VOORHEES He may have been talking about himself, but the words of Trenton’s Headley Murray could have been echoed by any of a couple hundred wrestlers in the state.
"The goal is always to make it to the states," Murray said. "I figure it doesn’t matter how I get there as long as I get there."
By:Kyle Moylan
Northern Burlington’s Tyler Bunting is one of the wrestlers who got there. Placing in the top three of the 140-pound weight class at Region VII this past weekend, held at Eastern High School, Bunting earned a spot in last night’s Super Regions.
Although he has already guaranteed that he’ll finish among the top 24 wrestlers in the state in his weight class by far the best finish of his career Bunting did leave Region VII a little disappointed.
Bunting placed second, losing in the final to Bishop Eustace’s Gus Caruso, 9-4.
"If someone told me that I would have placed second in the Regions before the start of the season, I wouldn’t have believed them," Bunting said. "It’s kind of a shock, but I still wish I could have done better. I’m a little disappointed. Whenever you get second place, you always could’ve wrestled better."
This was the second time this season Bunting has faced off against Carsuso. The two also met in the Nottingham Tournament, with Caruso emerging with a 9-5 win.
"I looked at the tapes of that and had some ideas about what I wanted to do," Bunting said. "They didn’t work (smiles). He also knew what I did.
"I made some mistakes and he capitalized on them and got ahead."
Bunting opened the tournament with a 5-1 win over Burlington Township’s Dan Lannetti on Friday night. This win put Bunting into Saturday morning’s semifinals against Audubon’s John Meccariello. Bunting dominated that match, 14-2.
The impressive nature of Bunting’s semifinal win grew in stature even more when Meccariello went on to place third in the weight class and also advance to the Super Regions.
Bunting and Meccariello were joined in the Super Regions by Northern Burlington’s Robert McMullen, who won his weight class at 130 pounds.
Northern Burlington had two other wrestlers qualify for the Region VII Tournament. Mike Brewer qualified at 103 pounds and Ryan Buchanan made it at 145 pounds.
Brewer had an illness before the tournament and was unable to make weight.
"People might think you lose weight when you’re sick, but this time it was the other way around," Northern Burlington Coach Tony Tringone said. "Mike was unable to work out."
Buchanan was defeated by Eastern’s Jordan Hicks on Friday night and Haddonfield’s Walt Hessert on Saturday.
Bordentown’s Joe Haluska also took part in the Region VII Tournament. The District 25 champion was defeated by Eastern’s Bill Pomrink on Friday night and Delran’s Steve Crossley on Saturday morning.
