Hirt boosts Knights squad to top area finish
By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
TRENTON — Ted Hirt waited a long time to get back on the wrestling mat. And once he did, the West Windsor-Plainsboro North senior made the most of the opportunity.
Hirt, who missed most of the season with a shoulder injury, returned in time to win all five of his matches prior to the Mercer County Tournament. Those five wins were enough to earn him a No. 2 seed, which he upheld when he reached the final at 142 pounds Saturday.
”I strained my rotator cuff before the matches even started,” said Hirt, who dropped a 12-2 decision to Kevin Holman of Robbinsville in the final. “It was tough because it was my senior year and I wanted to do well. It kept me out for a while. And then I re-injured it. But I finally came back a couple weeks ago and I’m glad to be back.”
Hirt opened the MCT with a bye, then pinned Aaron Ingram of Trenton in the second period of his quarterfinal match. In the semis, Hirt posted an 11-4 win over Steve Vincent of Notre Dame.
”It’s tough conditioning wise,” Hirt said. “Even in this match, I’m getting tired early. My first few matches I was getting tired. When I was out, I could run but that was about it.
”I would have liked to have won, but I was glad to come as far as I did. I don’t know if I thought I would win seven in a row when I came back, but I thought I would do well. I thought my conditioning might hurt. Hopefully by districts I will be right back in shape.”
Hirt’s second-place finish was the top finish for any wrestler from the three Packet-area schools at the MCT. As a team, WW-P North finished 12th, while Princeton was 13th and WW-P South finished 14th.
The Knights’ Ben Newman had a strong tournament, finishing third at 217 pounds with a pin of Corey Fornarotto in his third-place match. The Knights also received sixth-place finishes from Carl DeJoya (105), Ethan Kaye (121) and Matt Kalinowski (154).
”It was a pretty good day for us,” WW-P North coach Bill Mealy said. “Matt, with this being his senior year, was hoping to do a little better. He was in a real tough weight class. The other guys all wrestled well and did about what we expected.
”I was real happy for Ted that he was able to get back in time to wrestle in the tournament. He’s worked hard to get back to this point.”
While Hirt was out of the lineUp, he did what he could as far as conditioning. He also tried to help out the younger wrestlers as best he could.
”I would walk around and help kids out,” he said. “I was kind of like a student assistant coach. That was about all I could do at that point.”
Princeton’s top finish was a fourth place from David Kirkenir at 142 pounds. Kirkenir won his opening match of the tournament on Friday night, then had to forfeit due to another commitment. That sent him into the consolation bracket, where he posted three wins on Saturday before falling in the third-place match.
”That was tough that he had to forfeit that match,” Princeton coach Rashone Johnson said. “But he came back and won three matches (Saturday). He was actually beating the kid pretty good in the last match and then he took a nap and you can’t do that. He won’t see that kid again, which is too bad.”
Princeton also received a fifth place from Corey March at 121, as well as sixth places from Andrew Pelle at 147 and Stephen Perna at 217.
”I thought Corey had a chance coming into the tournament,” Johnson said. “Sometimes you get unlucky. He had a scramble at the end of each match that he lost and it happened to go the other way. He had already beaten both of the kids he lost to. He did come back strong and wrestle well in the last match.”
Pelle won his opening match before falling into the consolation bracket with a loss to top-seeded Jordon Hankins of Robbinsville. He posted a pair of wins in the consolation bracket before losing his last two bouts.
WW-P South did not have a wrestler finish in the top six. Jon Redmond won his opening match before falling to top-seeded and eventual champion Chris Leva of Notre Dame.