NJ WRESTLING: Middlesex County season in review

NJ WRESTLING: Middlesex County season in review
Mike Berg, March 20, 2010 10:53 p.m.


Anthony Ashnault (103 pounds) of South Plainfield is The Star-Ledger's Middlesex County Wrestler of the Year. - (Andrew Mills/The Star-Ledger)
Wrestler of the year: Anthony Ashnault accomplished just about everything a wrestler could achieve in one season -- and he's only a freshman.

"The goal was to win a state championship for South Plainfield and, after that, win another state championship," said Ashnault, who upended top-seeded Tyler Fraley of Colts Neck, 6-5, to collect the 103-pound state title at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on March 7. "This season was everything I'd hoped for, and I got a little extra by going undefeated."

Ashnault cruised to a 44-0 record and led his South Plainfield squad, the final No. 1-ranked team in The Star-Ledger Top 20, to its first state title since 2007. In the process, he earned the first Greater Middlesex Conference, District 12 and Region 3 titles of his young career.

In addition, Ashnault won six matches at the 30th Annual Virginia Duals, a high-powered tournament that hosted some of the country's top teams in January.

"I prepared for every match the same way, but Virginia was my first challenge where I knew there were going to be national quality kids and I had to perform my best," he said. "Once I beat some big names there, I knew I could do a lot in the state."

Ashnault performed just as well on the state tournament stage, knocking off Toms River North's Kyle McNulty in the quarterfinals and Jackson's Brian Hamann in the semifinals, the eventual third and fourth-place finishers, respectively.

"I think he outworks every three-pounder in the state," said South Plainfield coach Kevin McCann, a state champion for South Plainfield at 135 pounds in 1991. "He's never missed a practice, never sat out for an injury. He's a workhorse, and he's a great kid."

Ashnault joins a star-studded history of 103-pound state champions from South Plainfield, including Jimmy Conroy, who won the Greater Middlesex Conference's last state title in 2004, and Matt Anderson, a third-year volunteer on the South Plainfield coaching staff who won a title in 2000.

"I remember going to the Meadowlands and watching Matt Anderson," said Ashnault. "When you're sitting in the bleachers, it looks so much bigger than when you're on the floor wrestling. I wanted to be there and I wanted to wrestle on the big stage."

Team of the year: South Plainfield (29-2) knocked off top-ranked High Point, 26-24, in the NJSIAA Group 3 state championship on Feb. 14 to earn its fourth state crown in the past six seasons and solidify itself as The Star-Ledger's No. 1 team in New Jersey. The Top 20 Trophy for finishing No. 1 in the state rankings is South Plainfield's first.

The school fell in two matches this season - a 30-29 loss to St. Mark's of Delaware and a 34-20 setback to No. 4 Jackson in January - before rebounding to collect its sixth Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament title in the last seven years and its state-record 26th consecutive district title when it captured District 12.

The school qualified nine wrestlers for the state tournament to tie a school record while crowning a school-record five Region 3 champions. It then eclipsed another school record by collecting five individual state tournament medals from Ashnault (first at 103), Troy Heilmann (sixth at 112), Nick Heilmann (fourth at 135), Ryan Sacco (seventh at 145) and Mike Wagner (second at 189).

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Coach of the year: The odds are stacked against Craig Girvan of Highland Park, where he assembles a team from a pool of approximately 400 students, is overshadowed by a successful football program and is just 10 years removed from one of the lowest points a team could reach.

"In 2001, we finished the year with just four kids and we didn't win a match," said Girvan, who joined Highland Park as an assistant in 2001. "But we've been working ever since to establish the program and we now have the type of athletes that can really take the program to the next level."

Girvan, who took over as head coach in 2007, led his team to an 11-11 mark this season and sent Tyler Rios and D'Andre Bell to the state tournament, the first time in the school's history that it sent competitors to wrestle on the state level. Bell, a senior 130-pounder, was a Region 5 runner-up while Rios, a 189-pound sophomore, earned District 19 gold before placing third in the region.

"I now have a lot of freshman and sophomore kids that are relatively new to the sport, and I think they will progress," Girvan said. "I think Tyler will be our leader, and he will inspire our younger kids to reach that higher level."

Broken records: Conor Hayes, a 140-pound senior who placed sixth in the state this season, set Old Bridge's career victory record by compiling a 120-31 mark.

He went 40-4 this season and lost just one match prior to the state tournament, a 2-1 loss to South Plainfield's Corey Stasenko in the GMC Tournament semifinals, to break two-time state champion Kevin Jacoutot's school record of 114 victories that has stood since 1982.

"Conor's been a very solid part of the program for four years," said coach Bryan Garnett. "He made good strides in strength this year, coming in at 140 after he wrestled at 103 as a freshman and sophomore and 125 as a junior. He's a leader on the team and he's worked extremely hard."

South Brunswick eclipsed a team record by piling up 18 victories this season, snapping the previous mark of 17 victories, and could have had more if it were not for five weather-related match cancellations.

Brendan Vercammen, a 171-pound senior who collected a fifth-place finish in the state tournament, captained the team with seniors Frank Capraro (125 pounds) and Jeff Goldhagen (189), who each placed third at District 20. Vercammen was second in Region 5 and won the District 20 title.

"As you coach, you tell the kids that chemistry is a very important thing, and these guys let the team know what the expectations were," said South Brunswick coach Joe Dougherty. "We had a lot of sophomores in the lineup, and our seniors were outstanding with them."

Second best: Senior Heriberto Quintana of Perth Amboy fell to Hunterdon Central's Alex Shaffer, 15-5, in the 119-pound state final to improve on his third-place finish at 112 pounds in 2009. South Plainfield's Mike Wagner, a senior, dropped a 9-4 decision to Bound Brook's Andrew Campolattano in the 189-pound title bout to improve on his fourth-place finish at 171 pounds last winter. Campolattano has won three state championships.

Anthony Ashnault of South Plainfield defeats Tyler Fraley of Colts Neck in 103-pound finals bout

Heriberto Quintana of Perth Amboy wins against Joe Orecchio of Don Bosco in the semis