Wrestling: P'burg back in R3; North returns to R4

The more things change the more they stay the same.

With the district and region alignments for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons set for final approval during the NJSIAA rules committe meeting on Thursday, Open Mike has learned that Phillipsburg will shift back to Region 3 -- where the Stateliners competed in 2017 and '18 under the first round of realignment -- after competing in Region 4 the past two seasons.

North won a District 20 title this past season.

In addition, North Hunterdon will move back to Region 4 at Union High School, along with Delaware Valley, which had been in Region 5 since 2001, to reunite with Voorhees. That leaves Hunterdon Central as the only remaining school from the county in Region 5.

Phillipsburg, which will be in a district with Hanover Park, is once again be paired with Belvidere, Hackettstown and Warren Hills in Region 3, which includes Delbarton and Seton Hall Prep, has been held at West Orange High School for many years, though P'burg has applied to host a region tournament in recent seasons.

The Stateliners won team titles in District 9 and District 13 the previous four seasons of realignment, the last two championships by an average margin of 148 points. In addition, coach Dave Post's teams advanced all 14 wrestlers to Region 4 last season, including nine district champions, and 12 out of that district, which housed eight other teams from Middlesex, Somerset and Union counties, in 2019. P'burg figures to be a host for District 10, which includes Belvidere and Hackettstown. Warren Hills will be in District 12 with Randolph serving as the host site.

As was the case in the previous four years of realignment, most of the Sussex County schools stay in Region 1 at West Milford, though High Point is the only school not in a district with a local team. Hopatcong and Lenape Valley stay in Region 2 at Mount Olive.

The executive committee voted unanimously in early May to adopt a new method to construct realignment for the district and region tournaments in 2020-21 and 2021-22. The new metric revolved around how the 32 power schools in the state were determined -- team power points over the previous two seasons instead of the three- and five-year averages used in previous years (75 percent) and individual performance (25 percent) or top 16 finishes at the state tournament.

Another key change was that a region can have no more than five teams or fewer than three of the power 32 schools. Once the power teams were determined and placed in regions according to their northing numbers, the remaining schools were snaked into districts. The top eight schools in each region could not move once placed in districts, but others in some cases were shifted depending on proximity to host schools. For instance, Delbarton (District 9), P'burg, Seton Hall Prep (District 11) and Mendham (District 12) were the top four power schools in Region 3, followed by Warren Hills, West Morris (District 11), Hanover Park (District 10) and Kearny (District 9).

Local change at the top

In somewhat of a surprise, Larry White announced on Monday that he will resign as executive director of the NJSIAA effective on June 30. On Wednesday, former South Hunterdon star athlete Colleen (McCrea) Maguire, who had previously served as the body's finance director, was named chief operating officer and will handle day-to-day affairs.

Maguire was a two-sport star in field hockey and girls basketball at South Hunterdon in the early 1990s. She is a Hall of Fame member at South and George Washington University, where she lettered all four seasons on the basketball court. Maguire is regarded as one of the best female basketball players ever produced in the Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex area.

According to sources, Maguire was heavily involved in wrestling circles this past season, serving as a point person in discussions to move the state team championships to Rutgers for 2021.