Thursday, March 13, 2014

Wrestling: Longest active run of Top 25 appearances

South Plainfield, which finished ranked as New Jersey's No. 1 team in three of the last five seasons, currently holds the longest consecutive stretch of appearances -- with 18 -- in the Coaches Top 25 Poll.

High Point, with 10 straight appearances, is one of four schools from the Open Mike area that has finished in the Top 25 at least two straight seasons. Phillipsburg, which only missed once (2006) in the poll's 44-year history, is next with eight. North Hunterdon and Kittatinny are next with three and two straight appearances, respectively.

The Stateliners, who own the most No. 1 finishes with 11, also hold the record for most overall appearances with 43, followed by Paulsboro (40), which missed for the first time since 1971 in 2012 and '13. The Red Raiders finished No. 1 seven times -- 1979, '80, '81, '85, '91, '99 and 2000 -- while the 'Liners topped the poll in 1971, '72, '73, '82, '87, '88, '89, '95, '96, '97 and '98.

Absegami is next with four straight No. 1 finishes (2001-04), followed by South Plainfield with three top finishes (2010, '12 and '13). The only other schools to finish atop the poll are: Randolph (1974), Roxbury (1975), Hunterdon Central (1976), Pascack Hills (1977, '78), Highland (1983), Delaware Valley (1984), Brick Memorial (1986, '94), Warren Hills (1990), Jefferson (1992, '93), Camden Catholic (2005), Jackson Memorial (2006-07), High Point (2008, '11), Long Branch (2009) and Bergen Catholic (2014).

The first Top 25 was created for the 1970-71 season.

Here is the list among active schools:

School
Appearances
South Plainfield
18
Jackson Memorial
15
Southern
12
High Point
10
Howell
10
Phillipsburg
8
Delbarton
6
St. Peters Prep
6
Bergen Catholic
4
Bound Brook
3
Brick Memorial
3
North Hunterdon
3
Don Bosco Prep
2
Kittatinny
2
Long Branch
2
St. Joseph-Montvale
2

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Wrestling: Breakdown of state medals by district

Here is the number of placewinners in the 81st New Jersey State Wrestling Championships per weight class among the 32 districts. District 16 had the most medal winners with nine, followed by District 9 with eight. Districts 5 and 18 each had seven.

In districts involving teams from the Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex area, District 17 had six and District 1 had five, while Districts 2 and 3 each had two medal winners.

District 18 had a state-best four finalists and two champions (Craig De La Cruz of Bound Brook and Anthony Cassar of Montgomery). 

District 16 had three finalists and one champion (Anthony Giraldo of North Bergen), while District 5 had three runners-up (Kyle Bierdumpfel, Luke Farinaro and Zack Chakonis of Don Bosco Prep). 

D
106
113
120
126
132
138
145
152
160
170
182
195
220
285
No.
1
1
1
1
1
1
5
2
1
1
2
3
1
1
2
4
1
1
1
1
4
5
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
7
6
0
7
1
1
1
1
1
1
6
8
1
1
1
3
9
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
8
10
1
1
11
1
1
1
1
4
12
1
1
13
1
1
2
14
1
1
15
1
1
16
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
9
17
1
1
1
2
1
6
18
1
1
1
1
2
1
7
19
1
1
2
20
1
1
2
21
1
1
1
1
2
6
22
1
2
1
1
5
23
1
1
1
1
1
5
24
1
1
2
25
1
1
1
1
4
26
1
1
1
3
27
1
1
2
28
1
1
2
29
1
1
1
1
4
30
1
1
2
31
1
1
2
32
1
1
2