MARIE ORTIZ Chris Stoop of Colts Neck High School bench-presses 205 pounds at the Freehold Regional District weightlifting competition in Colts Neck.
Manalapan High School won bragging rights as the strongest school in the District, winning the Freehold Regional High School District Lift-Off on June 12. The second annual event was hosted by Colts Neck High School.
There were four repeat winners in the competition, which has 12 weight classes. The winner is determined by who can bench-press the most weight.
Manalapan lifters teamed up for 54 points to edge Freehold Township with 51. Howell was third at 44, followed by Marlboro (43), Colts Neck (40) and Freehold Borough (32).
At 130 pounds, Colts Neck’s Doug Hammel defended his championship by lifting 220 pounds, 15 more than runner-up Justin Lee from Manalapan (205). Third place went to Paul Failla of Marlboro at 195.
Colts Neck’s Jason Orrico also repeated at 140. He shared first place with Howell’s Brice Jacobs. Both lifters raised 245 pounds. Third place went to Chris Romano of Marlboro (205).
Cole Williams-Ficcarro of Freehold Township was another repeat winner. He won the 200-pound weight class with a huge 305 lift. That was 30 pounds better than runners-up Glen Aaronson of Manalapan and Andrew Painco, who did 275.
The fourth repeater was Patriot heavyweight Aaron Winik, who topped all lifters with his 350-pound press. Howell’s Ahmed Zanati was runner-up at 335. Manalapan’s Chris Navarro was third at 300.
Jerry Sperling of Marlboro and Brian Lee of Manalapan tied for first in the lowest weight class, 120, with both lifting 175. Third place went to Greg Hiller of Howell (165).
At 150 pounds, Scott Graham of Marlboro squeezed by Dominick Bonner from Colts Neck by five pounds, 270-265. Third place was a tie between Jamar Ousely of Freehold Borough and Bill Murphy of Manalapan, at 215.
Justin Torrente of Manalapan won the 160-pound class with a lift of 230. Lenny Spinelli of Marlboro (225) was just five pounds back. Tom Scanlon from Howell was third at 215.
First place at 170 went to Mike Bianco of Manalapan at 255. Darren Valentine of Freehold Township (240) and John Didio of Howell (235) were second and third, consecutively.
Keith Reed of Freehold Township won at 180 with 265. Geoff Zick of Colt Neck was close by pressing 260. Rabie Kwara of Freehold Township was third (255).
Dave Houli of Howell and Marc Metzinger of Freehold Township tied for first at 190 with 265. Third place featured another tie between Ben Stauber of Manalapan and Eric Dowd of Colts Neck (230).
Jared Holland of Howell dominated at 215 pounds, winning by the biggest margin of the competition, 55 pounds, with his huge 335-pound press. Second went to Mike Castellano (280) and third to Adam Geis of Marlboro (275).
The Pats’ Gerard England lifted 295 ponds to win the 225 division. Second went to the Braves’ Tom Cirnigliano (275) and third to the Colonials’ Elton Cooke (265).

