Columbia HS wrestling team hopeful for fine year

MAPLEWOOD, NJ — The 2019-20 Columbia High School wrestling team essentially will be in a rebuilding phase, according to head coach Mike Freedman.

Columbia will open the season Friday, Dec. 20, when it visits Glen Ridge at 3 p.m.

The Cougars graduated four wrestlers who had more than 100 career victories. Devin Rocha accumulated 102 wins, the most in school history. Blake McGowan and Naquan Tory also were state finals qualifiers last year at the 170- and 106-pound weight classes, respectively. The other graduated senior is Amiri Greene.

The Cougars’ top returning wrestler is Cahil Love Jr., who was one match away from qualifying for the state finals in Atlantic City as he finished fifth in the 132-pound weight class in the region tournament. He also placed third in Essex County and finished with 31 wins last season.

“We expect Cahil to compete at the state tournament this year and make it three years in a row that we send a wrestler to the state tournament in Atlantic City,” Freedman said.

Tyson Caroll was a district finalist last season and won 21 matches last season as a freshman. “Tyson has improved a lot since last season and we expect him to make a nice jump in wins,” Freedman said.

The other returner is Fernando Saint Louis, who started wrestling last year and was able to become a varsity starter midway through the season.

Zachary Sukel was a junior varsity wrestler last season and will look to make the jump to varsity this year.

Among the newcomers are seven freshman: Park Choy, Zach Hale, Tristan Tapia, Kenaz Desir, Derek Mingmongkol, Dakota Dallison and Jaiden Pierce. “A few of these freshmen will be forced into the varsity lineup, so hopefully they can gain some confidence in the wrestling room over the next few weeks,” Freedman said. “One new wrestler I am excited about is junior Anthony Fuschetto, a Columbia High School varsity football player, who is working extremely hard in the room everyday. I really like his work ethic and his attitude towards learning technique.”

Freedman outlined the team’s goals for the season.

“The goals for this year’s team are to continue to get better everyday in the practice room and build for the future,” Freedman said. “The primary goal is to send wrestlers to the state tournament in Atlantic City. We are 2-for-2 in doing so, since I became the head coach. The keys to achieving this are for the student-athletes to continue to ask the coaches questions and make corrections all season long.”

One of Freedman’s assistant coaches is Chris Lantz, who has been with Freedman for seven years, including four years at Montclair. This is his third season with Freedman at Columbia. Lantz placed fifth in the state tournament in 2010 for Bloomfield High School. Freedman’s other assistant coach is Nick Picillo. “Nick has been a great addition to the staff and is also a physical education teacher at Columbia High School,” Freedman said. “Nick wrestled for Madison High School and coached the recreation team at Madison before joining our team.”

This is Freedman’s 15th year as a head wrestling coach. He was the head coach for Montclair High for 12 years. This is his third year as the CHS head coach.

Schedule

Dec. 20, at Glen Ridge, 3 p.m.

Dec. 21, at Kearny, 9 a.m.

Dec. 27, at Warren Hills, 9 a.m.

Dec. 31, at West Orange Tournament, 9 a.m.

Jan. 3, at Passaic, 7 p.m.

Jan. 4, at Millburn, 10 a.m.

Jan. 8, Irvington, 7 p.m.

Jan. 10, West Essex, 7 p.m.

Jan. 11, Belleville Tournament, 9 a.m.

Jan. 16, Essex County Tournament, at Codey Arena, 2 p.m.

Jan. 17, Essex County Tournament, at Codey Arena, 2 p.m.