Sports
Gov. Livingston Advances Five at Region Tournament
Highlanders will have eight wrestlers in action in quarterfinal round Friday.
As a rule, nobody likes having to wrestle the opening night of the region tournament, since only second and third-place finishers of the previous week’s district tournaments have to compete.
But 112-pound junior Ryne Morrison of Gov. Livingston didn’t let that fact get him down in the least. “It’s a chance to clean everything up,” said Morrison, who pinned Rahway’s Isaac Valentin in 3:36. “You can’t be sloppy at this time of year and wrestling (tonight) allows you to work on some things.”
Morrison and four of his Gov. Livingston teammates took full advantage of their opportunity on Tuesday by winning and advancing to the Region 3 quarterfinal round on Friday that begins at 6 p.m. in Union. The semifinal round is slated for 9:30 a.m. on Saturday with the finals slated to start at 3 p.m.
Find out what's happening in New Providence-Berkeley Heightswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The top three place-winners at each of the eight regions across the state move on to the NJSIAA state tournament at Baordwalk Hall in Atlantic City March 4-6.
“You want to make it to Atlantic City,” said Morrison, who improved to 25-6. “That’s the goal of everybody here.”
Find out what's happening in New Providence-Berkeley Heightswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Also winning on Tuesday were Anthony DeFranco (119 pounds), Michael Stepien (135), Patrick Eichner (160) and Zachary Heissler (189). Two Highlanders saw their seasons come to end as Joe Hoy (140 pounds) and Anthony Manganiello (heavyweight) each lost in their peliminary-round bouts.
Eichner, a senior, was the top seed at District 12 in South Plainfield and was upended by second-seeded Brandon Santos in the 160-pound final, 9-5. But he atoned for that miscue with a workmanlike 5-0 decision over Rahway’s Brian Pyrus, Tuesday night.
“I was real upset with myself in the way I wrestled in the districts,” said Eichner, now 30-5. “This was a good tune-up for me and hopefully I can keep it going.”
Gov. Livingston, which enjoyed one of its best seasons in school history, going 18-2 and finishing with a No. 19 ranking in The Star-Ledger’s Top 20, will also have three other wrestlers in action Friday. Jon Mele (103 pounds), Bryan Sobol (152) and Shane Haddad (171) each won District 12 gold last Saturday and had the night off on Tuesday.
“We’ve had a real good season,” said Stepien (31-2). “And it’s good to see so many of our guys doing well here individually.”
