Wrestling: Morris County Tournament Predictions!

As we get ready for the Morris County Wrestling Tournament, I wanted to take a moment and honor Jim McLean who was one of the area's best wrestler's in the early 90's. McLean died tragically in a skiing accident in Colorado. McLean graduated in 1993 and went on to to wrestle at Rutgers where he was a team captain. After that he went on to become a doctor of Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation. He was 33 years young.

Thanks for the memories Jimmy!

Being a huge competitor, I am know McLean would be really into this tourney. And I know all the kids below will not disappoint his memory. This will be a really great tournament and there are tons of talented boys competing this year. But we've been watching all these kids and feel we have some nice predictions below. Remember, our motto at this site is heart counts more than winning. So I am really looking to see some great matches! Good luck boys and here are our predictions:

103 -- Steve Godine (Whippany Park) vs. Mike Intile (Montville)
Godine is having a nice season and deserves to represent himself at the 103 weight break. But Mike Intile will have more points when it is all said and done.
PICK: Intile

112 -- Dave Arbelaez (Morris Knolls) vs. Eric Fajardo (Boonton)
Arbelaez beats Jeff Canfora of Delby to get to the finals. Then Eric "Mr. Fantastico" Fajardo will take down Arbelaez.
PICK: Fajardo

119 -- Clint Donnelly (Kinnelon) vs. Kevin Collins (Randolph)
Kevin "Phil" Collins earns a birth in the final round. But Clint "Eastwood" Donnelly gets the win.
PICK: Donnelly

125 -- Dan Herr (Morris Knolls) vs. Dmitri Gizas (Dover)
Dmitri Gizas squeaks into the final round of the MCT. But Dan Herr takes the prize.
PICK: Herr

130 -- Joe Ficchi (Whippany Park) vs. Tom Glancey (Mendham)
Ficchi is nursing injuries. But just like Ralph Macheo in the final round of the Karate Kid, he will save his best moves for last. Glancey has made a name for himself this year and I see him making it to the final round. But the Feech wins in dramatic fashion.
PICK: Feech

135 -- Jude Tropona (Pequannock) vs. Kyle Hussey (Parsippany)
Jude Tropona has wrestling in his blood. But Kyle Hussey is a total gamer. I see this as one of the better match's in the MCT. Hussey's dramatics over HP last week will keep him rolling.
PICK: Hussey

140 -- Kyle Bieg (Randolph) vs. Rich Szymczak (Hanover Park).
Bieg will have a tough time against Rich "The Polish Pinner" Szymczak. But he comes away with the MCT title at this weight break.
PICK: Bieg

145 -- 1. Nick Bach (Parsippany) vs. Chris Tracy (Hanover Park).
Nick Bach will upset Ponomarev to get to the final round. But Chris Tracy will take down Bach.
PICK: Tracy

152 -- Andrew Conley (Madison) vs. Jake Gruebert (Hanover Park)
Both tough wrestlers. I think both these guys are deserving of a win here. But I am picking Conley sqeaking out more points.
PICK: Conley

160 -- Zach Garripoli (Roxbury) vs. Kevin Orchard (Mendham).
Garripoli gets to the final round with ease. While Orachard works hard to eek into the final round. But I am calling Orchard works too hard to make it to the finals to let one last match get by him.
PICK: Orchard

171 -- Kyle Kaufmann (Madison) vs. Will Larusso (Roxbury).
Will Larusso has been strong all year. He will deservedly make it to the finals. But Kyle "Killer" Kaufmann will make sure Larusso stays in second place.
PICK: Kaufmann

189 -- Chris Lloyd (Morristown) vs. Brian Byrne (Mendham)
I see Sal Carfaro of WMC getting far but Byrne and Lloyd face off in the final round. Lloyd is the looming favorite in this match. But no wrestler is hotter or has been working harder coming into this tourney than Byrne. This will be one of the best matches of the night, but I see Byrne's quickness being the difference.
PICK: Byrne

215 -- Mike Suk (Randolph) vs. Adam Hodge (West Morris)
Hodge is having as nice of a high school athletic career as you could ask for. Just a tough kid with the skill and smarts. But Suk is like Mr. Perfect of the WWF in the early 90's. Every aspect of his game is polished. He will make sure he gets this year's title at the 215 weight.
PICK: Suk

Hwt -- Joe Serrao (Parsippany) vs. Doug Meringer (Hanover Park)
Serrao beat Meringer earlier in the year. But Doug "Macho Man" Meringer learned a lot from that match. Lucky for Serrao there are no top ropes in HS wrestling. But I still see Meringer winning in dramatic fashion.
PICK: Meringer

New Jersey Wrestling Certification: The Holes in the System No One is Talking About

Back in early 90's, when I wrestled in high school, wrestlers were required to weigh in before every wrestling match. This was to secure eligibility at the desired weight break. Sometimes there would be hours between weigh-ins and the actual match. So athletes were able to basically starve themselves for the weigh-in, then gorge themselves so they would have their energy and few extra pounds to wrestle at.

In an attempt to stop athletes to feel pressure to go to these drastic measures, the NJSIAA has implemented a system in which requires every athlete be certified at a certain weight break by the organization at the beginning of the season.

But many parents and officials are still critical of the NJSIAA and say these new testing measures are not enough. They are crying out that there still is plenty of room for kids to put themselves in danger.

To get a closer look at the effectiveness of this new system, we dove in to get an athletes first hand look a the testing. Mendham High School wrestling captain Brian Byrne gives us his experience with this system and his thoughts on its effectiveness. Here is what Byrne had to say:

The NJSIAA requires every wrestler to undergo a certification which permits a wrestler to compete in a certain weight class. At the start of the season, the team rides a bus to the testing site where each kid is asked to strip down and get in line to give a urine sample, which is supposed to demonstrate hydration. Then, another line later, the wrestler waits to have his (or her) height and weight taken. These numbers are used to calculate body fat. If a wrestler has more then 7% body fat, then he is allowed to lose weight until he drops to 7%. If the wrestler has less than 7% body fat, he can’t cut more weight.

The certification process is a great idea. Cutting too much weight can impact performance and health. In fact, wrestlers have died from trying to lose weight pre-season.

But this process isn’t working. The problem is that a guy who’s been working hard off-season isn’t going to give up on wrestling his weight class easily. Some guys add toilet water to their urine cups. Some guys add their own spit and some guys use eye drop bottles filled with water to add to the cup. One year, I even had a couple of guys ask to use my urine for the test.

Wrestlers even cheat on the height test. If you wear baggy sweat pants, you can bend your knees and appear shorter. This means more body fat, which means more weight you’re allowed to lose.

I didn’t cheat. Not that I’m not any more moral than the next guy, I’m just naturally skinny and usually trying to gain weight, not lose it. But even without cheating, the process doesn’t work. I am 6’2’’, 189 pounds. During certification, these numbers were plugged into a scale which said I had 18% body fat—meaning I was allowed to wrestle at 171.

If I lost that much weight, I couldn’t walk, forget wrestle. A few days later, my high school trainer used a pinching calibrator and estimated my body fat to be 6%. If I tried to lose weight to wrestle at 171, I could’ve been in serious trouble.

I think the certification process needs to be changed. There needs to be better supervision and better equipment. New Jersey wrestlers are losing too much weight and putting themselves in too much danger.

Brian Byrne - Mendham Wrestling

Will we have to wait for more kids to die from losing weight before the NJSIAA comes up with a better certification process? Can the NJSIAA come up with a better way to protect high school athletes? What can schools do to help this process? It seems their are too many question marks surrounding this topic and not enough answers.

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