NJSIAA Wrestling Notebook: Highland Park's Rios powers into quarterfinal

NJSIAA Wrestling Notebook:
Highland Park's Rios powers
into quarterfinals

By GREG TUFARO • STAFF WRITER • March 5,
2010

ATLANTIC CITY — Teammates Tyler Rios and
D'Andre Bell became the first grapplers in Highland
Park High School's storied athletic history to qualify
for the NJSIAA Wrestling Championships.

While Bell made an early exit with a preliminary-
round loss, Rios advanced to the quarterfinals by
winning two bouts at Boardwalk Hall on Friday
night.

"I had to wrestle hard and give it all I got if I wanted
to make it to the finals," said Rios, a 189-pound
sophomore. "I had to do this for my school. Nobody
really knows about Highland Park."

Rios is one of 12 Greater Middlesex Conference
wrestlers who reached the quarterfinals. The others
are South Plainfield's Anthony Ashnault, Troy
Heilmann, Nick Heilmann and Mike Wagner, Perth
Amboy's Heriberto Quintana and Joel Perez,
Monroe's Sam Emburgia and Mike Tyson, Old
Bridge's Conor Hayes, Middlesex's Frank Bozzomo
and South Brunswick's Brendan Vercammen.

Nine other GMC grapplers are still alive in the
wrestleback rounds.

The Owls, who had just four wrestlers in their
program when head coach Craig Girvan took over
the program several years ago, are on the verge of
turning the corner. Former coach Scott Gerba
helped Highland Park gain some traction, leading
the Owls to a GMC Blue Division title, but Girvan
hopes to take the team to a new level.

In that regard, Rios is leading the way.

"This is fantastic for Highland Park and our
program," Girvan said. "We've been working a long
time to really try to get to this level. Tyler is the type
of athlete that can take you to these places.

"I think he'll be an inspiration to a lot of the young
kids. There's a lot of buzz around school. It's great
to have."

Rios improved to 32-7 with his two wins.

"It's amazing the progress he's made," Girvan said.
"He's still a young kid and coming in this year I
didn't know how he'd progress. But he's worked
really hard and he's stepping it up and obviously
he's peaking at the right time.

"He's really got his technique down. His shots are
something and he's wrestling smart. He's just got
the whole package and now it seems like it's all
coming together. I'm excited."


Ticket prices

Hours before the start of the 2010 NJSIAA Wrestling
Championships, acting state Commissioner of
Education Bret Schundler ruled that the statewide
athletics association could charge $9 for adult
admission to each round of state tournament
competition at Boardwalk Hall.

Schundler met with NJSIAA Attorney Michael Herbert
and NJSIAA Executive Director Steve Timko for about
90 minutes on Friday afternoon. He told Herbert and
Timko that the NJSIAA could raise ticket prices 200
percent above the cost of regular-season admission
fees, as permitted by a new state law which took
effect Jan. 29.

The NJSIAA initially set ticket prices at $10 and $8

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for adults and students and senior citizens,
respectively. Tickets have been on sale since Dec.
15. The NJSIAA sold approximately 3,500 tickets in
advance.

Herbert said he did not yet know if or how the
NJSIAA would refund patrons who purchased tickets
prior to Schundler's ruling. Schundler ruled on
Thursday that tickets for seniors and students must
be $2.

"The commissioner was extraordinarily considerate,"
Herbert said. "He listened to our point of view. He
felt the language of the statute did not allow us to
charge more than $2 for students and did allow us
to go 200 percent (above regular-season
admission) for adults, which means $9.

"We went in there thinking disaster and came out
with some degree of hope," Herbert said. "We still
believe the statute should not be interpreted to
disallow us from charging seniors and children an
appropriate amount of money."

Herbert said the NJSIAA is still working with the
commissioner to determine ticket prices for other
winter sports tournaments.

Herbert said Schundler will allow the NJSIAA to
charge an admission fee of $10 for adults to the
state swimming Meet of Champions. Senior citizens
and students, however, must be admitted to the
event free of charge.

Herbert said he is hopeful that Schundler will allow
the NJSIAA to charge $10 and $5 for adults and
students and seniors, respectively, for admission to
state ice hockey championship games at the Izod
Center and the Prudential Center.


"Working under the severe constraints of a statute
that doesn't make any sense, (Schundler) did the
best he could," Herbert said.

Tigers tale

South Plainfield advanced a school-record nine
wrestlers to the NJSIAA Tournament, making for a
ridiculously busy night for head coach Kevin
McCann and his four assistants.

"It's been OK so far," said South Plainfield assistant
coach Billy Hamilton. "(Saturday) if we get caught up
in wrestlebacks it might be a different story.

"It's been hectic but it's a good hectic. You don't
mind being busy down here. It's kind of tough b
ecause you don't get to talk to them (the wrestlers)
before they come out."

Anthony Ashnault, Troy Heilmann, Tyler Hunt, Nick
Heilmann, Ryan Sacco and Mike Wagner all
advanced for the Tigers.

Upset

Franklin junior 152-pounder Colin Hewitt was an
upset victim Friday night. Hewitt, a two-time state
placewinner and top seed in the lower bracket, was
pinned by Kingsway senior Joseph Renard in 1:08.

Today's times

The quarterfinals begin Saturday morning at 10 a.m.
with semifinals to start at 5 p.m.
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