The 79th New Jersey State Wrestling Championships have come and gone. Here's a rundown of some of the happenings from Super Sunday at Boardwalk Hall.
Phillipsburg's Brandon Hull made his town and Warren County proud with a state championship at 220 pounds, while Hunterdon Central sophomore Gary Dinmore enjoyed a great weekend and his first trip to the finals at 126 where he earned a silver medal.
North Hunterdon's Ryan Pomrinca (113) and Liam Korbul (182) earned seventh-place finishes, while Delaware Valley's Mike Pongracz placed fifth at 126 and Will Van Doren eighth at 170. Voorhees' Jadaen Bernstein (160) was seventh and Kittatinny's Clarke Moynihan capped a fine career with a fourth-place medal at 152.
Pomrinca was the first freshman to place for North Hunterdon since former great Ricky Frondorf earned a fifth-place medal in 2000. Frondorf finished third the following season, prior to winning back-to-back state titles in '02 and '03.
"I would've been [ticked] off [not to earn a medal] because I've been working as hard as I could to place," said Pomrinca, who finished the season at 39-5. "It was my last match of my freshman year, so I wanted to go as hard as I can and try to win it."
Pomrinca secured a late takedown to earn a 4-3 win over Hasbrouck Heights' Marc Mastropietro, who did a fair amount of stalling in that final period.
"I knew there was like 10 seconds left and I had to take him down to win," Pomrinca said. "I felt I wrestled pretty good, but I need to work on top because riding is my biggest weakness. Right now I am excellent on bottom, I've been able to get out on everyone. I was taken down just once the whole tournament."
Say what?
It's a crying shame to employ such incompetent announcers for such a great tournament. The nameless duo butchered just about every single wrestler's name and school during the entire three days. Roxbury High School became "Roxborough" and St. Peter's was "St. Peter's-burg."
The NJSIAA should be ashamed to have those men working a mic and hopefully we will hear a fresh voice or two in 2013. I know P'burg coach Dave "Don't call me Dan" Post would love to see a change. It was particularly embarrassing when tournament director Howie O'Neill called him "Dan" Post when recognizing the eight region coaches of the year prior to finals. And, rightfully so, the P'burg faithful let him know the error of his ways by yelling "Dave Post."
By the way, hats off to Post and North Hunterdon coach Tim Flynn, who was called to the center mat in recognition of his Region 5 Coach of the Year award. Two Phillipsburg boys did the town proud.
On a side note, Brick Memorial's Dan O'Cone getting state coach of the year was a real injustice in my opinion. How does Post not win it after guiding the 'Liners to a sectional and a Group 4 title by beating O'Cone's Mustangs at Toms River? Even South Plainfield coach Kevin McCann, with the state's No. 1 team, was a more deserving choice.
Amazing.
W-OW how about Clagon?
Toms River South's Bryant "B.J." Clagon is an absolute monster and deservedly won the Donald Ringler Award as the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler following his impressive pin of South Plainfield's Tyler Hunt in the final championship bout at 138 pounds.
Clagon, who was a runner-up in 2011, had two pins, an 18-6 major and a 6-1 victory during his run to the title -- Toms River South's sixth and first since Darnell Myers won the heavyweight crown in 1984.
Watchung Hills' Mike Magaldo (120), Trenton Central's Ray Bethea (152) and St. Peter's Lenny Richardson (145) also earned votes in my opinion. Bethea is Mercer County's second champ and first at his school, while Richardson became his school's second champ after James Fox won a year ago.
Final region medal tally
Region 3 was the big winner on Sunday with a whopping five champions -- including two from South Plainfield in Ashnault and Scott DelVecchio (138). Regions 1, 2, 6 and 7 all had two champs and Region 4 had one winner. Regions 5 and 8 were shut out on the top step of the podium.
Here is the final medal count:
Region 4=18
Regions 3 and 6=17
Regions 2, 5 and 7=13
Region 8=11
Region 1=10
Looking toward 2013
Eight of the 14 champions: Anthony Cefolo of Hanover Park (106), Brenden Calas of Seton Hall (113), Magaldo, Ashnault, DelVecchio, Clagon, Johnny Sebastian of Bergen Catholic (160) and Razohnn Gross of Don Bosco (195) will return next year to defend their titles.
Cefolo became the first Hanover Park winner since James LaValle won his third in 1998, while Gross became the first to win for the Ironmen after Joe Orecchio came up short in the finals twice in 2009 and '11.
Also of note, Jermaine Eluemunor (285) was the second Morris Knolls finalist, joining Fred Piotrowsky in 1966. At the same weigh, Tom Rementer finished fifth to give Clayton its first state medal since the program started in 1967.
Both Keith Lemengello (160) and Mike Spencer (285) tried to break the fourth-place finishes at Pequannock, but each came up short in the bronze medal bout. Blair Ludemann (1971), Vin Anello ('94), Greg Gingeleskie ('95), O.J. DeChristofano (2002) and Dayton Frost ('04) also finished fourth for the Morris County school's best state finishes.
James Dugan, with his third-place finish at 160, is Becton-Wallington's highest placewinner, surpassing Everett Bell's fourth in 1996.
Kevin Devoy, who finished third at 126, is Burlington Township's highest state medalist. The Bethea brothers, Maaziah and Raamiah gave Mercer County two medals in the same year for only the fourth time in county history.
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