Wrestling
By: Mike Molaro
Lawrence High School’s Mark Savino captured the 125-pound championship at last weekend’s Mercer County Wrestling Tournament at Trenton High School in a dominating manner.
First round and quarterfinal matches were last Friday with the semifinals and finals last Saturday.
The Cardinal sophomore, seeded first in his weight class, earned a first-round bye then registered a 17-0 technical fall victory over Hopewell Valley’s Corey Agin in the quarterfinals. Savino (17-3) pinned Brian Simon of Allentown in 3:59 in the semifinals and won the title by recording a 15-3 major decision over Hamilton’s Chris Prihoda.
"Mark wrestled an outstanding tournament," said Lawrence head coach Chris Lynne. "He dominated in every match and was unstoppable."
Freshman Chris Floyd was one of the tournament’s pleasant surprises by placing third at 135. Seeded fifth, Floyd in the first round pinned Brodderick Addye of Trenton in 1:16 then lost to J.T. Hutchinson of West Windsor-Plainsboro South, 12-5, in the quarterfinals. Floyd, though, won his wrestleback matches and pinned Hutchinson in 4:47 to capture third place and finish at 5-1 in the tournament.
"We’re very proud of Chris and the way he came back," Lynne added. "He wrestled a great tournament."
Freshman Matt Friedman went 2-2 in the tournament and finished fourth at 103. Seeded fourth, he received a first-round bye then pinned Allentown’s Matt Schottlander in the quarterfinals before being pinned by eventual champion Eric Ammirata of Hamilton in 1:09 in the semifinals. Friedman lost to Ewing’s Mostafa Omara in the third-place bout, 11-7.
Junior Dan Lookner finished sixth at 171. Seeded sixth, he pinned Marinos Marinos of Steinert in 1:51 in the opening round before losing to Hopewell Valley’s Brian Yaros, 6-1, in the quarterfinals.
Freshman Adam Oliszewski placed sixth at 215. He recorded a 13-7 decision over Nicco McGee of Hopewell Valley in the opening round but was pinned by eventual champion Chris Liwosz of The Pennington School in 57 seconds in the quarterfinals.
In other first-round action, senior Ed Ortiz at 112 was pinned by Alec Wong of Hightstown in 59 seconds; sophomore Simon Zeschky at 119 was pinned by Ewing’s Rich Mylowe in 49 seconds; sophomore Kyle Miller. who was 2-1 in the tournament, pinned Sean Cooper of Hightstown in 4:15; senior Kyle Rendall, third-seeded at 140, received a bye; sophomore Andy Chalofsky at 145 lost, 14-9, to Hightstown’s Scott Couples; sophomore Brian Friededorn at 152 lost, 8-0, to Mike McDermott of Notre Dame; sophomore Luke Godlewski at 160 was pinned by Ken Keim of Allentown in 1:23; and sophomore Josh Suen at 275 was pinned by Notre Dame’s Ian Jenkins in 2:25.
In the quarterfinals, Miller lost by injury default to Steinert’s Corey Bushko and Rendall lost to Nelson Guerro of Princeton, 9-6.
The Cardinals (4-7 overall, 4-5 in the Colonial Valley Conference) at home on Jan. 30 fell to state power North Hunterdon, 65-12.
The Lawrence grapplers picked up three nice individual wins from Rendall at 140 (pin, 5:51), Friedman at 103 (9-3 decision), and Savino at 125 (5-3 decision over two-time District 17 champion Greg Eisenhart).
"Mark had a huge win," Lynne said. "He just handled Eisenhart. This win will earn Mark the top seed in the districts.
"This match was a learning experience for us. We did as well as we expected. Experience was the big factor. We were sending freshmen to the mats and they were sending guys with five and six years experience."