Seven area student-athletes and five coaches were honored Wednesday night at the annual Beat the Streets benefit, following the freestyle matches in Times Square that afternoon and evening. A total of $1.2 million was raised for the organization, which works directly with the New York City Department of Education in a public-private partnership to bring the life changing sport of wrestling to over 3,000 New York City student-athletes to help them achieve their personal and athletic goals.
The winners are:
Student-Athletes:
Junior League Girls Wrestler of the Year: Alessandra Elliott, Tottenville
Junior League Boys Wrestler of the Year: Wilver Mariano-Peralta, MS 129
Female Student-Athlete of the Year: Amna Eldawaity, Bronx Studio
Male Student-Athlete of the Year: Joseph DiForte, Petrides
GRIT Award: Yonefry Polanco, Dewitt-Clinton
LADY LIBERTY Award: Pearl Fletcher, Harry S Truman
ATLAS Award and Become Your Own Dream Scholarship Winner: Brandon Nunez, John Bowne
Coaches:
Junior League Coach of the Year: Dmitriy Landa, Elite Wrestling Academy
High School Assistant Coach of the Year: Jonathan Khoury, Eagle Academy
Girls High School Coach of the Year: Dave Kantrowitz, Bronx Studio
Boys High School Coach of the Year: Stephen Perez, Grand Street Campus
Volunteer of the Year: Andy Martinez, Harry S Truman
As previously announced, BTS Awards were also presented to:
Man of the Year – Austin DeSanto, Pennsylvania State Champion 2017
Woman of the Year – Helen Maroulis, Olympic Gold Medalist 2016
Lifetime Achievement Award – Rocky Aoki (his daughter Devon and son Steve accepted in his honor)
The stars of USA Wrestling were unleashed upon Times Square on Wednesday evening with Olympic champions Helen Maroulis, Kyle Snyder and Jordan Burroughs leading a U.S. rout at the 2017 Beat the Streets Benefit dubbed “East Meets West.” Nine exhibition matches featuring Beat the Streets youth athletes and the NYC PSAL Girl’s Freestyle Dual Meet Championship preceded the Team USA vs. Japan matchup.