Archive: February, 2011
Burlington Township's Codie Spatz was hoping to meet Bordentown's Khalid Shakir in the Region 7 wrestling final at 152. Saturday morning he got his wish.
Spatz beat Bishop Eustace's Tyler Orfe, 6-4, in one semifinal and Shakir beat Northern Burlington's Harley Palyok, 9-4, in the other to set up a showdown Saturday night.
Spatz, who set a school record for career wins with 113 against Orfe, lost to Shakir, 5-1, in the District 26 final, and wants a shot at redemption.
Camden Catholic has no No. 1 seeds entering the quarterfinal round of the Region 7 wrestling tournament at Robbinsville Friday night.
However, check out the No. 2 seeds at 125 and 135: Matt Sausman and T.J. Miller, respectively. Sausman is on a mission to defeat top-seeded Jason Gallagher, a Bishop Eustace senior who took the district title from him. Miller wants to test top-seeded Tyler Scotton.
Two of Camden Catholic's six grapplers in teh quarterfinals, Sausman and Miller are capable of upsetting the apple carts.
When the Region 7 wrestling tournament resumes Friday, Haddonfield will have nine grapplers in the mix.
Kyle Klaus (112), Asher Weinstein (119), Kevin Gregorio (125), Will Dengler (145) and Kris Rahn (215) all drew byes in the pre-quarterfinals and are ready to go in the quarters.
They will be joined by four other wrestlers who advanced: Whitten Oswald (140), Logan Vielehr (152), Rob Schlitt (160) and Carson Stack (189).
Mentioned: Haddonfield Memorial High School
Bishop Eustace's Jason Gallagher has a bye in the Region 7 pre-quarterfinals Wednesday because he won the District 27 title at 125 pounds.
Meanwhile, the wrestler he beat, three-time district winner Matt Sausman of Camden Catholic, will be battling his way back in order to get a crack at Gallagher and/or the region crown.
In four previous clashes with Sausman, Gallagher had never beaten him.
The Region 7 wrestling tournament was postponed until Wednesday because of snowfall in the area surrounding Robbinsville, someone in school administratiion told me. Robbinsville didn't have much snow.
Region 7 is one of the most competitive of the eight regions that make up the state and there are a couple of weights that offer intriguiging possibilities.
At 119 pounds Burlington Township's Kevin Devoy, who placed second in District 26, will be fighting to advance from Wednesday's pre-quarterfinals to the quarterfinals. He wants to meet up with top seed Rob Deutsch of Eastern. Deutsch defeated Devoy in the district final.
Mentioned: Camden Catholic High School | Burlington Township | Eastern | Riverside | Seneca | Willingboro
Haddonfield wrestling coach Pete DiPol told me after the Distridt 28 wrestling tournament that the Bulldogs are sending more wrestlers to the Region 7 tournament next Tuesday than ever.
There were five Haddonfield wrestlers who won district titles and are advancing. They are Kyle Klaus at 112, Asher Weinstein (119), Kevin Gregorio (125), Will Dengler (145) and Krids Rahn (215).
"I think this is the most we had advance in school history, since 1949," DiPol said.
Mentioned: Haddonfield Memorial High School
Rick O'Brien
Here are the rosters for the All-Star Labor Classic, scheduled for April 3 at La Salle University's Tom Gola Arena:
2011 Boys All Star Teams Suburban Boys
Rick O'Brien
I wasn't surprised when I looked at the District 28 wrestling seedings and saw Haddonfield lead the pack with five top spots.
The No. 1s are Kyle Klaus (112), Kevin Gregorio (125), Will Dengler (145), Carson Stack (189) and Kris Rahn (215).
Stack has the best record among them, 29-1.
Cherokee wrestling coach Bill Roller was nice enough to send me the brackets for the District 27 tournament that starts Friday at his school, and Camden Catholic has the bulk of the top seeds.
The Irish are the No. 1 seeds at 119, 125, 130, 135 and 145.
Chad Walsh tops the 119-weight class with a 30-3 record. The sophomore is followed by Matt Sausman (21-2) at 125, Aaron Lambert (21-10) at 130, T.J. Miller (33-0) at 135 and Matt McBride (21-12) at 145.
