Belleville High School wrestling team members are all smiles after winning the Belleville tournament title on Saturday, Jan. 7.
BELLEVILLE, NJ — The Belleville High School wrestling team enjoyed a good showing at the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s District 9 state tournament at Nutley High School on Saturday, Feb. 18.
The Buccaneers finished in fifth place overall out of 10 schools. Delbarton was first, followed by Nutley, Bloomfield and Cedar Grove.
The Bucs had three wrestlers who took second place in their weight classes: junior Jakob Ferrer, at 106 pounds; junior Leo Tiankee, at 120; and senior Fernando Collado, at 165.
The three Belleville wrestlers advanced to the NJSIAA’s Region 3 state tournament at West Orange High School on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 24-25. The top-three finishers in each weight class at the district 9, 10, 11 and 12 tournaments qualified for the Region 3 tournament. The top-four finishers in each weight class in the eight region tournaments qualify for the NJSIAA’s individual championships at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, Thursday to Saturday, March 2-4.
Freshman Rocco Russomanno, at 113, and senior Sterling Fernandez, at 215, each took fourth place for Belleville at the district tournament.
Here are the Belleville results in the district finals and third-place bouts:
Finals
106-pound weight class: Dylan Palentchar, Delbarton, decisioned Jakob Ferrer 4-2.
120: Daniel Jones, Delbarton, pinned Leo Tiankee 55 seconds.
165: Louis Cerchio, Delbarton, pinned Fernando Collado 54 seconds.
Third-place bouts
113: Patrick Chell, Nutley, decisioned Rocco Russomanno 7-2.
215: Christian Morrice, Cedar Grove, decisioned Sterling Fernandez 8-4.
Photo Courtesy of Belleville High School Athletics
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