Coach Matt Shepherd anticipated that in 2011-12, his Freehold High School wrestling team would improve on its 9-11 dual meet record from a year ago.
Shepherd, who is now in his fifth year at Freehold, noted that his wrestlers have a lot of varsity experience and he said they put in a lot of practice time during the summer.
That practice during the summer can determine just how much improvement a wrestler will make heading into the winter campaign.
Those two factors and some newcomers, like freshman Colin Monihan, have helped the Colonials post an 8-4 dual meet record in 2011-12. They are well on their way toward a winning season and they have a chance to qualify for the NJSIAAstate team tournament.
“We are battling, that’s for sure,” Shepherd said. “We are right about where we thought we would be. We had a nice win against Colts Neck (38-30) to open the season and a pretty nice win against Monmouth Regional (45-21) and Red Bank Catholic (39-32) in a quad meet.”
Freehold has been getting team points from its entire lineup, with Tommy Nulty (132/138) leading the charge. Nulty has 17 wins and is on his way to becoming the program’s fourth wrestler to win 100 career matches. Nulty finished first at the Walter Woods Tournament at Middletown South High School. He won the 132-pound final by an 8-4 decision against Matt Coppola fromWatchung Hills.
If he keeps winning, Nulty has a chance to break the school record for wins in a season (34, held by Nick Triozzi) and the school record for career wins (109, held by Josh Davis).
“The bottom half of our lineup has been solid, with freshman Colin Monihan and sophomore Jared Blum both posting winning records against pretty good competition,” Shepherd said. “In the middle, we are led by senior 132-pounder Tommy Nulty, who is 17-1 and one of the best kids in the region at his weight. Senior Zach Mostowsky (138) is 13-3.
“Sophomore 152-pounder Will Zembricki really epitomizes our turnaround: he was 1-18 last year and now he is hovering around the .500 mark. Senior Schulyer Weiss at 160 has turned in a solid effort for us as well,” the coach said.
Shepherd credited seniors Cesar Lopez (126) and Mike Triozzi (126/132) with winning key matches for the Colonials.
Freehold finished ninth in the team standings at last season’s District 21 tournament. The Colonials will be looking to improve on that performance when the District 21 tournament is held on Feb. 17-18 at Manalapan High School.