Every week during the 2017 season, Shore Conference wrestling fans will have their chance to vote for the Shore Sports Network Wrestler of the Week on our website, with tens of thousands of votes cast so far this year.

The Shore Sports Network Wrestler of the Week for Jan. 2 through Jan. 8 is Long Branch freshman 106-pounder Ryan Zimmerman, who went a perfect 5-0 with three pins, one technical falls and a tight victory over another of the Shore's top freshmen.

Zimmerman started his week with a 2-1 victory over Ocean freshman Jack Nies to help Long Branch, which is ranked No. 10 in the Shore Sports Network Top 10, to a 31-18 Class B North win over the rival Spartans. Nies is 12-3 on the season.

Zimmerman then won by fall in 1:30 over Manasquan's Bella Serrano in a 63-9 win over the Warriors. Long Branch swept a quad meet Saturday with Woodbridge, J.P. Stevens and Governor Livingston and Zimmerman went 3-0 with two pins and one technical fall. He won 15-0 over Woodbridge's Xavier Laracuente, scored a first-period fall over Gov. Livingston's Harrison Kelly in just 57 seconds and stuck J.P. Stevens' Ahmet Kerimoglu in 3:07.

Zimmerman is 11-3 on the season and ranked No. 7 at 106 pounds by theshoreconference.com. He placed second at the Neptune Classic and the Hawk Classic. He has seven pins on the season to help Long Branch to a 7-1 start.

It was a tight race this week as Zimmerman edged Southern's Owen Kretschmer by garnering 39.5 percent of the vote. Kretschmer, the Rams' 120-pounder, went 4-0 with two pins, one technical fall and one major decision.

Other nominees include Middletown North junior 145-pounder Stanley Wojdylak, who had the biggest individual win by taking down Ocean's Jake Benner, who is the top-ranked 138-pounder, 4-0. Colts Neck senior Steven Barsky made his season debut with three pins to help the Cougars sweep a quad with Manalapan, Jackson Liberty and Freehold, and St. John Vianney junior Nick Caracappa went 4-0 with wins over Wall's Chad McClelland, Manasquan's Joe Ostberg and Matawan's Derrick Wiley. Ostberg and Wiley were undefeated before Caracappa defeated them.

 

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