State champion Martino making Johnston proud

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To say that Nick Martino has learned his lessons well would be an understatement.

On the wrestling mat, the Johnston native ranks among the best high school heavyweights in Rhode Island and New England.

More impressive, as some people were saying Sunday inside Johnston High School’s jam-packed Edward L. DiSimone Gymnasium: “Nick has earned the distinction to wrestle for the High School National Championship” that will be held March 24-25 in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

That’s a long, long way from the Johnston Youth Wrestling mat, where Martino – now 17 – began competing at age 5.

Last weekend, Martino powered his way to the prestigious Heavyweight Division state title by way of four successive pins during the Rhode Island Interscholastic League’s annual state championships that were held inside the spacious Providence Tech Career Center.

This weekend, the talented Bishop Hendricken High School senior will wrestle for the prestigious New England Heavyweight Division crown during the annual regional tourney that will also be held at the Providence facility.

“He’s the pride of Johnston Youth Wresting,” John Antonucci, an assistant wrestling coach at JHS, who has long been active in the town’s highly-successful youth mat program, said. “Everyone around here – and at Hendricken – will be cheering Nick on to win his first-ever New England title.”

Antonucci also noted that Martino is predicted to be one of the favorites in this weekend’s New England Tourney, simply because he has already shut out the top-ranked heavyweights from New Hampshire and Vermont.

“We are all very, very proud of what Nick has accomplished on the wrestling mat and in the classroom,” Lisa Baccala, the tireless president of Johnston Youth Wrestling, offered. “Look over there; he just won the state title and has come here today to help us during the state youth tourney.”

When it comes to athletics, Martino is at the top of his class.

Last weekend, for example, he racked up four prolific pins to capture the state Heavyweight Division title.

“He didn’t even wrestle a complete match,” Antonucci explained. “In his first (state) tourney match, Nick took just 39 seconds to pin his opponent. He won his quarterfinal match at 4:40 via pin, and in the semis he only needed 16 seconds for the pin. He then crushed NK’s Ricky Brown at 2:37 of the finale.”

Martino did not wrestle the entire season, yet, he compiled an eye-popping 21-0 record with no points allowed in the 285-pound weight class. Last year in the 220-pound category, he was 38-2, and only allowed four takedowns in 40 matches. He was 6-1 and finished third in last year’s New England Tourney.

He has received All-State Academic Wrestling honors in his junior and senior years. He was the second leading tackler on the Hawks’ state championship football team and considered by many as the most dominant lineman in Rhode Island.

Also among his many credits is volunteering for Special Olympics RI, Food Bank of RI, Gloria Gemma Breast Foundation, Saint Robert Bellarmine Church and Johnston Youth Wrestling and Football groups.

In the classroom, Martino is equally adept as he has been on the wrestling mat and as a standout for Hendricken’s state champion football Hawks.

“We are proud of what Nick has accomplished,” Roland A. Martino, Jr., Nick’s father who is president of Prescott Appraisal Service, Inc., said Sunday while helping coach the town’s youth wrestlers. “The hard work he has put in through wrestling has developed Nick into a high honors student with a 3.5 GPA.”

And that, Martino, Jr., and his wife Maureen will attest, is why many of New England’s top prep schools are recruiting the Johnston resident to play football and wrestle while working towards a scholarship to a four-year college or university.

But, before there’s any such talk about next year, the 6-foot, 250-pound Martino – as well as his many followers – will focus their sights on the Providence Tech Career Center where they’ll be in hopes of watching Martino capture his first-ever New England Championship.

“Of course, it won’t be easy,” Antonucci reminded Johnston wrestling fans. “But Nick is a seasoned performer. He has won many tournaments throughout New England at the youth, middle school and high school levels. But the one he wants – and so does everybody here in Johnston and at Bishop Hendricken – is the coveted crown and title of being the best heavyweight wrestler in the region.”

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