Well, another Region 1 Tournament is in the books, and in my opinion, this one was among the best I've witnessed since my first in 1982. There were so many storylines it's hard to single out only one. Here's a few high on my list:
District 4 made its own region history by crowning a tournament-best five champions, the first time that district has ever produced the most winners. District 1 had four champs, District 2 had three and District 3 had two champs.
District 3 managed only two finalists, but two champs in Kittatinny's Clarke Moynihan and Newton's Jake Connelly. Moynihan stunning previously-unbeaten Dillon Artigliere, 5-1, at 152 pounds to earn Outstanding Wrestler honors. Connelly improving to 40-0 by beating Wayne Valley's Anthony Landberg, 3-2, to win his first title at 195.
Phillipsburg which had the gym jumping by picking up four third-place medals in the consolation finals to send a tournament-high six wrestlers to Atlantic City. It also cemented the Coach of the Year award for Dave Post, who guided the Stateliners to the Group 4 title a few weeks ago. Brandon Hull looks more and more to me like the 220-pound state champ as he earned a 5-3 win over Wayne Valley's Alex Trani to become the 112th region champ for the Warren County school. Hull converted a takedown with 53 seconds left and nearly pancaked Trani later in the period as they tumbled out-of-bounds.
It was a tough couple of days for the Sussex County contingent as only nine wrestlers made it out to Atlantic City. High Point, which did not have a finalist for the first time since 2003, did get two third-place finishers in freshman Mike Derin (120) and sophomore Kyle Stoll (182). The future is bright, though, as both High Point and Kittatinny had very young squads. Kittatinny bested all Sussex teams with four qualifiers, as James Elphick (113), Kieran Gerrity (160) and Jake Brook (170) all finished third. Hopatcong's Joe Cruz decked Lenape Valley freshman Glenn Haines in the 120-pound final.
Even with 17 of the top four seeds going down in Friday's quarterfinals, the new seeding system proved to be extremely accurate. In all, 11 No. 1s made the finals (eight champs) and eight No. 2s reached the championship round. There was a No. 5, a No. 6, a No. 7 and a No. 8, plus one unseeded wrestler, Phillipsburg's Anthony Johnson, in the finals.
Among the District 4 winners were three from Pequannock -- all winning their first titles as R.J. DeGeorge (132), Keith Lemengello (160) and Mike Spencer (285) grabbed golds. It was the first time for the Panthers to win three in a tournament and their first champs since Dayton Frost and Scott Van Peenen in 2004. J.W. Bykowski and O.J. DeChristofano won in 2002. Pequannock's other champs are Brian May ('03), Greg Gingeleskie ('95), Dave Brancato ('84), Don Budd ('71, '72), Blair Ludemann ('71) and Tom Burklow ('72). Wayne Valley got its third region champ as Sam Tareky beat Warren Hills' Joe Kratochvil, 6-0, at 126. Rich Morris (1984) and Bill Cerretta (1997) are the only other champs for the Passaic County school.
Morris County, which produced six champs, saw Randolph not have a semifinalist for only the third time since 1986 and the first since 2006. Freshman A.J. Vindici was the Rams' lone state qualifier, finishing third at 106. Morris Knolls senior Jan Rosenberg (106), Roxbury's Tim Garripoli (145) and Mendham's Ryan Harrington (170) were the county's other champs in addition to the Pequannock trio. Rosenberg and Harrington each won their second gold medals.
Warren Hills freshman Max Nauta was his school's first ninth-grader in the finals since Dave Richmond made the first of four finals appearances in 2003. Nauta (28-5) needs one more win to break the school wins mark for a freshman. Nauta had a great run, knocking off the Nos. 2 and 3 seeds, before losing by technical fall to Rosenberg, the state favorite at 106.
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