Bergen Catholic High School’s wrestling team, coming off a second-place finish at the 38th annual Doc Buchanan Tournament in Clovis, Calif., over the weekend, is ranked No. 1 in the first New Jersey Wrestling Writers Association’s Top 20 poll of the season.
Bound Brook, which tied a tournament record with eight individual champions for the second consecutive year en route to capturing its fourth consecutive Somerset County title last weekend, is ranked No. 2.
St. Peter’s Prep and Howell are ranked Nos. 3 and No. 4, respectively, while Phillipsburg, which claimed its fifth consecutive Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex Tournament title over the weekend, is ranked fifth.
The NJWWA consists of 16 voting members. Results of its poll will appear weekly during the season in newspapers and on websites of participating media outlets. Region V ranking chairman Ron Mazzola is the association’s president.
Bergen Catholic was the unanimous No. 1 choice of the NJWWA, receiving a total of 320 points, or 20 points for each first-place vote.
Teams accrue points based on the position in which they are voted. For example, a No. 2 ranking receives 19 points, a No. 3 ranking receives 18 points and so forth in descending order with a No. 20 ranking receiving one point.
Each school’s point totals for the 16 votes cast are accumulated to determine its ranking.
NJWWA TOP 20
(records through Jan. 11)
1. Bergen Catholic (2-0 record) 320 points (16 first-place votes)
2. Bound Brook (6-1) 296
3. St. Peter’s Prep (9-3) 282
4. Howell (10-0) 274
5. Phillipsburg (4-1) 256
6. Brick Memorial (5-1) 226
7. Delbarton (5-0) 214
8. DePaul (9-0) 194
9. Paulsboro (9-0) 190
10. Jackson Memorial (7-2) 163
11. Don Bosco Prep (2-2) 158
12. Southern (5-2) 139
13. North Hunterdon (5-1) 110
14. St. Augustine Prep (6-3) 100
15. Clearview (6-0) 96
16. Christian Brothers Academy (9-2) 72
17. Brick (9-1) 69
18. Hanover Park (2-4) 54
19. South Plainfield (12-3) 53
20. Roxbury (6-1) 34
Others receiving votes: Haddonfield 16, Delaware Valley 11, Lenape Valley 10, Long Branch 10, Morris Knolls 5, Wall Township 3, West Deptford 3, Monroe Township 2
NJWWA voting members (in alphabetical order): Donald J. Brower (GardenStateHSWrestling.com); Frank D’Esposito (TheShoreConference.com); Steve Falk (Asbury Park Press of Neptune and Hitting the Mats); Brian Fortner (Express-Times); Harry Frezza (Courier News of Bridgewater); Joe Hofmann (Daily Record of Parsippany); Screwy Louie Lazzari (New Jersey Wrestling Historian); Ron Mazzola (On the Mat); Tom McGurk (Courier Post of Cherry Hill); John O’Kane (The Press of Atlantic City); Anthony Spaulding (New Jersey Herald); Greg Tufaro (Home News Tribune of East Brunswick); Mike Weilamann (Open Mike/Mugs Media); Sean Miller (Trenton Times); Brad Wilson (Express-Times); Josh Friedman (The Mat Pack and Daily Journal of Vineland).
