Marlboro High School’s Vinnie Leone (white uniform) is tangled up with Delsea’s Matt Hennelly during their 130-pound bout at the NJSIAA state tournament in Atlantic City on March 5. Leone pinned Hennelly and went on to finish eighth in the weight class. JEFF GRANIT staff Marlboro High School wrestler Mitch Seigel went toAtlantic City for the NJSIAA individual state tournament with ambitions of meeting up with three-time defending state champion Andrew Campolattano of Bound Brook High School for a rematch.
The two grapplers met earlier in the season in an all-star classic and Seigel gave Campolattano what turned out to be the Bound Brook matman’s toughest match of the year. Campolattano decisioned Seigel, 5-3, at 215 pounds.
Seigel’s hopes for that rematch with Campolattano were dashed in his first match at Boardwalk Hall inAtlantic City as the Marlboro matman lost a 10-8 decision to Haddonfield’s Kris Rahn after leading for much of the bout. “I was in shock,” said Seigel, a senior who won the District 21 and Region VI titles en route to the state tournament. “I had my head in my hands.”
At that point Seigel’s tournament could have gone one of two ways. He could put the loss behind him and wrestle, trying to finish as high as he could, or he could let the loss have a negative impact.
“[Assistant coach] Bill Terrell told me I had to man-up if I wanted to keep going,” Seigel said. “I had to readjust my thinking. I wanted to keep going. The wrestlebacks are the long road to go. I wanted to place as high as I could.”
Although the wrestlebacks were the long way to winning a medal, Seigel had put too much into the season, wrestled too many matches, lifted too many weights and run too many miles to give up on his goal of winning a medal at the state tournament.
Seigel began his comeback on March 5 with a 5-2 decision over Matt Bauer of Bordentown. Next came an overtime match that Seigel won, 3-1, on a takedown over Darren Dungee from Morristown. He lost to Dan Garwood from Clearview, 3-2, in to move into the seventh/eighth-place match.
Before Seigel took the mat for his match with Phillipsburg’s Brandon Hull, Marlboro coach William Werntz had some advice for his senior.
“Coach Werntz told me, ‘This is your last high school match, you don’t want to have any regrets,’ ” said Seigel. “I needed to win. I was going to go after it.”
Seigel went out a winner in the final match of his high school career, beating Hull by an 8-3 decision.
“I did have bigger intentions, but I have to be satisfied. I can’t complain being a state place-winner,” he said.
Campolattano, meanwhile, went on to win a fourth straight state title, becoming just the second wrestler to accomplish that feat. He pinned his final opponent in 47 seconds.
After the final match of the tournament, Seigel got to take part in the parade of champions during which all of the medal winners from all of the weight classes march around Boardwalk Hall.
“The parade of champions was very emotional for me,” said Seigel. “It means you are among the elite eight in the state in your weight class. I did tear up a bit. It’s where you dream of being.” Seigel wasn’t the only Marlboro Mustang taking part in the parade of champions — so was his teammate Vinnie Leone.
“It was fun to share it with Vinnie,” Seigel said.
Leone was a Region VI runner-up and had to wrestle in the win-or-done preliminary round on March 4. The two-time District 21 champion kept his season alive as well as his goal of being a state place-winner by scoring a 9-6 decision over Kyle Markovitch from Cranford.
In his pre-quarterfinal match, Leone lost by a technical fall to Delran’s Dan Pak to fall into the wrestlebacks.
In the wrestlebacks, Leone pinned Matt Hennelly of Delsea in 4:54 and R.J. DeGeorge from Pequannock in 2:54. He was pinned by South Plainfield’s Tyler Hunt to fall into the seventh/eighth match, where he lost a 9-6 decision to Bryant Lightly from Passaic.
Seigel and Leone not only added to their Marlboro legacy by winning medals at the state tournament, they made program history by becoming the first duo to win medals at the state tournament in the same year.
Howell’s Mike Shaughnessy was the third area wrestler in Atlantic City over the weekend. As a Region VI runner-up, he had to wrestle in the preliminaries. Shaughnessy survived by beating Bergen Catholic’s Matthew Mangini, 8-4.
In the pre-quarterfinals, Shaughnessy lost a 5-3 decision to Nutley’s Michael Ferinde. He then lost in the wrestlebacks to Oakcrest’s Antonio Macnella, 11-5, to end his season just short of the medal rounds.