Hillsborough High School will be the site on Jan. 11 when Somerset County will crown 14 individual wrestling winners and one team champion.
The Somerset County Tournament will be staged on the Hillsborough wrestling mats, with the first round to kick off at 9:30 a.m. The tournament’s semifinals are scheduled for noon and the championship and consolation rounds are slated to start at 3 p.m.
Watchung Hills High School, the defending county tournament champion, will have to thwart the efforts of such teams as Franklin Township High School in its bid to repeat as the team winner. Franklin is No. 11 in the state’s power point rankings in the Group 5 field.
Hillsborough, Bridgewater-Raritan High School, Montgomery High School, Bound Brook High School and Ridge High School are teams that are expected to also contend for the title.
The host team features three wrestlers who are considered contenders to win individual weight class championships.
Cole Psemenecki, Hillsborough’s 120-pounder, placed second in the Somerset County Tournament, last winter, at 113 pounds. He also finished fourth in the District 18 tournament last year.
Following Psemenecki at 126 pounds is Hillsborough teammate Ryan Oram, who was fourth in District 18 at 126 last season. Hillsborough’s Varun Deb, who will seek a county title at 195 pounds, was a fourth-place finisher in District 18 in 2019 at 182 pounds.
Other Hillsborough wrestlers who could be in the mix for weight class titles are Chris Spinelli at 106 pounds, Vincent Aboosamara at 132 pounds, Joe Witcoski at 138 pounds, Peter Quandt at 145 pounds and Christian Quandt at 182 pounds.