won record 138 matches
Male Athlete of the Year
won record 138 matches
By tim morris
Staff Writer
VERONICA YANKOWSKI Zac Cunliffe’s record speaks for itself, and places the Howell grappler atop the list of the Freehold District’s best wrestlers.
Before Zac Cunliffe had wrestled his first varsity match, Howell High School as a cut above the rest.
"I had never seen him wrestle before, but I had heard that he was very talented," said Gagliano. "I knew from the way he would hit our varsity wrestlers in practice that he was different. It was his technique. He was far above the other kids.
"Right from the start, even before his first match, I knew he was that good," he added. "He had an impact right away."
Not even Gagliano would have predicted just how special Cunliffe would become. The News Transcript’s 2003 Male Athlete of the Year would rewrite the record books, becoming the most successful wrestler in the history of the Freehold Regional High School District.
Cunliffe would go 138-8 during his four-year career, far surpassing what anyone else had ever done before, and finish just six wins away from the state record (144, by Bob Stinson).
The Freehold Regional District mark for career wins was 99 by ex-Manalapan great and Howell assistant coach Joe DiMario. Cunliffe dwarfed that mark (the Howell school record was 79 held by Gagliano).
Manalapan’s Mike Gaeta, who came up with Cunliffe, would become only the second district wrestler to win 100 matches. He finished his career in the same time span as Cunliffe with 101 wins. He would have needed a fifth season to even approach Cunliffe’s mark. That’s how far ahead of everyone else Cunliffe was.
Along the way to his record 138 wins, Cunliffe won four NJSIAA District 21 titles, four Neptune Classic and Westfield Invitational championships, three NJSIAA Region VI crowns, and became the only four-time state place-winner in district history, finishing sixth as a freshman, third as a sophomore and junior, and second this winter. He was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler twice at District 21, and received the same honor at Neptune and Westfield.
Not bad for someone who started off wrestling on a whim.
"I got a flier about a first-year wrestling club, the Predators, and I just wanted to try it out," said Cunliffe, who was in third grade at the time. "I was good right off the bat. It came easy."
The reason the sport came easy to him was because it played to his natural assets: speed, quickness and strength.
"I’ve always had good eye-hand coordination," said Cunliffe. "They always say that you have to feel out your opponent. Each person reacts differently. I just have a good feel for what is happening out there on the mat."
Wrestling also appealed to Cunliffe’s competitiveness.
"I don’t like to lose," he said. "I like the one-on-one."
Gagliano vouched for Cunliffe’s competitive drive.
"He is so competitive anywhere," the coach said. "He has to win at everything he does. I had him in class and we played badminton. He couldn’t take losing."
Cunliffe’s solution was simply not to lose on the mat. He made his varsity debut at the Neptune Classic and, of course, won. He won at Westfield the following week, and before Howell’s first dual meet of the season, was off to a magnificent start.
Despite his middle school and club success with the Predators, Cunliffe was warned that high school wrestling was on another level and he might not be ready. That only made him more determined to make his mark in his first year, he said.
"Everyone told me it was a big step up and I wanted to prove them wrong," he said.
He did, winning the first of his four District 21 titles and going on to place fifth/sixth in the state and 32-5 on the season. Over the next three years, Cunliffe’s only losses would come at the state championships as he went 34-1, 36-1, and 36-1. He advanced to third place in 2001 and won his first region title.
It was in his junior year that Cunliffe showed what he was made of in defeat. He lost his first match in Atlantic City and with it any chance of a state title. A lesser competitor, seeing all is lost, would simply have gone through the motions in the wrestle-backs. Not Cunliffe. He won five straight matches to claim third place.
Everything went Cunliffe’s way in 2002-03 and nothing would keep him from getting to his first state final.
If there is one match Cunliffe would like to have back it was this year’s 125-pound state final, which he lost 6-4 to Camden Catholic’s Ed Giosa, ruining Cunliffe’s undefeated season and state title ambitions. The match was both the high point and the low point of his career.
"The state final was the one match I had worked all my high school career for," said Cunliffe. "It was the highlight. Everything I did was to prepare for the state final.
"I would love to have that match over again," he added. "I had a lot of nerves and tried to counter them."
Even without the state championship, Cunliffe had a fulfilling career
"I’m proud of my high school career," he said. "I couldn’t have done more."
One of Cunliffe’s proudest meets was the 2001 District 21 championships when he and his brother Rod, who is now a diver in the U.S. Navy, joined him as a champion.
"We talked about it all year," said Cunliffe. "Everyone on the team knows how hard he’s worked; he deserved it."
Rod had no problem wrestling in his younger brother’s shadow.
"He is definitely a better wrestler than I am," Rod said at the time. "The thing for me is to win the district."
For Zac, the goal that year was to set records and wrestle for a state championship.
Perhaps as impressive as Cunliffe’s win record is the fact that he placed at a different weight class each year, proving he lost nothing as he went up in weight. He wrestled at 103 as a freshman, 112 as a sophomore, 119 as a junior and 125 this year.
There was plenty of team success for the Rebels during Cunliffe’s era as they won three consecutive A North Division titles from 2000-02.
"Besides his ability, he was the spark plug to the team," said Gagliano. "No matter where we put him, even if it was two classes up, we knew he was going to come out with a win and bonus points every time."
Gagliano sees the example that Cunliffe set carrying over to the Rebel underclassmen, who witnessed firsthand what it takes to win.
"A lot of what Zac did rubbed off on the other wrestlers on the team," he said. "They know what you need to do to wrestle at that level. It takes commitment."
Cunliffe will attend The Peddie School in Hightstown for a year of college prep before moving on to college. He’s a young 18, having celebrated his birthday just before graduation, and both he and coach Gagliano believe it is the right move for him.
"I think the extra year will be better for me," said Cunliffe.
Colleges like Iowa, Penn State, Purdue and Rutgers, who have been recruiting Cunliffe, will have to wait a year before they can secure the services of the area’s finest wrestler.