Wrestling – 2017 Shore Conference Tournament Seeds
*Scroll down for seeds*
The 2017 Shore Conference Tournament was seeded Sunday morning at Red Bank Regional High School with a 20-team bracket.
Howell, a finalist last season and the No. 1 team in the Shore Sports Network Top 10, earned the top seed with Raritan at No. 2, Middletown North at No. 3 and Colts Neck at No. 4.
Notable entrants include Holmdel, which will be appearing in the SCT for the first time, and defending champion Christian Brothers Academy, which is the No. 20. seed.
Southern, which is ranked No. 2 in the Shore Sports Network Top 10, and Point Beach, the Class B Central champion which is undefeated, both opted out of the tournament.
The tournament begins Tuesday Jan. 24 with seeds 13 through 20 wrestling at the site of the higher seed with the matches taking place at 6:3 p.m. It continues on Thursday Jan. 26 with the second round and quarterfinals at the sites of the top four seeds, 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.
The semifinals and championship match are on Saturday at Jackson Liberty High School at 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.
The SCT seeding committee consists of tournament director Del Dalpra, who is the Red Bank athletic director, along with division representatives Manalapan's Scott Pressman (A North), Raritan's Rob Nucci (A Central), Toms River North's Bill Wilbert (A South), Long Branch's Danny George (B North), Keansburg's Chris DeTalvo (B Central) and Point Boro's Pat Brady (B South).
The committee placed the teams based on criteria that includes overall record, head-to-head results, strength of schedule, common opponents, division winners, significant wins, significant losses and power points in no particular order.
Howell was the unanimous selection for the No. 1 seed. The Rebels are undefeated in the Shore and their only loss is by one point to state-ranked Hunterdon Central. Raritan was voted the No. 2 seed over Middletown North, with deciding factors being a larger margin of victory over Wall, which was a common opponent, and its best win being over state-ranked North Hunterdon.
Middletown North then went to the No. 3 seed and Colts Neck was the unanimous selection for the No. 4 seed.
The fifth seed was between Jackson Memorial and Long Branch. Long Branch's best wins are Ocean, Wall and Point Boro. Jackson Memorial's best win is Brick Memorial. Both had losses to Cherokee. Long Branch was voted the No. 5 seed.
Manalapan then got the No. 6 seed over Jackson based on its best win, which came on Saturday over Paramus. Jackson Memorial was then seeded No. 7 and Brick Memorial was unanimously selected as No. 8.
At No. 9 it was Ocean getting the seed over Brick and Point Boro. The teams were fairly even but Ocean's schedule was the deciding factor. The Spartans have a win over Wall and a head-to-head win over Point Boro. Their losses are to Middletown North and Long Branch. Point Boro was seeded 10th and Brick 11th.
Wall was seeded No. 12 based on its head-to-head win over St. John Vianney, which is No. 13. Toms River North's head-to-head win over Holmdel helped it gain the No. 14 seed with Lacey at No. 15 and Holmdel at No. 16.
A triangle between Freehold, Freehold Township and CBA had Freehold coming out with the No. 17 seed. Freehold beat Freehold Township and lost to CBA on criteria. Freehold Township beat CBA. Once the triangle was not a factor Freehold Township's head-to-head win over CBA put the Patriots at No. 18.
Shore was then voted to be the No. 19 seed with CBA getting the final spot.
2017 Shore Conference Tournament Seeds
1. Howell
2. Raritan
3. Middletown North
4. Colts Neck
5. Long Branch
6. Manalapan
7. Jackson Memorial
8. Brick Memorial
9. Ocean
10. Point Boro
11. Brick
12. Wall
13. St. John Vianney
14. Toms River North
15. Lacey
16. Holmdel
17. Freehold
18. Freehold Township
19. Shore
20. CBA
Wrestling editor Bob Badders can be reached at badders@allshoremedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Bob_Badders. Like Shore Sports Network on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel for all the latest video highlights.
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