By: Kyle Moylan Sports Editor
With three individual champions in the Mercer County Tournament, the Allentown High wrestling team was making some school history this past weekend.
Considering all three of Allentown’s champions are just sophomores, there’s even a good chance history will repeat itself.
Taylor Maul (121 pounds), Sam Shonk (132) and Ross Scheuerman (142) all won their weight classes at the Mercer County Tournament, held this past Friday and Saturday at Trenton High.
“I don’t know that we’ve ever done that before (won three MCT titles),” noted Allentown’s first-
year Coach Larry Kimport. “These three sophomores are just gems. They are workhorses in practices and matches.”
Maul defeated Robbinsville’s Jeff Bruno, 10-4, in the title match at 121 pounds. Maul had pins in his other MCT matches and finished the weekend with a record of 16-2.
“I came in second last year at 112 pounds,” noted Maul. “That made me want to work harder at practice every day so I could win.
“This is cool, but I’m still looking forward. Now that I got this, it’s a stepping stone. I want to do bigger and better things. The new goal is to win districts and then go from there.”
Shonk defeated Nottingham’s Jamone Lyles, 7-5, in the title match at 132 pounds. Shonk finished the MCT with a season record of 13-6.
“Getting toward the end of the match I was getting a little frustrated,” noted Shonk, who was close to adding to his lead on several occasions. “He (Lyles) kept leaving the mat and I couldn’t bring him down.”
Shonk then reminded himself that he had the lead and if Lyles wasn’t going to be a little more aggressive, that was just fine.
Shonk and Maul both were seeded first in their weight classes. Up against Hightstown’s Brendan Walsh, with a 23-1 mark going into the MCT finals, Scheuerman was seeded second. Didn’t matter. Scheuerman emerged with a 4-1 win and finished MCT action on Saturday night with a season mark of 16-1.
While this was the first meeting of the season between the pair, Scheuerman had two previous wins against Walsh last spring. He knew to expect a slow and deliberate match against Walsh.
“I’m also a conservative wrestler,” Scheuerman said. “I’m comfortable with that.”
The three firsts helped Allentown place seventh in the 15-team field with 103.5 points.
“We came in here with a dual meet record of 1-7,” noted Kimport. “We ended up right in the thick of it on the team score. I’m tickled to death for the guys. Maybe we can use this as motivation for the rest of the season.”
Kimport certainly found Michael Waldron’s (191 pounds) work in the MCT inspirational. Waldron came in with a 4-10 record and ended up placing fourth.
“When guys see that, they know they can work harder in practice and also do it,” Kimport said.
Steve Colletti (105) and Justin Duffy (114) both finished with a record of 2-2. Lenny Gigantino (127), James Cocorles (147) and Garrett Marshall (162) also had a win in the MCT.
Marc Meloro (137), Tyler Tice (154), Cody Marks (173), Arri Lambrose (217) and Mike Lambrose (287) also competed for Allentown.
“I hope we’re getting better as a team as the season goes on,” Scheuerman said. “It’d be great to have more of our teammates standing here with us (Scheuerman, Maul and Shonk), but it felt great to go three-for-three in the finals. Hopefully, we can also go three-
for-three in the districts. That would be cool.”
NOTES: Allentown was scheduled to wrestle against Lawrence last night (Wednesday). Allentown will host Hamilton and Steinert on Saturday. Allentown will host Pemberton at 5:30 p.m. on Monday. The District 25 Tournament will be on Feb 20-21.

