The mind-set on the mat is altogether different now that the concept of team wrestling has ended with the conclusion of the district wrestling championships this past weekend.
Beginning this past Tuesday, when the Region V Tournament kicked off with its preliminary round at Hunterdon Central High School in Flemington, and continuing with the semifinals and finals tomorrow night and Saturday, also at Hunterdon Central, and then at the state finals in Atlantic City on March 5-7, a wrestler wins only for himself.
However, the emphasis was not only on team, but the entire district as a host of community service projects was evident at the District 20 Tournament in South Brunswick last weekend.
Members of the host team, for instance, dyed their hair pink to further enhance breast cancer awareness. Then wrestlers and fans were encouraged to bring two non-perishable food items, which were collected and donated to the South Brunswick Food Pantry.
“Community service has always been a theme with the districts and wrestling,” said South Brunswick’s veteran coach, Joe Dougherty. “The breast cancer awareness came together fast, but once we decided where our efforts would be directed, everything was well organized.”
Cans were placed in strategic areas of the high school gym, and team managers donned pink shirts and circulated the building.
“If somebody asked, ‘What’s with the pink?,’ team managers or wrestlers were ready with an answer and a suggestion as to how individuals could donate. That effort and the donations to the food pantry turned out to be quite successful.”
So, too, were the wrestling results at District 20, especially for Monroe Township, which crowned a tournament-high five individual champions. Despite a third-place team finish (149.5 points) behind titlist Old Bridge (184 points) and second-place Sayreville (178 points), the Falcon five earned a bye from competing in Tuesday’s regional preliminaries, which pits the second- and third-place wrestlers in area districts in a “survival of the fittest.” Those and other district champions see their first action tomorrow night. The remaining order of finish for area teams is: South Brunswick, fourth place (148 points); East Brunswick, fifth place (123.5 points); Spotswood, sixth place (42.7 points); North Brunswick, seventh place (41 points), and South River, ninth place (31 points).
Monroe’s five titlists are Kyle Jensen (125 pounds), Sam Emburgia (135 pounds), David Saley (152 pounds), Hunter Pipala (160 pounds), and Marc Tyson (215 pounds). Saley became a rare four-time champion, and Emburgia won his third district title.
The other area district champions are: Mike Palumbo (112 pounds), South River; and James Pagano (130 pounds) and Brendan Vercammen (171 pounds), both South Brunswick.
As a result of their runner-up or thirdplace consolations at the districts, the following area wrestlers competed at the Region V preliminaries Tuesday night. Winners were to be re-seeded and move on to the semifinals tomorrow night. They are: at 103, Chad Capraro, South Brunswick; 112, Justin Lopez, South Brunswick; 119, Mike Fahy, Spotswood; 125, Mike Parabello, East Brunswick, and Frank Capraro, South Brunswick; 130, Ryan Levinsky, East Brunswick; 135, Michael O’Kane, East Brunswick; 140, Ryan Marosey, East Brunswick; 152, Garrett Cuddy, Spotswood; 160, Justin DeAndrea, South Brunswick; 189, Jeff Goldhagen, South Brunswick, and Julian Quintin, East Brunswick; and 215, Alex Baranov, North Brunswick.