chaminade isn’t the only school where talent runs in the family.
There are seven sets of siblings, three of whom are twins, plus a pair of cousins wrestling in the powerhouse program at John F. Kennedy High School in the Bellmore-Merrick district.
“I’ve had a lot of brothers through the years, but not seven,” head coach Brian DeGaetano told The Post.
“Wrestling is a pretty tough sport, and when you have so many brothers on the team like this and a tradition of brothers going back to the 1960s, it just adds to the accountability of the kids.”
DeGaetano’s familiar bunch is doing anything but slacking off this year, as his Cougars have pounced on an undefeated 16-0 season heading into dual meet playoffs.
The relatives come in all sizes. Senior Thomas Pearse, who wrestles at the 150-pound weight class, while his younger brother, Justin, is 118 pounds as a ninth grader.
Ian Garcia, a senior at 285 pounds, also has some size on his cousin Evan, a sophomore at 190.
There are also the ninth-grade Giovanni and Francesco Loccisano twins, who grapple at 126 pounds and 110 pounds, respectively.
Freshman Lucas Capo outweighs his 11th grade brother, Hendrick, 157 pounds to 144 — but that doesn’t stop them from training together as practice partners.
“They travel together, and they motivate each other to get better,” the coach said.
It’s common for the older brothers to light a fire in their younger kin, too, according to DeGaetano, who last went undefeated into the playoffs in 2023.
“Some of these brothers are the best kids on our team, which just makes the younger guys want to work harder,” he said.
“It just makes the team better organically, because they’re watching their older brothers wrestle, and they’re like, ‘You know what? I want to be good too.’ That just keeps pushing them.”
