WEST ORANGE, NJ – The Seton Hall Prep wrestling team opened the 2019-20 season competing in the 27th Beast of the East Wrestling Tournament at the Bob Carpenter Center at the University of Delaware in Newark, Del.
The Pirate wrestlers were 18-18 in the No. 1 high school tournament in the country. There were 134 teams, with more than 950 wrestlers from 20 states. The Pirates finished 53rd and also 13th from New Jersey. Junior 160-pound Jack Wilt went 5-2 while senior 126-pound Larry Melchionda and senior 195-pound Michael Massa each went 3-2. Senior 170-pound Zach Merlino and junior 145-pound Cole Carroll were each 2-2, 138-pound junior Conner Decker, senior 220-pound Andrew Mitzak and junior 120-pound Gabe Jimenez each won one bout and 106-pound Joe Sciarrone also competed in the tournament.
The following Saturday, Dec. 28, they traveled to South Plainfield and defeated the state-ranked Tigers 40-31 behind pins by Wilt, AJ Hinton and Mitzak and a technical fall by Decker.
On Monday, Dec. 30, they traveled to Franklinville in Gloucester Township to take on Kingsway and Delsea in a tri-meet. They lost to Kingsway 37-30 while defeating Delsea 37-27 behind pins by Melchionda, Decker and Mitzak while Sciarrone and Massa each received forfeit victories.
When asked to comment about the start of the season, head coach Jack Decker said, “We scheduled aggressively to start the season against top programs and the top tournament in the country to get our team ready for our conferences matches, Essex County Tournament, state team tournament and the post-season. I saw a lot of good things and things we need to improve.”
On Friday and Saturday, Jan. 3-4, they traveled to the Ferguson Recreation Center on the campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison to compete in the Sam Cali Invitational Battle for the Belt. In a field of 41 teams, the Pirates finished in fourth place as a team. Decker finished in fourth place while Merlino, Massa, and Carroll finished fifth and Wilt and Mitzak finished in sixth.
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