This weekend the Blair Wrestling team will be competing at Prep Nationals, and as has become tradition, each year we choose to wrestle for a cause.  Once again, the Blair Wrestling team has decided to Pin Down Cancer.  

Over the past year, we have lost six members of the Blair Wrestling family to cancer-related deaths.  We have lost three former wrestlers, Shawn Mulrooney, Ryan McGrath, and Adam Frey; two parents, Erlinda Clavel and Steve Hanzlik; and one of our biggest fans, Robin Leff.  As you can tell, cancer has hit us pretty hard, so we would like to raise as much money as possible to support those people who are still alive and battling cancer, and to honor the memory of those who have died from cancer.      

Here is how the pledge system works.  Wrestlers will be going around with pledge sheets all week, and you can support the cause in two ways.  One, you can give a per-pin pledge.  For example, if you pledge one dollar per-pin and the team has thirty pins, then you donate thirty dollars.  Two, you can pledge a flat amount, so if you pledge fifty dollars, then you donate fifty dollars.  Also, for Blair students, the money can be debited from your Blair account.  

If you have any questions or to place a pledge, please contact Coach Charles Danhof at danhoc@blair.edu or 908.362.2002. 

Taking home the Team Champion honors, Blair wrestlers took to the mats on Saturday afternoon at the Blair Field House, hosting the NJISAA State Meet. Blair saw 12 wrestlers in the finals, with eleven earning the title of Prep State Champ. Brad Bishop, Brooks Black, Mike Evans, Mark Grey, Max Hovolbek, Austin Ornsbee, Russell Parsons, Todd Preston, Jesse Shanaman, Evan Silver, and Chris Villalonga each won at their respective weight class. Jack Wedholm finished second, and Marino Orlandi earned third place and Dillon Hoffman earned a fourth. Chris Villalonga was named the Tournament Outstanding Wrestler. Blair will be back at it on Friday and Saturday at the Prep National Tournament to be held at Lehigh's Stabler Arena.

This past Wednesday afternoon, Blair hosted a JV invitational, including wrestlers from Peddie, Lawrenceville and St. Benedict’s. 

Holt Johnson (103) and first-year wrestler Eugene Park (135) led the Bucs on the day.  Both wrestlers did a great job of going after their opponents and won all three matches by fall.  This meet was the second in a row where Johnson won all of his matches, and Park deserves credit for being our most improved JV wrestler.  Just one month ago, he lost both of his matches at a JV invitational at Lawrenceville, so he has come a long way in the last month.  

Harrison Gardner (125) also went undefeated for the Bucs.  After getting off to a slow start and beating Don-Tai Garner of St. Benedict’s in overtime, Gardner pinned his next two opponents before heading into a rematch with Garner.  Gardner proved that the first match was no fluke, and he dominated the final match and beat Garner 8-2.

James Park (145) went 1-2 on the day, pinning one opponent in the first period, losing by a fall, and losing 6-2. 

First-year wrestlers, John Welch (130) and Ian Mindham (130) also competed on the day.  Mindham won two matches and lost one, all in exciting fashion.  Both opponents he beat, he put in a banana split.  He pinned one opponent and beat the other by a technical fall.  Welch, after less than a month of practice, showed great potential on the day.  He pinned one opponent and got pinned by another, in a match that he was winning.  He also lost a barnburner of a match by the score 10-8. 

Congratulations to all the JV wrestlers for a job well done. 
 

2/7/2010
Bill Hupp, InterMat Staff Writer
bill@intermatwrestle.com

Three members of Blair’s PG team travelled to Amherst College for the Groundhog Invitational.  Rodney Sharp’s first action back after a month and a half hiatus was cut short when he injured his shoulder.

The two remaining wrestlers, Mark Cirello and Max Huntley, had a great day.  Mark Cirello started the tournament off slow but saved his best wrestling for the finals.  In the championship match, he handed Alex Buessing from UNH his second loss on the year by beating him 11-0. 

Max Huntley tore through the 197 lb. division, pinning each of his opponents in the first period, including a first period pin over highly touted, Joe Silverman. of MIT. 

The PG team is next in action February 27th at Lafayette for the Mid-East Conference Qualifier.

Max Huntley saw his first action of the season this past weekend at the Doug Cherry invitational hosted by Lafayette and Northampton.  With only four wrestlers competing in the 197 lb. weight class, the tournament ran a round robin.  Eager to compete, Huntley got right to work.  He pinned his first two opponents of the day, each in the first period.  In Max’s final match, he scored six takedowns to beat Rick McIlvane from Gloucester County College 13-1.

Mark Cirello also started off the day with two pins.  In the finals, he ran into Robert Merchant from SUNY Cobleskill.  After falling 2-0 on an early takedown, Mark dominated the rest of the match and won 6-2.

Blair Academy's "Last Man Standing" Mark Cirello traveled to Messiah College on Saturday 1/23 to represent his fellow post graduates at the 149 lb weight class in a grueling Messiah Open wrestling tournament.
Cirello drew a tough first round match in #3 seed Ryan Kemmerer from Gloucester County College. Cirello got the tournament off to a good start through by securing a takedown, and riding tough to pull out a solid 3-1 win.
The second round match for Cirello turned in to a dogfight against Chris Hardenberg from Messiah College. After giving up an early takedown, Mark was forced to claw his way back against an unrelenting opponent. But steady pressure and hard work on top gave way to a 4-2 win for Mark.
Quarter finals brought up Miguel Rodriguez from Liberty University. After two good warm up matches, Cirello was able to open the doors up a little bit and work on a lot of different things. With clean takedowns, and good turns from top, he cruised to a comfortable 17-4 win.
In the semi finals Cirello faced a sophomore from Drexel University, Matt Dugan. Mark wrestled a very smart and technical match against the Division I Dugan. Some fierce scrambling and a killer grind on top in the first two periods took Mark out to a good lead that he was able to maintain through the third period for a 5-0 win.
For his finals match, Mark had to wrestle #1 seed, and 2009 NJ state Champion at 145 lbs, Emanual Ajagbe from Delaware Valley College. The up and coming freshman Ajagbe currently holds a Division III "Contender" ranking. Besides both being tough competitors, Ajagbe and Cirello are also very good friends, but both guys went out wrestled the match hard. After a scoreless first period, Cirello did a good job of getting himself off bottom, and out to a 1-0 lead. But a critical mistake led to a takedown by Ajagbe. Another escape in the second period tied the score at 2. A quick escape by Ajagbe in the third period put him out to a 3-2 lead. Good handfighting and consistent control of position put the pressure on Cirello to score, and with time dwindling down, he tried to force a shot and got caught with a pancake maneuver. Despite the final 8-2 score, Cirello wrestled a solid match and was in contention to win the match.
Overall, the tournament was a good learning experience in Mark, and the PG "Last Man Standing" left the Messiah gym with a good number of college coaches talking about his ability to perform, as well as his immense potential on the NCAA level.
The Blair PG squad looks forward to the rumors that have been swirling about the possible return of Max Huntley for next weekend's event.

Thanks to all at the NHSCA for putting together another well-run event.  Like last weekend’s Festival, teams in the Final Four were put into pools, wrestled within their pools, and then were given the opportunity to wrestle a team from the other pool.  The winners from each pool were paired in the finals  

For the second week in a row, the Blair wrestlers got off to a slow start.  After the 112 match against Benton (the match started at 215), Blair and Benton had traded matches and Blair was up 10-9.  Then Mark Grey (119) went out and took care of business.  He got an early lead on #13 ranked Mike Rhone and was up 3-1 in the third period when Rhone got in on a shot and scored a takedown.  Grey kept scrambling and quickly earned a reversal and tacked on back points to earn an 8-3 decision.  Benton fought back, however, and took the next two matches and a 16-13 lead.  That is when the meat of Blair’s lineup took over. Benton forfeited the 140 and 145 weight classes, and Austin Ormsbee (135) and Jesse Shanaman (152) recorded first period falls to seal the match. Blair won 43-25. 

Next, Blair faced a spirited Collins Hill team from Georgia, ranked #14 in the nation.  The match went back and forth many times, with both teams gaining momentum at various points in the dual.  Blair took three out of the first four matches to start off with a 13-6 lead, but Collins Hill responded with pins at 125 and 135 and a decision at 130 to take a 21-13 lead.  Once again, the middle of Blair’s lineup took over; Ormsbee, wrestling up at 140, Chris Villalonga, wrestling up at 145, and Shanaman, all won, to give Blair a 24-21 lead.  Ormsbee and Shanaman each won by major decision, thus securing much-needed bonus points.  Up next at 160, Brad Bishop had a big win for the Bucs; he held off a late comeback from Pat Riley to earn a 3-2 decision.  After Marino Orlandi lost a close match at 171, the team score was 27-24 with two bouts left.  Then Mike Evans came up big for the Bucs by pinning his Collins Hill opponent in 31 seconds.  The pin secured the victory for the Bucs, and they went on to win 33-30.

Up next for the Bucs was #2 team in New Jersey – Long Branch.   Max Hvolbek (103) started the match off with a tech fall and gave Blair some momentum.  Kyle Taylor (112) followed with a major decision, as did Mark Grey, who bumped up to 125 for the match.  Evan Silver also recorded a tech fall, wrestling up at 119.  Ormsbee, Villalonga, Shanaman, Evans, Dillon Hoffman and Brooks Black also won, and Blair beat Long Branch 42-18.

After winning their pool, Blair wrestled Bishop Lynch in the finals.  The match started off at 119, where Kyle Taylor, wrestling up a weight class, scored a major decision over Jordan Goodwin.  Taylor did a good job fending off Goodwin’s attacks and scoring on his counter offense.  At 125, Grey won his fourth match of the day.  At 130, Russell Parsons lost a close match, and at 145, Chris Mears of Bishop Lynch pinned Jack Wedholm.  Then, as they had all day, the trio of Ormsbee, Villalonga and Shanaman wrestled well and all earned bonus points to extend the Bucs lead to 22-9.  Brad Bishop stepped up again for the Bucs at 160 and held on to beat Trey Adamson 4-3.  Marino Orlandi ran into a tough Tanner Eitel at 171 and lost by a pin.  At this point, the score of the match was 25-15, but that is when Mike Evans stepped onto the mat and helped swing the momentum back to Blair’s side.  Wresling #19 ranked Stephen McPeek, Mike went out determined to help out his team, and he exhibited some exciting upper body lifts to upend McPeek 7-2.  The match fired up Dillon Hoffman and Brooks Black, who both took the mat with determination, confidence and energy.  Both Hoffman and Black pinned their opponents in the first period and put the dual out of reach.  Hvolbek and Silver finished the bout with victories and Blair won 47-15.

Commenting on the day, Villalonga was proud that the team “overcame some tough obstacles and fought hard” and noted that “it was a good test for [this] week.”  Mike Evans mentioned “it was another rough start, but it was great to hammer Bishop Lynch in the finals.  Everyone wrestled well and did their job for that match, and that just shows how good we are when we are on top of our game.”  The guys will certainly have to be on top of their game this Saturday night, when they have a showdown with St. Paris Graham. 

Check back on the NHSCA website for exciting announcements about TV coverage for NHSCA events and for full results from the Final Four. http://www.nhscaevents.com/event.cfm?id=29

Also, see: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/sports/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/126430952757160.xml&coll=3