Shore gives good showing at Southern Invitational
Gornak makes top seed stand up at heavyweight
CHRIS KELLY Shore Regional’s Mike Crowell tries to put Southern’s Ryan Karp on his back during their 112-pound bout at the Southern Invitational in Manahawkin on Saturday.
Shore Regional, a wrestling school? That may soon be the case, especially after their performance at the Southern Invitational Wrestling Tournament on Saturday.
"I think we turned some heads," said head coach Rich Santangelo. "I didn’t know what to expect, and these kids wrestled hard. We lost a lot of close matches, but the kids were in every single match. I’m proud of their performance; this is probably one of the best showings we’ve had in this tournament."
Bloomfield, Brick, Delsea, Hammonton, Lacey, Millville, Ocean, Old Bridge, Point Pleasant Beach, Point Pleasant Boro, South, Cedar Creek, Wall, West Deptford and Woodbridge also made the trip to Manahawkin to open up their season.
When the tournament was over, the Blue Devils walked away from the tournament with a gold and a sixth-place qualifier.
Heavyweight Chris Gornik started out the tournament as the No. 1 seed and then proved it was well-deserved as he worked his way past opponents en route to the tournament championship.
"Gornik has been wrestling well," said Santangelo. "He worked hard during the summer and wants to make a run at breaking the school record."
Gornik’s first opponent, Brian Bea (Lacey), trailed 11-2 before succumbing to a pin at the 5:03 mark of the quarterfinal match.
Gornik started off with a first-round bye.
In the semifinals, he faced a tougher opponent in Matt Lamella of Old Bridge.
This match went the distance, with Gornik winning 6-2 behind two takedowns and a reversal.
His final match, against second-seeded Jeff Tyler (Delsea), nearly went into overtime, but a buzzer-beating takedown along the boundary line gave Gornik a 5-3 win.
A wrestler who lost in the first round and made a surprising comeback during the wrestle-back rounds was Matt Mayer.
The 160-pounder lost in the first rounder to the eventual second-place winner, 10-2, before winning 4-3 and then 8-3 to challenge John Butler (Point Beach) for firth-place honors.
Mayer led 4-2 before being put straight onto his back off a reverse in the third period. Despite his efforts to fight off his back, Butler registered a pin.
It was an impressive performance from the entire Shore squad, wrestling well against some quality opponents.
If the Blue Devils continue to improve at this rate, it will go a long way toward creating a reputation for Shore as a wrestling school.