Trojans compete at GMC wrestling tourney
Ahr finishes ninth as Delacruz wins 112-pound crown
BY SHAWN LAYTON Staff Writer
Derek Delacruz led the Trojans with a first-place finish at 112 pounds as the Bishop Ahr High School wrestling team took ninth place at this year's Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament.

Delacruz won his weight class with a 6-1 decision over Perth Amboy's Jairo Bernal. Delacruz, who placed fifth in the event last year, improved to 24-1 on the season.

"He wrestled a great tournament," Bishop Ahr head coach Nick Tonzola said. "He has improved every day, and I expect big things fromhimby the end of the season."

Delacruz was impressive from the getgo with a pin over Frank Capraro of South Brunswick in the opening round. He reached the finals with an 11-0 decision in the semifinals.

"The guy Derek beat in the finals beat him twice last year, so this was huge for Derek," Tonzola said. "This season he's better on his feet, better on top, and better on bottom. He's improved every facet of his game."

Junior Joe McCauley came up short in his bid to win the tournament for a second straight year at 140 pounds after losing to Sayreville's Ramon Santiago 10-6.

"Joe was doing well and was leading the match 6-5," Tonzola said. "He got thrown and ended up losing, but it was by far his best match of the year. He lost to Santiago 14-7 earlier in the season, and I was very excited by what I saw over the weekend. I know that sounds strange, considering Joe lost, but he wrestled in complete control until the last 15 seconds."

Fellow junior Ken Blair finished in eighth place. Blair opened the tournament with an impressive pin over New Brunswick's Ovalid Majdoubi. Blair turned the tables from an earlier season bout with Majdoubi in which Majdoubi scored the pin.

"The fact that all of our top guys are either juniors or sophomores is, to me, very impressive," Tonzola said. "That should be a nice boost of confidence for these guys."

Sophomores Mike Pysniak and Justin Thiele were the team's other place winners, at 119 and 130 pounds, respectively. Pysniak opened the tournament with a 12-0 major decision over Garrett Cuddey of Spotswood while Thiele pinned South River's Joe Zyskowski in the first round. Pysniak was impressive in his 6-4 loss to Monroe's Sam Emburgia.

"Mike wrestled the best of his career," Tonzola said. "The boy fromMonroe really dominated him last year, and this year it was a different story. "I was very happy with Mike's performance."

The Trojans will travel to South Plainfield for a 7 p.m. match-up Feb. 8 before closing out the week in Point Pleasant to take on Point Pleasant Boro and Middletown South Feb. 9.

"We wrestled well over the weekend and hopefully we can build off our performance," Tonzola said. "We still have a lot of wrestling to do."