East Meadow Athlete Spotlight: Evan Pantofel

After four years of hard work in school, as well as training for football and wrestling, Evan Pantofel has had quite the career at East Meadow High School.

Pantofel, 18, has spent the last four years dedicating his athletic prowess to the football and wrestling programs. In football, Pantofel is a linebacker, and he helped guide East Meadow to a Nassau County Championship victory last season.

"It was awesome because we were working for it for four years," Pantofel said. "Everything we worked for came true."

That wasn't Pantofel's only taste of glory, as on Feb. 11, he found himself in the finals at the Nassau County wrestling championship. After falling behind 5-0, Pantofel battled back, as he pancaked Plainedge’s Dan Spurgeon to tie the score at 5-5. With 15 seconds left, however, Spurgeon was able to elude Pantofel's grasp to secure the deciding point.

The All-County wrestler was awarded second place after finishing fifth in the tournament one year ago. He said the hard work instilled in him at East Meadow High School was vital to his success.

"It really teaches you a lot of lessons because of all the hard work we put into everything," Pantofel said. "We work year-round for everything we do."

Pantofel admitted that it's a lot to maintain good grades along with pre-school and post-school athletic commitments, but he said he has no complaints about anything when it comes to his high school career.

"I really couldn’t have asked for a better high school experience," he said. "From the people I worked hard with, to my friends and teammates, I really had a perfect high school career."

Pantofel is still undecided about his future. He said it's likely that his football career is over, but he is being recruited to wrestle by both SUNY Oneonta and SUNY Cortland, both of which he is considering. Pantofel is leaning towards studying accounting, he said.

What did you think of Evan Pantofel's athletic career at East Meadow High School? Tell us in the comments.