Manville High wrestlers showed great progress

Manderski won 20 bouts, took second in district

By: Rudy Brandl
   Wins and losses don’t always tell the whole story.
   On paper, the Manville High wrestling team didn’t look that impressive. The Mustangs posted a 3-12 record in dual meets but all the victories came in the final two weeks of the regular season. That’s about the only part of the ledger that reflects what the Mustangs did this winter — they got better.
   Otherwise, people might as well ignore the team’s record.
   Consider that the Mustangs never put more than 10 wrestlers on the mat in any dual meet and that they were facing a whole new challenge in the ultra-competitive Skyland Conference. Even some of the deeper, more seasoned teams struggled in this league.
   So, seventh-year head coach Brett Stibitz decided to focus on individual progress. There was no way to attain any great team success with the limited numbers, so Stibitz made sure all his wrestlers improved.
   The team set different goals, hoping at least to break even in the contested bouts in a given match. Even when the team lost on the scoreboard, Stibitz was happy if his boys won half of the bouts on the mat.
   "We definitely got better as a team and as individuals," Stibitz said. "It was our first year in the new conference and we took our lumps early, but we really did get better throughout the season. Maybe wrestling all those good teams helped us."
   Manville faced some brutal competition in January and didn’t manage many wins against the likes of Delaware Valley, Somerville and Hackettstown. Later in the month when the schedule became lighter, the Mustangs managed to pull out a few wins.
   "As a coach, you want to see progress," Stibitz said. "Everyone on the team got better. Going out and almost winning the majority of the bouts was something to shoot for."
   The Mustangs picked up their first victory in a 36-30 thriller at Pingry. Manville later added wins over Plainfield in a road quad-meet and East Orange (34-33) at home. The season finale at Manville left the home fans with a nice highlight.
   Seniors Mark Manderski and Lukasz Bogdanowicz came through in the East Orange match. Manderski pinned as expected in the heavyweight division and Bogdanowicz worked hard to get a major decision while bumping up to 171 pounds. The additional team point garnered by Bogdanowicz made the difference on the scoreboard.
   The Pingry and East Orange matches also gave Stibitz a rare opportunity to implement a little strategy. Most of the time, he just set his lineup and stuck with it. Against Pingry and East Orange, Stibitz took what he learned from old masters and former coaches Paul Kolody and Frank Passe and juggled and bumped his wrestlers to create favorable matchups and maximize points for the team.
   "Juggling the lineup was fun," Stibitz said.
   Stibitz wished he had more opportunities to use this type of strategy. It’s not only that he would have liked to win a few more, he wanted his wrestlers to get more matches.
   "We wanted to get them as many matches as possible," said Stibitz, who tried to add Newark Central, Carteret and Chatham to the schedule. "The more you wrestle, the better you get. Every match is a stepping stone."
   Stibitz was particularly interested in adding a match or two before the District 18 Championships. The Mustangs ended their regular season Feb. 5 and had to wait almost two weeks until the districts.
   "We had a huge layoff and I think that hurt the guys," Stibitz said.
   For the second straight year, only one MHS wrestler advanced beyond the District 18 event into the Region 5 Tournament. Manderski made the finals but finished as a runner-up to Franklin’s Derrick Williams for the second consecutive season. Both matches were up for grabs all the way but Manderski fell just short.
   "I’m not really satisfied with my season because I didn’t get as far as I set myself to go," Manderski said. "On the other hand, I can be happy because I had a winning record, made it to the district finals again and made it to the regions for the second time."
   Manderski capped a fine career with a 20-10 season that ranks as one of the finest in Stibitz’s seven years at the helm. He finished second in the district twice and placed third in Somerset County as a junior. Manderski ended his career with 43 victories.
   "Mark had a good career," Stibitz said. "He worked hard and he was one of my better wrestlers in the last seven years."
   Manderski won 13 of 15 dual meet bouts, but nobody else on the team was nearly as consistent. The bigger problem was that the Mustangs had to forfeit multiple weight classes every match.
   In some of the matches, it didn’t make a difference that Manville couldn’t fill all the weight classes. However, Stibitz felt his team could have beaten Belvidere, New Brunswick and Montgomery with a full team. Injuries had further depleted Manville’s roster down to eight in those matches.
   The Mustangs wrestled hard in those three losses but simply didn’t have enough bodies to make a serious run. Nevertheless, they battled and won three matches in the late stages of the campaign.
   "It was rewarding to win a few matches," Stibitz said. "If I had a few more guys, who knows?"
   "Everyone improved as the season went along," Manderski added. "Hopefully next year, with most of the team returning, they should have a great season."
   TAKEDOWNS – While Manderski and Bogdanowicz will be graduating, Manville’s other eight varsity wrestlers are eligible to return. That list includes freshman 112-pounder David Olmsted, junior 119-pounder Adam Wolcott, junior 125-pounder J.J. Artfitch, freshman 135-pounder Tyler Britt, sophomore 140-pounder Jason Pfoutz, junior 145-pounder Chris Kocur, sophomore 171-pounder Kevin Sellar and junior 189-pounder Glenn Hall.