Photo Courtesy of Sussex County Community College Athletics
The wrestling season is almost here for Sussex County Community College and they’re entering the 2024-2025 season with the most momentum in the program’s brief history.
Last season the Skylanders took a massive step forward by winning the Garden State Athletic Conference for the first time ever, and then later the NJCAA Region 19 championship as well as the Gulf Atlantic District championship.
Nick Barzano, the reigning Gulf Atlantic District Coach of the Year, is back at the helm for his third season as head coach of the Skylanders and enters the season with a roster that’s had more turnover compared to previous years. He is excited by the energy the new athletes are bringing to the program.
“Last season we had a special group of sophomores who were the first freshman I recruited when I took the program over,” Barzano said. “They had a special hunger to bring firsts to Sussex . Now we have a whole new group of freshman and last seasons freshman are now the leading sophomores. The new guys come into a lot of inherited success so we need to make sure they’re just as hungry.”
Last season seven wrestlers qualified for the National Tournament in Iowa with three wrestlers being named a Gulf Atlantic District Champion.
The team returns district champions in Roman Citro (125) and Thaylor Sibblies (157) while the other one Seth Hagensen departed. As for the remaining four national qualifiers, Shawn Pawlowski (174) and Chris Casale (133) are also back, but Noah Ripley and Shane Saulnier have moved on.
Surrounding that returning core are a plethora of fresh talent looking to replace the contributions of those who left. New to squad are Carson Citro (125), Mike VanderMeulen (141), Jacob Savage (149), Carlos Delgado (149), Aidan Hallowich (165), Jose Alvarenga Giron (174), Mason Mericle (184), and Owen Amacker (184/197).
VanderMeulen and Alvarenga Giron in particular are the two newcomers to keep an eye on this season. VanderMeulen was a two-sport star at Jefferson, playing football and wrestling, but on the mat was two-time district champion, a four-time region qualifier and a state qualifier in his senior season. At Hackettstown, Alvarenga Giron became a region qualifier in his senior season and was also a two-sport athlete.
The Skylanders begin their season this weekend with the ESU Open at East Stroudsburg University. The event will begin at 9 a.m. on Sunday Nov. 3.
