2 Vikings win H/W/S wrestling titles
VERNON. Henderson takes 107-pound championship for second year in a row, and Guzik-Upchurch is first in 132-pound weight class.
Vernon /
| 08 Jan 2025 | 09:19
Senior Lily Henderson wins the 107-pound title in the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament on Sunday, Jan. 5. (Photos provided)
Freshman Melodie Guzik-Upchurch wins the 132-pound title in the H/W/S Tournament.
Senior Caitlin Hart loses in the 235-pound final after winning the 185-pound H/W/S title last year.
Rowan Waite takes second place in the 165-pound weight class in the H/W/S Tournament.
Sadie Collins is third in the 126-pound weight class in the H/W/S Tournament.
The Vernon Township High School girls wrestling team swept the St. Thomas Aquinas quad meet with wins over Perth Amboy, Raritan and St. Thomas Aquinas.
From left are Vernon wrestlers Mike Ivancich, Gavin Pych and Zyon Taylor. At the Lenape Valley Holiday Tournament, Pych placed first and Ivancich and Taylor each took second place.
Senior Lily Henderson successfully defended her 107-pound title and freshman Melodie Guzik-Upchurch earned the 132-pound title to pace the Vernon Township High School girls wrestling team at the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament on Sunday afternoon, Jan. 5 at High Point Regional High School.
Henderson defeated Allie Borzelli of North Hunterdon, 1-0, to earn her second straight tri-county championship and improve to 12-1 this season.
Guzik-Upchurch trailed North Hunterdon’s Layla Loprimo, 3-0, after the first period but scored a double-leg takedown early in the second, then turned her opponent to her back before registering a pin fall with 22 seconds remaining in the period.
Rowan Waite reached the 165-pound final and placed second after being pinned by Paige DeCaro of Newton/Kittatinny.
Senior Caitlin Hart, who won the 185-pound H/W/S title last year, was edged by Delaware Valley’s Emmy Hotz, 4-1, in the 235-pound final.
Other place winners for Vernon included Sadie Collins, who was third at 126; Kaelen Hague, who was fourth at 100 pounds; Natalie Tucker, who was fourth at 114; and Violet Henderson, who was fourth at 120.
The Vikings finished third of 17 competing teams.
Here’s how other Vernon teams fared recently:
Indoor track
Sophia Haw won the 200-meter dash, placed third in the 400-meter dash and was fourth in the long jump to pace the Vernon girls indoor track team at the ESU Warrior Classic on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 4 at East Stroudsburg (Pa.) University.
Haw, a junior, won the 200-meter dash in 27.40 and was third in the 400-meter dash in 1:02.36. She also had a leap of 15-5.25 in placing fourth in the long jump.
Micah Dalelio was third in the 3,200-meter run in 12:36.27 while Samantha Janus placed sixth in the 200-meter dash in 29.11.
On the boys side, Jack Turner was 18th in 3,200-meter run in 11:10.12 and Robert Burdzy was 18th in the 800-meter run in 2:17.88.
Ice hockey
In its only game last week, Vernon suffered a 10-0 loss to High Point on Jan. 4 at Skylands Ice World in Stockholm.
Freshman goalie Klaus Harthaus turned in another sensational effort, registering 65 saves in the loss, and has more than 470 saves this season.
Vernon (0-8) is scheduled to play Newark East Side at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 9 at the Ironbound Recreation Center in Newark .
Boys wrestling
The Vikings came up just short in dropping a 39-36 decision to Tenafly at home Jan. 4.
Michael Ivancich (126 pounds), Ricky Vazquez (157), Gavin Pych (165) and Zyon Taylor (285) each won by fall for Vernon (0-7).
Vernon will host Dover at 5 p.m. Jan. 9 before wrestling in the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 11 at Phillipsburg High School.
Boys basketball
Alex Fessel collected 22 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and three steals; Dylan Heykoop added 11 points, five rebounds and two assists; Tyler Dobrzynski had eight points, four rebounds and two assists; and Michael Pecoraro had seven points and eight rebounds to pace Vernon to a 60-40 victory over Randolph in the consolation game of the JP Flynn Tournament on Dec. 28 in Mendham.
Kevin de Stani added seven points and two rebounds and Ryan Ajamian had three points and seven rebounds in the decision.
Vernon will play at Wallkill Valley at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 10.
Girls basketball
The Vikings went 2-1 in three games at the Rally in the Valley Tournament at Wallkill Valley the last week of 2024.
Vernon defeated Kittatinny, 51-38, on Dec. 26 and High Point, 45-26, on Dec. 27 before dropping a 43-32 decision to Newton on Dec. 30.
Monica Curry averaged 16 points and 4.3 steals and Grace Dobrzynski averaged 15 points and 8.7 rebounds in the three games.
Vernon (3-3) will play host to North Warren at 4 p.m. Jan. 10.