NEW STATEWIDE TOP 20 HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING POLL

The New Jersey Wrestling Writers Association (NJWWA) will debut its weekly statewide Top 20 high school team rankings on the web sites and in the newspapers of participating media outlets throughout the Garden State later this week.

The newly formed association features an All-Star lineup of scholastic wrestling experts from across the state. It consists of 16 voting members with well over 200 years of combined reporting experience.

Each writer will cast a weekly Top 20 ballot. Points will be awarded to teams in descending order with 20 points going to the No. 1 team and one point awarded to the No. 20 team on each ballot. Teams will be ranked according to that point system and based on the total number of votes they receive from the association’s 16 members.

An impressive bronze trophy, donated by Prestige Imaging of Old Bridge, will be presented at the end of the 2012-13 campaign to the state’s No. 1 high school wrestling team in the final NJWWA poll.

"This new weekly Top 20 is a gift from the most dedicated wrestling writers in the state to the wrestling community they love,” said NJWWA President Bob Behre.

The association strongly encourages readers to visit the blogs and web sites of participating media outlets each week to offer their opinions or to nominate teams for Top 20 consideration. The insight of all readers is valued and will be strongly considered in the weekly Top 20 rankings.

The idea of a statewide Top 20 media poll came from NJWWA member Donald J. Brower. The initial NJWWA Top 20 poll will debut on participating web sites and blogs Thursday at 8 p.m. and will appear Friday in participating newspapers.

Following is a list of voting members (in alphabetical order) and their media affiliations:

Bob Behre – Trenton Times
Donald J. Brower – MorrisCountyHSWrestling.com
Patrick Buganski – The Mat Pack
Frank D’Esposito – TheShoreConference.com
Steve Falk – Asbury Park Press of Neptune and Hitting the Mats
Harry Frezza – Courier News of Bridgewater
Joe Hofmann – Daily Record of Parsippany
Screwy Louie Lazzari – New Jersey Wrestling Historian
John Lewis – Burlington County Times
Ron Mazzola – On the Mat
Tom McGurk – Daily Journal of Vineland
John O’Kane – Atlantic City Press
Anthony Spaulding – New Jersey Herald
Greg Tufaro – Home News Tribune of East Brunswick
Mike Weilamann – Open Mike
Joe Zedalis – Trenton Times