Another historic milestone was eclipsed by Allentown High School senior Joey Lamparelli at the Mercer County Tournament wrestling championships that were held on Feb. 1 at Robbinsville High School.
Lamparelli decisioned the No. 1 seed, Jacob Veneiza of Hopewell Valley Central High School, in the final of the 120-pound bracket, 8-3. With that victory, Lamparelli became a four-time Mercer County champion and also became the all-time victory leader in Colonial Valley Conference.
He broke Robbinsville High School’s George Bilgrav conference record with his 146th career victory.
Bilgrav currently wrestles at Columbia University.
Lamparelli said winning the Mercer County championship would be more special since it was his senior year.
“It’s pretty cool,” Lamparelli said. “My goal was to win four county titles and I was able to come out on top.”
Coming into the county tournament as a three-time champion, Lamparelli admitted to being a little surprised getting the No. 2 seed in the tournament.
The seeding just added more fire to Lamparelli’s pursuit of his fourth county title, wrestling with a little chip on his shoulder throughout the tournament to once again show why he is one of the best wrestlers who has ever competed in Mercer County.
Lamparelli, who is a two-time Region 6 champion and a three-time state qualifier, is now 30-0 for the season.
Fellow Allentown teammate Nicholas Golden also brought home gold at the county championship event in the 160-pound bracket.
The senior improved his record to 32-1 on the season when he roared to the final with two first-period pins before defeating Hightstown High School’s Alex Stavrous by a 10-0 major decision in the championship bout to win his second county championship.
Golden won the county title at 152 pounds last season.
Allentown had three wrestlers compete in the final round as Matt Paglia wrestled in the 152-pound championship bout.
Paglia came up just short of winning his first county title, losing a tight 1-0 decision to Princeton High School’s James Romaine.
Finishing in fourth place at 145 pounds last year, Paglia said it was a great accomplishment wrestling in the final round and that it shows there came be bigger things to come for himself this season.
“It’s progress,” Paglia said. “We had a good showing with three guys making it to the finals. It gives the younger kids something to strive for.”
Having three seniors compete in the Mercer County championship round is a great program builder said Allentown coach Marc Cuniglio.
Cuniglio believed it will help show the youth wrestlers in the Allentown community that they can achieve great success at the high school level.
Lamparelli, Golden and Paglia all took great pride in wrestling as it showed how hard work starting in your freshman year can pay off in a big way.
“It’s pretty special for our group,” Lamparelli said. “Most of the kids our team are seniors We all got together as freshman and got really close. To see us succeed as seniors is pretty nice to see.”
Overall, Allentown placed fifth as a team at the county tournament, finishing two points below Princeton for fourth place.
Hopewell Valley won the county tournament for the 12th time in the program’s history.
Senior Paskal Miga, a 182-pounder, placed third in the tournament for Allentown. Miga was inches close to wrestling in the final, but fell to Hopewell Valley’s Josh Beigman, 12-10, in overtime during their semifinal match.
Senior Jacob VanDenBogart finished in fourth place at 285 pounds for Allentown, while classmate Kolin O’Grady won his fifth-place consolation match against Lawrence High School’s Bakhtiyar Bajwa by a 14-3 major decision.
Cuniglio said the team’s success at the county tournament is a build up for the other tournaments ahead for his squad this season.
“The guys are looking good and as long as we keep going on that upward trend, I’m happy,” Cuniglio said. “Anytime you have guys being successful on the team, you’re very proud about it. The kids work really hard. Anytime you have success, people want to build off that.”
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