Ridgewood Junior Wrestling

Joe Tavoso won the Intermediate 112 pound State Championship last weekend, and Kyle Inlander took 2nd place in the Junior 144 division.  This is the second straight season for both boys to place at states.

After winning his first two bouts to reach the semi-finals, Joseph was trailing the 2x returning State Champ from Ocean 8-4 with 17 seconds before hitting a 5-point move to secure a 9-8 victory.  He used that momentum to win in the finals 14-3.

The rest of our wrestlers,  Nick Saglibemi, Robbie Tarvin, Robert Rigoglioso, David Caiafa, Owen McElroy and Kyle Pechko all wrestled hard but came away short of their goals of picking up a medal.  Robert Rigs took the returning State Champ from Paulsboro into OT before losing in a heartbreaker.  Owen McElroy, came within one victory of placing in the 105-lb bracket.

All of our boys represented us well in the tournament.  They wrestled hard to the final buzzer and handled their losses ( and wins) with good sportsmanship and made all of us proud to be their coaches.  Our five  8th grade wrestlers who made it to States earned my everlasting respect with their dedication over the last two months to wrestling.  When most kids were at home relaxing, these 5 were at Olympic until 10:00 2-4 times a week putting in the extra work that they needed in order to reach their goals.  They all improved dramatically over the past two years and their continued hard work will continue to pay off in their High School careers.

 Next weekend Kieran Calvetti and Travis Tavoso will compete in the Bantam and Novice divisions -- good luck to both of them!