WEST ORANGE, NJ — The Seton Hall Prep wrestling team has performed quite well in the early-season tournaments that it has attended.
The Pirates sent seven wrestlers to the Morris Knolls Tournament at Morris Knolls High School and came home with three first-place finishes and one third-place finish. The team finished in sixth place out of 10 teams.
The following brought home medals: 150-pound senior Aidan Manning, 175-pound sophomore Brandon Papa and 190-pound junior Clark Rich. The third-place medal winner was 175-pound senior Alex Manoukian.
In one of the top wrestling tournaments in the country, nine wrestlers competed in the 31st Beast of the East at the Bob Carpenter Center on the campus of the University of Delaware. They finished in 22nd place out of 161 teams and finished in 10th place of the teams from New Jersey. Senior 120-pound Logan Brzozowski finished in eighth place, while sophomore 215-pound Rocco Salerno finished in the top 12.
In one of the top wrestling tournaments in New Jersey, Seton Hall finished in seventh place out of 57 teams in the sixth annual Sam Cali Battle for the Belt Invitational. The tournament was held at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison at the Ferguson Recreation Center. Junior Anthony Pellegrino finished in second place at 113 pounds. Brzozowski also finished in second place at 120 pounds and Salerno finished in fifth place at 215 pounds.
Recently, when asked about his finishes in these tournaments, Brzozowski said, “I feel good. This was great competition in early-season tournaments, but I still have a lot of adjustments and improvements to get better and work harder in practice every day.”
Salerno added, “I faced a lot of good competition in these tournaments and learned a lot. I need to get better as the season goes along and I am really looking forward to the regular season.”
Pellegrino commented, “I feel very excited because all the hard work I am putting in the room is finally paying off. These tournaments have great competition, which is what every wrestler needs to get better.”
Head coach Lou Mascola commented on his team’s performance in these tournaments. “These early tournaments give us a good handle on where we are and what we need to focus on moving forward to be at our best when it matters most. We have a strong leadership core in our senior class and those guys lead by example every day in the classroom, in practice, and every time they take the mat. We are really doing a lot of really nice things on the mat, and we are finding a lot of things and areas we need to work on and improve upon. We have big long-term goals in mind for the season, but our primary focus is on constant improvement.”
Here are upcoming SHP matches:
- Jan. 5: vs. Caldwell, 7 p.m.
- Jan. 6: Catholic Duals, at Christian Brothers Academy (Lincroft).
- Jan. 10: at Nutley, 6 p.m.
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