Wrestling – District 21 Preview

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2015 NJSIAA District 21 Tournament

Saturday Feb. 21 at Manalapan

Click here for brackets

Prelims and quarterfinals, 9 a.m.

Semifinals, 1 p.m.

Finals, 4 p.m.

Defending team champion: Howell

Returning individual champions: Fred Terranova, Sr., 120, Jackson Memorial; Mike Russo, Sr., 126, Jackson Liberty; Kris Lindemann, Jr., Howell, 138; Jake Kaminsky, Sr., 152, Manalapan; Connor Bohringer, Sr., 182, Jackson Memorial.

Teams

Colts Neck

Team Titles: none

District champions: 11

Last champion: Nick Ottaviano (2014)

Freehold

Team titles: none

District champions: 28

Last champion: Josh Davis (2010).

Freehold Township

Team titles: none

District champions: 37

Last champion: Nick DePierro (2014)

Holmdel

Team titles: two (Last: 1982)

District champions: 24

Last champion: Craig Weindorf (1998)

Howell

Team titles: 10 (Last: 2014)

District champions: 114

Last champion(s): Kris Lindemann, Joey Shultz, Jack Rada (2014)

Jackson Liberty

Team titles: none

District champions: 10

Last champion: Mike Russo (2014)

Jackson Memorial

Team titles: 25 (Last: 2011)

District champions: 178

Last champion(s): Fred Terranova, Connor Bohringer, Ken Bradley (2014)

Manalapan

Team titles: seven (Last: 1997)

District champions: 86

Last champion(s): Jake Kaminsky, Ben Aquilina (2014)

Marlboro

Team titles: none

District champions: 30

Last champion: Vinnie Leone, Mitch Seigel (2011)

Matawan

Team titles: none

District champions: 33

Last champion: Chris Hartigan (2014)

St. John Vianney

Team titles: none

District champions: 27

Last champion: Terrence Davis (2014)

Five Weights to Watch

106

It’s a shame that a wrestler with a great chance to make it to the state tournament will be eliminated here, but some years those are the breaks. This is one of the more loaded weight classes at any district in the Shore, with the top four seeds also being the top four ranked wrestlers by theshoreconference.com. Howell freshman Kyle Slendorn (30-0) has been a buzzsaw all season with big wins in and out of the conference. No. 2 seed Joey King (28-0) from Colts Neck has been quietly plowing through his competition, and now gets a chance to shine. Nine of the 10 wrestlers in the bracket have at least 13 wins. Jackson Liberty’s Nick Pellegrino (23-11) is very solid, and is seeded sixth. Slendorn remains the favorite, but anything could happen. Just advancing will be a chore.

Prediction: 1-Slendorn; 2-King; 3-McGowan.

120

Another deep weight where the five and six seeds have over 20 wins. St. John Vianney senior Paul Piccione (27-3) grabbed the top seed because of his head-to-head win over the No. 2 seed, Jackson Memorial senior Fred Terranova (22-8). Freehold Township junior Mike Plaska (20-4) moved up to the No. 3 seed because of a win over Howell junior Peter Dee (23-6), who is fourth. Holmdel senior Patrick Ammirati (27-5) and Jackson Liberty senior Nick McConnel (21-12) round out a very good top six seeds. Terranova and Dee get the edge for me because of the pressure they wrestled under match after match. They’re certainly battle-tested. Regardless of who makes the final, the battle for third will be tough and the quarterfinal bouts will be tense.

Prediction: 1-Dee; 2-Terranova; 3-Piccione

132

This weight has some solid depth to it with Colts Neck freshman Liam Hoagland (23-8) as the No. 3 seed, Holmdel freshman Scott Dupont (30-4) seeded fourth, Jackson Liberty junior Jeremy Bollard (21-5) fifth and Marlboro sophomore Mike Doukas (25-8) sixth. Even eighth-seeded Mike Christie (12-15) from Jackson Memorial has a chance to place. What makes this weight even more intriguing is the return of St. John Vianney junior Khalil Haskins, who was cleared to return for the individual postseason just six weeks after a broken wrist appeared to have ended his year. If he can regain his form quickly he’s a sure bet to get to the final as the No. 2 seed, as is top-seeded Howell junior Anthony Gagliano (25-5).

Prediction: 1-Gagliano; 2-Haskins; 3-Bollard.

138

Oh, man. Just a brutal weight here where the No. 4 seed, Howell junior Kris Lindemann (17-5), is a returning state medalist. The likely semifinal between he and Jackson Liberty senior Matt Russo (33-0), the top seed, is as good as you’ll see in a district semifinal. In the bottom half of the bracket, Jackson Memorial sophomore Tim Hamann (24-7) is the No. 2 seed and Marlboro sophomore Mike DeFaria (24-4) is seeded third. Hamann has a 6-5 win over Lindemann, while DeFaria upended Lindemann 7-3 during the regular season. Hamann also nearly knocked off Russo, losing 7-6. The bottom line is that one wrestler will be going home way too early.

Prediction: 1-Lindemann; 2-Hamann; 3-Russo.

195

An interesting weight because while the top two seeds, Howell sophomore Eric Keosseian (22-9) and St. John Vianney junior Calvin Beaty (23-6) will probably meet in the final, a different ending wouldn’t be terribly shocking. Third-seeded Adante Davis (17-10) from Jackson Memorial wrestles a lot of close bouts, so he’s a factor, and seeds four through six all have over 20 wins. I feel like no matter which way I see this weight playing out it will go the exact opposite. That being said, I think the seeds hold up.

Prediction: 1-Keosseian 2-Beaty; 3-Davis.

Heavy Favorites

126: Mike Russo, Sr., Jackson Liberty (31-2).

182: Connor Bohringer, Sr., Jackson Memorial (21-1).

Hwt: Brody Graham, Sr., Jackson Memorial (29-1).

Solid Favorites

152: Jake Kaminsky, Sr., Manalapan (24-0).

160: Nino Gagliano, Sr., Freehold Township (20-2).

Collision Course

145: 1-Joe Santomarco, Sr., Manalapan (28-4) vs. 2-Pete Powell, Sr., Marlboro (29-1).

Wide Open

113: 1-Mikey Sisolak, Sr., Howell (22-5); 2-Colin Monahan, Sr., Freehold (28-4); 3-Mike Spino, Jr., Jackson Memorial (24-7); 4-Vin Fontana, Sr., Freehold Township (19-13); 5-Dyon Womack, Fr., Colts Neck (20-9).

170: 1-Steven Chandler, Sr., Manalapan (18-3); 2-Tanner Kelly, Jr., Jackson Memorial (15-7); 3-Garret Hilsheimer, Jr., Holmdel (25-6)’; 4-Nick Lurski, Sr., Howell (13-9).

220: 1-Alex Shtindler, Sr., Marlboro (25-6); 2-Anthony Torrillo, Sr., Manalapan (23-10); 3-Sean Silverstein, Sr., Howell (20-10).