But that seemed secondary after watching senior Brian Meyer, his good friend and workout partner, fall short of his title dream in the 152-pound final. However, Harrison, now a two-time state medal winner, has all the motivation he needs for 2018-19.
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| Cody Harrison among the four locals on the podium at 138. |
"He's my practice partner, pushes me every day. He's the reason I finished fourth in the state."
Harrison, along with Meyer and junior Travis Jones (seventh at 120) gave Phillipsburg three placewinners in back-to-back years for the first time since 1998 (five) and '99 (three).
"I came here wanting to place high and I knew it would be hard," said Harrison, who finished eighth at 126 pounds as a sophomore. "I really wanted to meet Gapas again and get revenge [for a 5-3 loss on Feb. 8].
That he did. Harrison totally flipped the script from that first meeting, where he gave up two early takedowns. This time around, Harrison got takedowns in the first two periods and fought off Gapas' only legitimate shot at a takedown with 13 seconds left in the bout.
Phillipsburg coach Dave Post said that he and his staff picked up on some things from that first meeting against Gapas, who finished sixth in the state, that helped Harrison turn the tables in the rematch.
"We had a good game plan. I just opened up more," Harrison said. "I was sick in the middle of the year for a while. I got healthy the last couple of weeks and picked up my conditioning. I peaked at the right time."
Winning feeling
Jones (41-6) could very well be in the title hunt with Harrison next season after a strong showing in his second state tournament appearance. Already an outstanding mat wrestler, Jones knows he could really be force with even more improvement in the neutral position.
"I'm going to try freestyle this offseason. It's definitely going to help," he said. "Brian [Meyer] did it and he was in the state finals. I still have a lot to learn in all positions."
After finishing fourth in Region 3 as a sophomore, Jones, who was right there in a 3-1 loss in sudden-victory overtime in the quarterfinals against former champion and 2018 runner-up Antonio Mininno of Gateway-Woodbury, felt a little more at home in Atlantic City following his first region title. The bar has again been raised for his senior season.
"It's a pretty good feeling [winning that first state medal," said Jones, one of the most personable wrestlers in the area who scored an 8-2 win over Don Bosco Prep's Will Grater in the seventh-place bout.
"Last year, I kind of slid in here [finishing fourth]. This year, it still felt a little out of reach, but I had a lot more confidence. Next year, I'm looking to be on top of the podium. I'm definitely going to try my best."
Super effort
Junior Quinn Melofchik (40-5) capped a fine season with a seventh-place finish at 106 pounds -- the 16th medal winner for Belvidere and its first since the late Tyler Smith (second in 2007, third in '08 at 189).
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| Quinn Melofchik has even loftier goals for 2018-19. |
Melofchik lost a rematch with Delbarton freshman Nicholas Nardone, 3-2, in the quarterfinals, who he had defeated in the Region 3 semifinals, 3-2. Hanover Park freshman Joey Olivieri, the Region 3 champ who beat Melofchik twice this season, once in the ultimate tiebreaker, won the state title at one of the most loaded weight classes.
"I'm very capable. I just didn't have it this weekend," said the well-grounded Melofchik, who lists Brown, Penn and Buffalo among his college choices. "I placed and I'm very happy with that. You think about it the whole year. It doesn't always happen. I'm excited."
Melofchik intends to make a return appearance at Super 32 this offseason, as well as the Virginia Dual Tournament. He wants to get bigger and expects to go 120 to start off next season before a potential drop to 113 for the postseason.
Spartan pride
Senior Robert Gennat made a little history of his own this weekend with his fourth-place finish at 195 pounds. He's the first placewinner for Sparta since Matt Stoppay finished fourth at 135 in 2003.
Gennat (40-5), who is will major in Engineering and wrestle at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken this fall, had already etched his name in the Sussex County school's record books as only the second to win a Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex title this season, while becoming its all-time wins leader at 126-32 -- tied for 26th on the county's career list.
"It's been something I've dreamed of since I was a youth wrestler -- to get on the board with the other Sparta greats," said Gennat, a student of the fine wrestling tradition at his school. "Guys like John Place [the Spartans' third and last state champion in 1983] and [two-time region champ] Matt Stoppay. I was seeing that the board in the wrestling room was empty since 2005. Coach [Frank] Battaglia has done an excellent job of rebuilding [the program]."
Back points
Kobis dropped his first-round match on Friday and roared all the way back through the consolations -- going 5-1 overall and finishing with a 7-5 win over Princeton's Alec Bobchin. LaRue, the No. 25 seed at 113 pounds and among four who finished fourth in the region to medal, along with Muldoon, won two bouts on the winners' side and went 2-2 in the consolations, dropping a 7-0 decision to Kyle Kaiser of Paramus in the fifth-place bout.
Region 2 led the medal count with 19 and Region 1 was next with 16. Region 3 had 14, along with Regions 5, 6 and 8. Region 7 had 12 and Region 4 was last with nine.
Attendance has noticeably been dwindling the past few years. One factor this year was Friday's poor weather along the coast, but there's one simple solution if you want more people in the stands for the championship finals. Scrap Sunday and go Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The place will be packed for the finals on Saturday night. Sunday was never a good idea. People have to work on Monday, and most people stay Saturday into Sunday anyway. It's a no-brainer, which is why it will likely never happen.
LaRue is the prime example of why there needs to be a change in the seeding process. He was a No. 25 seed by virtue of finishing fourth in the region. The solution is to seed the entire bracket 1-32, not just firsts, seconds and thirds. Under that formula, LaRue would have been the No. 7 seed. We get the idea of why they don't. The thought was there would be incentive for not bailing on the third-place bout in the regions. But those bouts have no juice any way since fourths are guaranteed a trip to AC.
Maybe that could be one of the first acts for Ken Rossi of West Morris, one of the best in the business and a seeding guru, now the president of the New Jersey Coaches Association, succeeding all-round good guy Dan Smith of Watchung Hills. Smith was named State Coach of the Year on Sunday.
Finally, I missed this earlier, but congratulations to former Warren Hills standout Mike Lamb, who was named the District 18 Coach of the Year and has been the head man at Rutgers Prep since 2002. Lamb, a region champion and fifth-sixth place state finisher at 145 pounds in 1991 for the Blue Streaks, would have been a strong contender for a state title in '92, if not for a season-ending knee injury sustained just prior to the postseason.
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