Can Robbinsville stay on top ahead of Hopewell Valley?
The Valley Division includes the smaller schools in terms of enrollment in the Colonial Valley Conference, but there’s no doubt it contains much of the power in wrestling. Heading up those teams are Robbinsville and Hopewell Valley.
Featuring five returning county champions, Robbinsville enters the season as a slight favorite after winning CVC Valley Division and Mercer County Tournament titles a year ago.
The key to its league crown was a dual-match victory by criteria over Hopewell Valley, which had won 13 out of the last 14 league championships as well as 12 out of the last 13 MCTs.
Those two again figure to be the best in the CVC, while the Valley Division also includes two of the better teams in the county in Lawrence and Hamilton.
ALLENTOWN
Coach: Mark Cuniglio
Last year: (4-15)
106-Degan Semanchick, Anderson Debrul, Justin NGuyen 113-Charles Case, Gaven Lourenco, Aiden Schwartz
120-Conor Urig, Vincent Surace 126-Tanner Wilson, Vincent Grassullo, Jordan Rey
132-Leonardo Nini, Owen Dzikowski, Donovan Fraser
138-Nick Gaul
144-Chase Mrozicki, Aj Redlich, Kassidy Mazza
150-Spencer Strambach, Christian Maxwell
157-Monroe Schloss, Kevin Cunningham 175-Nathaniel Geddis, Mason Marcantonio
190-Luke Cox
215-Maxwell Petrowski, Pasquale Stanco
285-Justano Barattaggg
Strengths: The Redbirds have depth in many of the weights and have returned a lot of starters from last year’s very young team. Case was 20-7 and second in this districts. Urig was 9-9 and the team has some promising newcomers. Outlook: Following major graduation loss from the previous year, Allentown continues to rebuild and will certainly be better than last year.
EWING
Coach: Darren Basich Last year: (8-9) 106-Angel Gonzalez (Jr.). 113-Tyler Sandyck (Fr.) 120-Samantha Dupee (So.) 126-Cyprian Tarnawa (So.) 132-Connor Lane (So.) 138-Amin Emara (So.) 150-Caleb Riordan (Jr.) 157-Connor Greig (Jr.), Adriano Pimentel (So.)
165-Liam Alleyene (Jr.) 175-Gavin Dwyer (Jr.) 190-Kenneth Waugh (Sr.), Luke Weigle (Fr.)
215-Collin Elam (Jr.)
Hvy-Liam Clendenin (Sr.)
Strengths: Gonzalez is coming off an 18-10 season that included a second at districts.The team has some proven wrestlers from 138 up. These include Riordan (18-10), Dwyer (21-8), Waugh (10-12) and Elam (22-10, second in districts).
Outlook: There’s still work to be done in terms of having all the weights covered, but the Blue Devils are headed in the right direction and should have a winning season.
HAMILTON
Coach: Matt Minder
Last year: (13-4)
106-Nathan Barrett (Fr.) 113-Alan Sanchez (Fr.) 120-Jaden Stimon (Sr.) 126-Jacob Lozada (Sr.)
132-Luke Bruch (So.) 138-Logan Burns (Sr.) 144-Muhammad Wasiq (Sr.) 150-Justin Espinoza (Sr.)
157-Dan Figueroa (Fr.) 165-James Stills (Sr.) 175-Dontae Bryan (Sr.)
190-Gian Sanchez (Sr.)
215-Guy LaBranche (Sr.) Hvy-Jacob Howland (So.)
Strengths: Howland quicky established himself at heavyweight in his freshman season with a 20-8 record and district title. Bryan was 19-10 and second at districts. Stills went 11-4 and Bruch, who spent a lot of time wrestling during the off-season, posted 14 wins. Look for good things from promising freshmen Figueroa at 157 as well has Espinosa, who has also been heavily involved on the club level.
Outlook: Expect the Hornets to remain on the rise after posting winning seasons in two of the past three seniors. The team has a lot of seniors and there’s competition in the room for starting spots in the lineup. A run at a sectional berth is a possibility.
HOPEWELL VALLEY
Coach: Mario Harpel
Last year: (17-5), Central Jersey Group III qualifier, No. 7 ranking in the area. 106-Dean Meissner (So.), Sam Lowe (Fr.) 113-Dylan Hersh (Fr.)
120-Luke Caldwell (So.)
126-Rex Peters (Jr.) 132-Michael Kennedy (Jr.), Isaac Miller (Fr.)
138-Jeff Branagh (So.) 144-Michael Meissner (Sr.) 150-Adam Beigman (So.), Ethan Barker (Fr.), Luca Georgescu (Sr.) 157-Marcus Willoughby (So.), Konrad Haugeto (So.)
165-Tim McKeown (Sr.), Aidan Mott (Sr.) 175-Landon Schafer (Sr.), Nate March (Sr.)
190-Chase Overman (Jr.) 215-Gael Vasquez (Sr.), Narsi Didi (Jr.) Hvy-Jon Trainor (So.)
Strengths: The Bulldogs have a solid returning nucleus of returning wrestlers who will only be better following a year of varsity experience. Among those is returning district champion Caldwell (21-11), who will head up a good set of lightweights that include Peters (13 wins) and Kennedy (nine wins). The
middle will be solid with the likes of Meissner (21-9, second in districts) and McKeown (24-8), who was a district champion and fifth in regions. Overman won 15 bouts a year ago and Trainor posted double digit wins. Another plus is the return of Vasquez, who missed last year with injury, but is a capable upperweights. There is good depth for a CVC program and a group of new wrestlers anxious to make their mark.
Outlook: The longtime Mercer County kingpin, Hopewell Valley will qualify for sectionals and be right in the hunt for league and county tournament titles.
LAWRENCE
Coach: Chris Lynne
Last year: (16-7), C.J. Group III sectional qualifier
106-Saren Siva (Fr.)
113-Ryan Edwards (Jr.) 120-Steven Ham (Fr.)
126-Josh Merendino (Sr.) 132-Romel Mendez (Sr.) 138-Patrick Maloney (Sr.) 144-Tyler Cortacans (So.) 150-McKyle Thompson (So.) 157-Zach Roland (Sr.) 165-Omar Ebrahim (Sr.) 175-Matt Melchior (Sr.) 190-Omar Rady (Jr.)
215-Mohammed Abdelhatty (Sr.) Hvy-Padro Maldonado (Jr.)
Strengths: The Cardinals will be formidable from 160 up with the return of Ebrahim (23-11, second in districts), Melchior (29-9, second in districts), state qualifier Abdelhatty (32-8, fourth in regions) and Maldonado (11 wins). “I think we have the best set of upperweights in the county,” said long-time coach Lynne. Lawrence is also set from 126 through 138. Merendino was 22-6, Mendez (third in districts) was 21-11 and Maloney was 16-11. Ham is a promising freshman. Outlook: Although it’s doubtful in can win league or county tournament titles, Lawrence will be one of the better teams in the CVC and should return to sectionals.
NOTTINGHAM
Coach: Pat Dressel
Last year: (7-13) 113-Lincoln Simonski (Fr.) 120-Matt Wilke (So.) 126-Aidan Babkowski (Sr.) 144-Jacob Vanderhorn (Sr.) 150-Angel Torres (Junior)157-Lucas Selmon (Jr.), Derby Molina (So.) 165-Ryan Johnson (Jr.) 175-William Chrysler (Sr.) 190-Dylan Nordgren (Jr.)
215-Richman Wilson (Jr.), Matt Tejada (Jr.)
Hvy-Exzavier Diaz (Jr.)
Strengths: Babkowski posted 12 victories and Vanderhorn was 18-10. Selmon and Johnson showed potential last year and Chrysler was over .500 with 16 wins. Outlook: Long-time coach Jason Marasco has stepped down and the Swamprats are in a rebuilding stage. Still, there’s enough in the fold for Nottingham to hold its own in many league matches.
ROBBINSVILLE
Coach: Dan Hughes
Last year: (13-4), CVC Valley Division champion, Mercer County Tournament champion, Central Jersey Group III sectional finalist, No. 6 ranking in the area. 106-Blaise Grippa (Jr.), Scott Turner (Fr.) 113-Matt Morado (So.), Henry Honeywood (Fr.), Yusuf Konneh (Fr.) 120-Giacomo Bottoni (Jr.), Justin Cecil (So.)
126-Anthony Viscido (Jr.), Ayush Ahluwalia (So.), Connor Skillman (Fr.) 132-David Kanner (Sr.), Andrew O’Reilly (So.), Liz Mejia (Fr.)
138-Dylan Cifrodelli (Sr.), Hieu Tran (Sr.) 144-Cole Cifrodelli (Sr.), Caleb Chong (Sr.), Taylor Adams (Fr.), Aiden Chell
(Fr.), Max Chung (Fr.)
150-Alex Messinger (So.), Jacob Crandall (Fr.), Anthony Inverso (Fr.) 157-Hunter Lantz (Sr.), Nolan O’Grady (Sr.), Jakob Radtke (Sr.), Chase McArthur (Jr.)
165-John Bartzak (Sr.), Hector DeLeon (Jr.)
175-Richard Esterly (Jr.), Kyle Dan (So.), Quenton Mitchell (Fr.) 190-Dominic Cataldo (So.), Tony Migliaccio (Fr.), Josh Ramos (Fr.)215-Kevin Siminske (Sr.)
Hvy-Nicco Cuevas-Gould (Fr.), Niko Kolovos (Fr.)
Strengths: The Ravens have a lot of them. Viscido, Bottoni, Kanner, Dylan Cifrodelli, Cole Cifrodelli and Esterly all won MCT titles. Viscido was 33-7, second at districts and fourth at regions. Bottoni was 23-9, and Kanner was 33-5 and second at districts before losing in the blood round at regions. Dylan Cifrodelli was 20-5. Cole Cifrodelli was 29-7 and second at districts. Esterly was 27-8 and a region qualifier. Messinger (21-11) is also a proven wrestler.
Outlook: The Ravens suffered a big blow when Cole Cifrodelli suffered a severe ankle injury playing football. His status for the year is unclear. Still, it all adds up to another successful season in league, tournament and sectional competitions.