District 20 Tournament
at Middletown North High School
63 Tindall Rd.  Middletown, NJ 07748

DISTRICT 20 TRACK WRESTLING PAGE

 

DISTRICT PAGES
17  /  18  /  19  /  20  /  21  /  22  /  23  /  24  /  25  /  32

 

TEAM CHAMPIONS: Middletown South

 

FINALS
175: Sabino Portella (RBC) tf. Jack Reiter (Middletown South)  20-5 3:18
190: Jack Willi (Middletown South) d. Nazarath Pina (Perth Amboy)  9-7 SV
215: Nicholas Burns (Raritan) p. Davin Brewton (RBC)  5:58
Hwt: Lorenzo Portella (RBC) d. Dante Miranda (Middletown South)  6-2
106: Brady Klinsky (Middletown North) d. Richard Gomez (Matawan)  8-5
113: Lawrence Liss (Matawan) p. Ryan Madden (Middletown South)  3:22
120: Ryan Mansueto (Raritan) d. Kaden King (Middletown South)  7-0
126: Jack Zaleski (Middletown South) tf. Colin Oden (Middletown North)  20-5 5:33
132: Phil Stolfa (Red Bank) d. Braden Kmak (Raritan)  10-4

138: Robert Generelli (Middletown South) d. Zach Reilley (Raritan)  6-2
144: David Hussey (Middletown South) p. Alex Auletta (Raritan)  1:01
150: Alex Quintano (Middletown South) d. Quinn Peters (Raritan)  9-4
157: Jason DeSanctis (Middletown South) p. Shaun Sullivan (Middletown North)  0:44
165: Harrison King (Middletown South) d. Robert Mulligan (Raritan)  5-2

 

3RD PLACE FINISHERS
106: Noah Michaels (RBC)
113: Matt Erven (Raritan)
120: Justin Fearon (Middletown North)
126: Trevor Learn (RBC)
132: Alec Holland (Middletown South)
138: Marco Conroy (RBC)
144: Matthew Castelli (Middletown North)
150: Damiano Rotolo (Matawan)
157: Colin Palumbo (Matawan)
165: Omir Fraser (Red Bank)
175: Jonathan Velsor (Matawan)
190: Michael Palmieri (RBC)
215: Matt Cody (Middletown South)
Hwt: Sean Lane (Raritan)

 

Projected Start Times
Start: 9:00am
Semis: 12:00pm
Consolations: 1:30pm
Finals: 2:00pm

Teams
Highland Park Owls
Keansburg Titans
Keyport Red Raiders
Matawan Huskies
Middletown North Lions
Middletown South Eagles
Perth Amboy Panthers
Raritan Rockets
RBC Caseys
Red Bank Regional Bucs

 

Shore Stuff

Keansburg: 7 District Champs (Last: 2017)  /  0 Team Titles

The last District Tournament saw the Titans streak of 9 seasons with a medal winner come to an end, and they did not have a qualifier for the Regions last season. With four wrestlers seeded "in the money", including a trio of #2 seeds, the Titans have a good shot at getting off the snide. 

Top 4 Seeds
2: Mendez (150) / Jankowski (165) / Coppinger-Ward (Hwt)
3: Huhn (157)
4: Slover (132)

 

Keyport: 12 District Champs (Last: 2011)  /  0 Team Titles

The Red Raiders have had a medal winner at each of the last 3 Districts. With only 4 wrestlers entered, and no wrestlers seeded higher than #5, the Raiders will have their work cut out to continue their medal streak.

Top 4 Seeds
None

Matawan: 37 District Champs (Last: 2020)  /  Streak: 2 Seasons  /  0 Team Titles

The Huskies, who last had multiple District Champs in 2017, grabbed a pair of 1-seeds from their lowerweight duo of Richard Gomez & Lawrence Liss. The Huskies were well-represented in last year's Regions with 6 qualifiers, and they should be in the mix to have solid representation this year, as well. They only have the top seeds seeded in advancement position, but they have some 4's & 5's that are more than capable of breaking through.

Top 4 Seeds
1: Gomez (106) / Liss (113)
4: Liou (126) / Velsor (175)

Middletown North: 149 District Champs (Last: 2020)  /  Streak: 7 Seasons  /  14 Team Titles (Last: 2019)

North, whose 149 District Champions is the most for any Monmouth County team, has had multiple District Champs in each of the previous 6 tournaments. The Lions have a lot of young wrestlers entered into this year's tournament, with just 1 senior in the lineup.

Top 4 Seeds
2: Klinsky (106) / Oden (126)
3: Fearon (120)
4: Sullivan (157)

Middletown South: 101 District Champs (Last: 2020)  /  Streak: 3 Seasons  /  7 Team Titles (Last: 1996)

The program record for District Champs in a season for South is 7. They have that many top seeds this year, and 5 more wrestlers seeded in the Top 3, as they look to take a shot at besting their record. The Eagles were well-represented in last year's Regions with 11 participants; a number they could very well top this year with 13 of their 14 wrestlers seeded in the Top 4.

Top 4 Seeds
1: Zaleski (126) / Generelli (138) / Hussey (144) / Quintano (150) / DeSanctis (157) / Willi (190) / Miranda (Hwt)
2: King (120)
3: Madden (113) / Holland (132) / Reiter (175) / Cody (215) 
4: King (165)

Raritan: 123 District Champs (Last: 2020)  /  Streak: 19 Seasons  /  9 Team Titles (Last: 2019)

The Rockets currently have a Monmouth County best 19 season streak with at least one District Champion. They will be gunning for their 11th District Team Title, after having a streak of three consecutive seasons with the team title snapped in 2020. The Rockets only received one top-seed, but appear to have a good number of wrestlers here that are capable of breaking seed and moving up. 

Top 4 Seeds
1: Mansueto (120)
2: Kmak (132) / Reilley (138) / Auletta (144) / Burns (215)
3: Peters (150) / Mulligan (165)
4: Erven (113) / Falzon (190) / Lane (Hwt)

RBC: 30 District Champs (Last: 2019)  /  0 Team Titles

The Caseys have not had multiple District Champs since 1989. With a pair of top seeds, they will be in the hunt to end that streak with multiples. It is believed that the 5 District medal winners the Caseys had in 2018 was a program record. If the seeds hold, the Caseys will surpass that number with 7.

Top 4 Seeds
1: S Portella (175) / Brewton (215)
3: Learn (126) / M Conroy (138) / D Conroy (144) / Palmieri (190) / L Portella (Hwt)
4: Michaels (106)

Red Bank: 26 District Champs (Last: 2013)  /  0 Team Titles

Senior Phil Stolfa became just the 2nd Buc to reach 100 career wins last weekend, and is 3 wins away from breaking the school record of 102 held by Dillion Stambaugh, who was also the Bucs' last District Champ. If Stolfa can run the table Saturday, he'll surpass Stambaugh's win total, and get the Bucs their first champ in 9 years.

Top 4 Seeds
1: Stolfa (132) / Fraser (165)
2: Sena (113) / Lisko (157) / Cody (175)
3: Ruland (106)
4: Bryan (138) / Meehan (144) / Cohen (150)

 

Weight To Watch

Let's be honest, there's probably 10 weights here that you can say is a definite "Weight to Watch" and the finals here are likely to be the best from top to bottom in the Shore's 10 Districts. I'll make it easy on myself and go with the little guys at 106 for this. 5 of the top 6 seeds are all 20+ match winners, and the only one who isn't missed the first month of the season while sitting out the 30-day transfer wait. At #1, Matawan's Richard Gomez is a returning State-qualifier. #2 Brady Klinsky of Middletown North has a score of big wins this season, including three over #1 seeds in other Shore Districts. #3 Kevin Ruland has been a hammer for Red Bank, with all but 3 of his 28 wins coming with bonus. #4 Noah Michaels of RBC was a Region-qualifier at Manalapan last season, while #5 Aidan Davis of Raritan is as battle-tested as they come. Throw in a 20-bout winner at the #6 in Keansburg's Gavin Blozen, and this should be a fun weight.

Team Title Prediction

With 2 Sectional Champs, including the Group 2 Champion Raritan, and a Sectional runner-up, this should be a great team race. RBC has some scorers, but probably not enough to keep pace with Raritan and Middletown South. When it comes down to it, the Rockets are going to need a few upsets, and plenty of seed breaking, as topping a team with 7 #1's, and 13 Top 4 seeds overall, is a pretty big task. The path is there, but it's going to take a lot. It just may come down to those 3rd-place battles. That said, I'm gonna go with the Eagles here in a tight battle.

Champions Prediction

106: Gomez (Matawan)
113: Liss (Matawan)
120: Mansueto (Raritan)
126: Zaleski (Middletown South)
132: Kmak (Raritan)
138: Reilley (Raritan)
144: Hussey (Middletown South)
150: Quintano (Middletown South)
157: DeSanctis (Middletown South)
165: Mulligan (Raritan)
175: Portella (RBC)
190: Pina (Perth Amboy)
215: Brewton (Raritan)
Hwt: Portella (RBC)

Advancement History