REC WRESTLING
The Manville Recreation wrestlers traveled to South Plainfield for the Raritan Valley League Tournament. To get all the kids into the tournament, the league held and ‘A’ and ‘B’ tournament brackets.
Manville, which wrestled bigger teams all year, came in sixth place in a field of 11 teams. The Rec team had to give away three or four matches every week but made a very good showing at the league tournament.
At 57 pounds in the A bracket, Shane Demeter took it right to his first opponent by dominating and getting a technical fall in the second period. Demeter then came out in the semis to put his man to his back and get his pin at 2:28 of the third period. Wrestling a very good final match, he received the silver medal and ended a great season.
Wrestling at 60 pounds and undefeated in the regular season, Paul Basta came in as the favorite and lived up to that reputation. Basta took it to his first man and got the takedown and then a reversal in the second period for a 4-0 win. In the semifinals, Basta had another two takedowns and an escape to earn this 5-1 win to get to the finals.
The final match was Basta’s best as he outwrestled his opponent and was always one step ahead. Basta, as he had the last two matches, got the takedown and tightened up on his opponent to end his year with the 60-pound league championship.
Bob Demeter, at 67 pounds shut out his first opponent by a 6-0 score. Demeter then went on to take the bronze with his opponent getting hurt after Demeter was leading 5-0. This was probably one of the best weight classes at this tournament.
At 70 pounds, Brian Kuhlman dominated his man by an 11-0 score to get to the semis. After a very close semifinal match, Kuhlman came back strong to get the bronze medal with a hard fought 3-2 win.
TJ Caswell, wrestling at 73 pounds, won his first match by a 7-2 score to get him into the semis. There he went right after his opponent to take this one by a 10-1 margin to get to the finals. In the finals, Caswell was down 3-0 with 20 seconds left on the clock when he got a reversal and put his man to his back for three back points and the 73-pound league championship.
In the ‘B’ tournament. Gavin Kassick started things off for Manville. Kassick pinned his first opponent in 48 seconds to get to the semifinals. He again pinned his man, this time in 32 seconds. Kassick went on to take the silver medal in this bracket.
RJ Thompson took it right to his first man by getting the pin at 23 seconds of the first period. Thompson wrestled well in this bracket and came home with a fourth place medal.
Joe Kronmaier won a slugfest in his first match by a 14-8 margin. This was a good match in which Kronmaier put his man to his back several times. He then won his last match by way of a pin at 2:17 in the third period. Kronmaier took home the bronze medal for Manville.
Conor Riggs took it to his first opponent by dominating a 13-3 match. In the finals, Riggs took his man down and then to his back to get a fall at 53 seconds in the first period for the championship in his bracket. This was a very good end of the season for this rookie starter.
Scott Ulicny shut out his first opponent to get to the semis where he was able to bring home a fourth place medal. Shane Freuler also had a good day by winning his first match by a 9-0 score. Not to be outdone, he then went out in the semis and pinned his man in 13 seconds. Freuler came home with a silver medal.
Everyone wrestled well and the entire team was able to get into the tournament. The coaches did a great job here as they got the kids to wrestle at their best.

