Fryer, three other Pirate wrestlers advance

Quartet competes at regions tonight

By: Ken Weingartner
   SOUTH BRUNSWICK — Dan Fryer is wrestling better than ever and, oddly, a bad shoulder might be a reason why.
   Fryer, a West Windsor-Plainsboro South senior, finished second at 152 pounds in Saturday’s District 20 wrestling tournament at South Brunswick High to advance to this week’s Region V tourney at Hunterdon Central. Seeded sixth, Fryer knocked off the third and second seeds before losing a major decision to No. 1 Mike DeLuco of Sayreville in the final.
   "He had a tough match in the finals, but he had an outstanding tournament," WW-P South coach Craig Wilson said. "He’s been wrestling really well. The way he’s been wrestling, I expected him to beat the third seed. I put him up for third seed, but with the way it went with the voting, the coaches around here don’t know us too well.
   "I was confident in him the way he was wrestling. When he fell to the six, I told him a six is like a three and you just have to treat it that way. He was confident."
   Fryer, who finished third at 160 in the Mercer County Tournament and entered district competition with a 16-6 record, battled a shoulder injury earlier this season, and while it limited some of his physical ability, it improved his approach to matches.
   "I’ve started wrestling smarter," Fryer said. "When I hurt my shoulder, I couldn’t take as many crazy shots. I had to sit back and get points where I could, not go for home run moves. It started working for me. It kind of focused me on getting smaller points; it really opened up my head as to how to work better."
   Points piled up for Fryer in his district victories. He won 12-6 over No. 3 seed Jordan Braun of East Brunswick and 17-4 over No. 2 Justin Kitchen of Old Bridge. Fryer was one of only two wrestlers seeded lower than second to reach a final — the other was third-seeded Mike Conway of Old Bridge, who lost to No. 1 Ryan Smith of South Brunswick at 140.
   "You get what you get," Fryer said about his seed. "I only had two or three matches against guys in our district, so I knew I wasn’t going to get too good a seed. I knew it was going to be a dogfight each time out there. I thought if I could beat the third seed, maybe I could get the second one, too, which is what happened. I actually was kind of positioned in a good spot because I was away from the No. 1 seed."
   Fryer will be joined by three teammates in tonight’s pre-quarterfinal action at the Region V Tournament at Hunterdon Central. Winners advance to Friday’s quarterfinals, while losers are done for the season. The top three finishers at regions continue to the state tournament.
   Also advancing to regions for WW-P South were Derek DeLorenzo at 103, Joe Everingham at 189 and Andrew O’Shaughnessy at 215. All three finished third in their respective weight classes at districts.
   DeLorenzo, who won only three matches last season, is 23-7 with 14 pins while O’Shaughnessy is 23-8 with 18 pins. Everingham, who is 19-7, placed third in last year’s regional tourney. Seeded fifth at districts this season, he pulled out a 3-2 double-overtime victory in the third-place bout to stay alive.
   "Four advancing is a lot for us, we had only two last year," Wilson said. "We’ll see what happens Tuesday night. If you win that match, anything can happen on Friday and Saturday."
   Fryer is ready for anything.
   "This season is better than I expected," he said. "Last year I had a 10-8 season, but we worked really hard in the room and got in a lot better condition. I’m going to go out there and whoever I get, I’m going to go tough every match."