Ken Weingartner

By: centraljersey.com
If the early season wrestling results are any indication, there are few certainties in the Colonial Valley Conference.
Last weekend, for example, Robbinsville saw its 24-match unbeaten streak in the CVC ended by Ewing. But Ewing lost to Hightstown and Hightstown was beaten by Robbinsville.
Elsewhere, Steinert, which earlier last week won against Hightstown, lost to Trenton.
Such unpredictability makes it tough for Lawrence High coach Chris Lynne to predict much for his Cardinals.
"It’s all about match-ups," Lynne said. "Anybody can beat anybody on any given night. Anybody can win these matches. Our expectations are free floating."
Lawrence was 2-2 entering this week after getting a win over Princeton while losing to Hopewell Valley and Voorhees in a quad last weekend at Voorhees.
"We pulled out the Princeton win and we wrestled real well against Voorhees," Lynne said. "We had some good matches against Hopewell. In that respect, I thought we did well.
"I was happy with our performance against Voorhees. I thought we wrestled really well. Hopewell, I kind of took it as a match off and rested a few kids. I put a few jayvees in to get some experience. We were missing some guys, so we had to do the best we could with what we had."
Gordon Wolf, Justin Scott and Tommy O’Rourke all had three wins in the quad.
O’Rourke was 23-5 last year and was 5-0 this season. He won the season-opening Garden State Classic Tournament at 152 pounds. He missed the East Brunswick Tournament because he was playing in a soccer showcase.
"Going into last year, we had the real high expectations (for O’Rourke) after being a district champ and fourth in the regions," Lynne said. "I think we worried about his opponents too much, about scheduling.
"This year, we’re taking a different tack and giving Tommy every hard match we can find. At the end of the season, we’ll let the chips fall where they may and we’ll see where he’s at. So far he’s undefeated. We’re just going to push him as hard as we can."
Scott was 9-2 entering the week and was undefeated in duals. He gives the Cardinals flexibility in the middle of the lineup because he can wrestle either 152 or 160, just like O’Rourke.
"I can move them around to get two wins no matter what," Lynne said. "It’s clicking (for Scott)."
When O’Rourke was away for the East Brunswick Tournament, Scott went 4-1 at 152 and finished fifth.
Wolf is part of a talented freshmen class at Lawrence. Wolf was 10-1 at 112 pounds and last weekend posted a big win over Princeton’s Ian Snyder, who was the district runner-up last year at 103. Wolf was seeded No. 11 in the East Brunswick Tournament and finished second.
Classmate Michael Jennings was 8-2 at 130. Jennings was seeded No. 13 at the EB tourney and won the weight class’ crown. His only losses this year have come against Washington Township’s Charlie Huff and Princeton’s Damian Freeman. Huff placed fifth in the state last year and Freeman was a win from advancing to states.
"I knew there were stud freshmen coming in," said Lynne, whose team was scheduled Wednesday to host Nottingham and welcome Trenton Saturday. "What (Jennings and Wolf) did at the Christmas tournament was pretty good for a couple of freshmen. They’ve handled themselves very well."