WEST ORANGE, NJ — The Seton Hall Prep wrestling team’s record-setting year continued at the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s District 11 tournament at Livingston High School on Saturday, Feb. 18.
The Pirates set a school record after all 14 wrestlers they entered in the district Tournament qualified for the Region 3 tournament which will be held at Tarnoff Gymnasium at West Orange High School on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 24-25. The previous school record was 12 wrestlers who qualified for the regionals — accomplished in 2020, 2017, and 1970. They also set a school record of scoring 264.5 points in the district tournament. The previous record was 246.5 points which was accomplished in 2020 and 2017.
Of the Pirates’ 14 qualifiers, four were champions: junior Logan Brzozowski (29-4 record) at 113 pounds, senior Stephen O’Neil Jr. (10-5) at 150 pounds, senior Anthony Cerreto (25-7) at 175 pounds, and freshman Rocco Salerno (28-4) at 215 pounds. The titles for Brzozowski and O’Neil Jr. were their second, while Cerreto and Salerno claimed their first. The Pirates also had seven other finalists which included: sophomore Anthony Pellegrino (16-1) at 106 pounds, freshman Sean Brown (2-2) at 120 pounds, junior Carlo VanVolkenburgh (24-9) at 126 pounds, freshman Matthew Farley Jr. (14-12) at 132 pounds, junior Brandon Bauer (22-6) at 138 pounds, sophomore Nicholas Orejola (19-6) at 144 pounds and sophomore Clark Rich (21-11) at 190 pounds The third-place qualifiers were senior Chase Carroll (16-15) at 157 pounds, junior Evan Surmay (15-16) at 165 pounds and junior Jack Tierney (17-13) at 285 pounds.
When asked about his team’s performance and looking ahead to the regionals, SHP head coach Lou Mascola said, “We are where we want to be and I am proud of our guys’ overall performance in the districts, but we still have work to do. It is a super tough region, but our guys are battle-tested and prepared for what they will see over the next couple of weekends. We are excited about competing in Region 3, and we have trained all year for the final three weeks of the season.”
Here are the Pirates’ results in the district tournament in the finals and third-place bouts:
Finals
106-pound weight class: Aidan Carmody, Livingston, pinned Anthony Pellegrino 4 minutes, 58 seconds.
113: Logan Brzozowski technical fall over Nicholas Adams, West Orange, 18-3, 5:24.
120: Michael Hare, West Morris Central, pinned Sean Brown 2:19.
126: Michael Campanaro, West Morris Central, pinned Carlo VanVolkenburgh 4:38.
132: Jack Myers, Morristown, pinned Matthew Farley Jr. 2:58.
138: Jason Quirk, Livingston, decisioned Brandon Bauer 5-2.
144: Brandon John Dean, West Morris Central, won by forfeit over Nicholas Orejola.
150: Stephen O’Neil Jr. major-decisioned Phenol Morlan, Livingston, 10-1.
175: Anthony Cerreto major-decisioned Joseph Jean Marie, Livingston, 9-1.
190: Arthur Rosu, West Orange, decisioned Clark Rich 8-2.
215: Rocco Salerno decisioned Tommy Borgia, West Morris, 3-1.
Third-place bouts
157: Chase Carroll pinned Sean Smolyanskiy, Livingston, 3:12.
165: Evan Surmay decisioned Oliver Aung, Morristown, 6-3.
285: Jack Tierney decisioned Jahid Salaam, West Orange, 3-1.
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