Bears dominate at Raider Invitational
East Brunswick
overcomes injuries
to take team title
BY DOUG McKENZIE
Staff Writer

FARRAH MAFFAI staff East Brunswick’s Kevin Busand tries to turn JFK’s Dustin Rudy during their 112-pound bout at the Raider Invitational on Saturday at North Brunswick High School.

East Brunswick entered Saturday’s Raider Invitational as the team favorite and did not disappoint as it ran away with the team title with 190 points, well ahead of second-place Bishop Ahr (110) of Edison.

The Bears took a top-three finish in 10 of the 14 weight classes, including four first-place finishes. East Brunswick’s Corey Ritchings (125), Jason Shelsby (145), Nick Marrone (160) and Matt Merrigan (171) all won individual titles to lead the way for the Bears.

It was an impressive effort from a Bears team that was without a number of its top wrestlers following last weekend’s Neptune Classic, including heavyweight Ralph Denise, who is recovering from knee surgery.

But the Bears managed to fill the holes nicely, getting solid performances from a number of grapplers who otherwise wouldn’t crack the Bears’ starting lineup, and proved to be the class of the field, as expected.

MIGUEL JUAREZ staff South River’s Danny Fiumecaldo tries to escape the grasps of Bishop Ahr’s Mike Clore during a 130-pound bout at the Raider Invitational.

Ritchings bumped up to 125 from his normal 119 slot, and went on to win the title by beating North Brunswick’s Jon Horning, 9-2. It was a solid showing for Ritchings, who has been battling a sore neck the past two seasons and was coming off a disappointing showing at the Classic the previous weekend.

Shelsby pinned Monsignor Farrell’s Ryan Zinske at the 3:53 mark of the 145-pound final, while Marrone registered a dominating technical fall (15-0) over West Windsor-Plainsboro South’s Joe Everington in the 160-pound final.

Merrigan earned a hard-fought 8-5 win over Bishop Ahr’s Kevin Ruiz in the 171-pound final.

The Bears also received second-place finishes from Dave Ruffner, Tony Oljiel and Steve DeFilippo. Ruffner was pinned at the 5:41 mark of the 189-pound final to Elizabeth’s Marquis Maple, while Oljiel fell to Spotwsood’s Dominick Calogero in 25 seconds in the 215-pound final. DeFilippo was pinned by South River’s Tom Scanlon in 1:12 in the 275-pound final.

Among the other Bears to register third-place finishes were Chris Onyrscuk (103), who won by pinfall (2:39) in his consolation-round bout; Mike Corona (119), who pinned South River’s Dan Fiumecaldo in 1:30 in their consolation match; and John Parke (152), who pinned his teammate, Ryan Post, in 3:34 in their consolation match.

South River finished in seventh place with 75 points, led by Kevin Pereira’s win at 112 pounds. Pereira beat Monsignor Farrell’s Patrick Sandberg, 12-8, in the final to capture the individual title.

He was later joined by Scanlon at 275 as the Rams’ only individual winners. South River also got a fourth-place finish from Justin McCutcheon (130).

Spotswood finished tied for ninth place with 53 points, led by Calogero’s win at 215 and Dave Wojcik’s third-place finish at 171, where he pinned JKF’s Sean Keenan in 3:01 in their consolation match.

Colagero, a junior, was one of the surprises of the tournament. The first-year wrestler was impressive throughout the day, earning falls in 27 seconds, 1:35 and 25 seconds en route to the title.