JFK wrestlers take sixth at District 19 Tournament BY SHAWN LAYTON Staff Writer Apair of second-place finishers and third-place finishers helped the John F. Kennedy High School wrestling team take sixth place at this year's District 19 Tournament. Senior Derrick Jordan advanced to the finals at 160 pounds but settled for second place after losing to Craig Batista of Perth Amboy. Batista was one of four champions for Perth Amboy, which tallied a total of 248 points to take home the team title. J.P. Stevens and Bishop Ahr rounded out the top three. "Derrick did very well," Kennedy head coach Bill Deniz said. "His first two opponents were pretty tough, and then he ran into Batista in the finals. He was a bit overmatched in the finals." Jordan opened the tournament with a 6-2 win over his opponent from Carteret before earning an impressive 5-2 win over Greg Gerold of J.P. Stevens in the second round. Gerold would eventually go on to place third and advance to Region 5. "Derrick came into this season with only one varsity win," Deniz said. "He's very fast and he doesn't back down from anybody. That's what got him through to the next round." Kennedy's Tom Farrell was the other Mustang to reach the finals. Farrell lost to Metuchen's Marek Szwast at 215 pounds. "It was a close match for a while and Tom was down 2-0 in the second period before he ended up getting pinned," Deniz said. "He had an impressive run to the finals." On his way to the showdown with Szwast, Farrell avenged earlier season losses to grapplers fromBishopAhr and Piscataway. "Tom was able to pin a kid from Bishop Ahr that beat him 10-8 in a dual meet," Deniz said. "He also avenged an 8-0 loss to Piscataway's Hector Linares." It was Mike Buttitta and Joe Creightonwho got the job done for Kennedy in the consolation round to advance to Region 5. At 103 pounds, Buttitta bounced back from a tough 8-7 loss in the semifinals to advance to the regions for a second straight season. Last year Buttittamade a run all the way to the state tournament inAtlantic City to finish in 12th place. "Mike almost pulled off the win in the semis at the buzzer, but ended up losing," Deniz said. "He did avenge a loss with a 7-3 win over his opponent from Piscataway." Creighton advanced to the regional tournament with a 7-3 win over his rival from Woodbridge in the consolation round. The No. 2 seed suffered a blow with a loss to Bishop Ahr's Anthony Respa in the semis. Respa advanced to the finals with a pin. "He did a nice job of putting that loss behind him in order to get the win for third place and move on," Deniz said. "We were hoping formore guys tomove through to Region 5, but it didn't work out that way." Heading into District 19, Deniz and the Mustangs liked their chances to place among the top three schools. An earlier season win over eventual champions Perth Amboy only made the sixth-place finish a bit more disappointing. "We weren't too happy with the way things turned out," Deniz said. "We did have some injuries and our share of bad luck, but I thought we would probably end up in second place. We didn't do our best."