Wrestling team finishes 9th in NJSIAA district tournament

Vernon Township High School senior Daniel Lovett made a great run to the championship round but fell just short of taking home the gold medal at the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) District 4 Tournament.

Vernon finished ninth overall with 52 points in the competition Saturday afternoon, Feb. 18 at Kittatinny Regional High School.

Jefferson, with four finalists and two individual champions, won the team title with 181.5 points.

Lovett, who was seeded fifth, was Vernon’s lone finalist. He received a bye into the quarterfinal round and there earned a pin in 5:39 over Logan Garriques of North Warren to reach the semifinals.

He upset top-seeded Wyatt Sisco of Kinnelon, 8-5, to advance to the finals.

In the finals, he met Ashton Fava of Wayne Hills and went to sudden-death overtime before bowing, 3-1.

Other place-winners for Vernon were True DiGuiseppe (third at 157 pounds), Jeyss Abreu (third at 215) and Michael Ivancich (fourth at 106).

After losing in the semifinal round, DiGuiseppe took third at 157 pounds with a 3-2 victory over Jefferson’s Bryan Tilney.

Abreu bounced back from a semifinal loss in the 215-pound bracket to defeat Kinnelon’s Zaac Nelson, 5-4, in overtime in the third-place bout.

Ivancich also reached the third-place match at 106 pounds but suffered a loss by pin in 3:27 to North Warren’s Conor Hallowich.

Other Vernon competitors at the tournament were Dominic Cimaglia (126 pounds), Reilly Hague (132), Gavin Pych (138), Luciano Damato (144), Zachary Ezzo (150), Patrick Kaminski (190) and Phillip Pritchard (285).

Lovett, DiGuiseppe and Abreau all advanced to this week’s Region 1 Tournament at West Milford, which will be held Friday and Saturday, Feb. 24-25.

The top four place-winners in each weight class at each of eight regional tournaments will advance to the state tournament March 2-4 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.

Vernon finished its dual-meet season with a 6-14 mark under head coach Joseph Down.

Girls wrestling

Sophomore Caitlin Hart and senior Allison Brandt are heading to the NJSIAA state tournament as regional champions.

Hart, the top seed, won the 185-pound title with a 2:57 fall over second-seeded Evette Colon of Morris Hills, and Brandt, the second seed, won the 235-pound crown with a pin over top-seeded Caroline Biegel of Lakeland at the North 1 Region Tournament on Sunday evening, Feb. 19 in Vernon.

Natalie Tucker also reached the finals, bowing to Newton’s Liliana Zaku-Ramos in the 126-pound final. Joan Vince took third at 114 pounds with a 3:20 pin over Havana Acevedo of Montclair.

The state championships will begin Sunday, Feb. 26 at Phillipsburg High School, then conclude with the final round March 4 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.

Other standouts this season for Vernon, ranked No. 5 in the state, are Lily Henderson (107 pounds) and Madalyn Hart (152), who each finished second, and Kaelen Hague (100), Adrianna Goolsby (138) and Katie Wood (165), who each finished third at the inaugural New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Tournament at Vernon High School on Feb. 4.

Vernon, under the direction of head coach Ashley Illif, won the NJAC team title by the slimmest of margins over Newton and Morris Hills.