WRESTLING: New Brunswick Zebras earning their stripes at Bear Invitational
EAST BRUNSWICK Jason McLean’s vision for the New Brunswick High School wrestling program, which he started eight years ago, is finally starting to take shape.
The Zebras have come a long way since McLean’s early days as head coach, when his wrestlers trained in a school hallway without mats and traveled to juxtaposed settings such as Peddie and Perth Amboy to get in work.
“I really thought it was going to happen sooner, but you get these guys and they are still raw,” said McLean, a Plainfield native and former All-American at Muhlenberg College who understands the challenges of building a wrestling program in an urban setting.
McLean is starting to see the benefits of New Brunswick’s rec and middle school program, which was on display in Monday’s Bear Invitational at Churchill Junior High School, where the Zebras had their best finish in the long-running event.
Of the eight Greater Middlesex Conference schools competing in the 16-team tournament, New Brunswick advanced (five) the second most wrestlers to the championship and consolation rounds, behind East Brunswick (seven).
Montgomery won the team title with 180 points, narrowly edging runner-up Lacey (179) and outpacing third-place East Brunswick (151).
The Bears, who crowned three champions, and seventh-place South River (97), which saw Tyler Burgess claim the 126-pound title, were the only GMC schools to finish ahead of eighth-place New Brunswick (80).
East Brunswick’s Mark Schleifer (113) and Metuchen’s Kevin Coleman (152) were named Outstanding Wrestlers for the lower and upper weights, respectively.
Anthony Tamayo (170) and Sam Walker (220) also won titles for the Bears, while the Maloney twins, Anthony (195) and Joe (285), were tournament champions for Metuchen.
“It’s really great when you can come in here and have three champions,” Metuchen coach Nick Zaneto said. “I think every match was their best match of the year in the finals, which was awesome. I think they stepped it up and they got it done today.”
The Zebras did not crown an individual champion, but finished with a second and four fourths, leading McLean to comment from his official New Brunswick wrestling Twitter account as he walked out of the gymnasium: “Bunch of medals. Proud but not content or happy. Gotta finish!”
Edwin Aguilera (182) and Algenis Nunez (170) were wrestling simultaneous bouts in the championship and consolation finals, respectively, forcing McLean to coach diagonally across a quadrant of mats (moments earlier he was coaching Wilfredo Soto at 160 pounds for third place).
The coach, whose team used to be on a bus ride home while the finals were being contested, was pleased to be in the predicament.
“I’ve seen them grow in numbers, in facility and as a team,” Spotswood head coach Dan Krainski said of New Brunswick. “With the way Jason is taking them right now, you see kids that come out of the school that have never wrestled before that are placing in these tournaments.”
Before the school district provided New Brunswick with a fully-matted state-of-the-art wrestling room with bleachers in an auxiliary gym, the Zebras led a nomadic existence, traveling to the likes of Perth Amboy to scrimmage as many as four times to get ready for an upcoming season.
“They came over a couple of times and we helped them out,” Perth Amboy coach Mike Giordano said. “He’s got more numbers than me now.”
New Brunswick, which used to forfeit as many as half its bouts, now fills the lineup and began this season with a record 48 grapplers in the room. The Zebras are 2-1 with victories over Bernards and Rutgers Prep and a one-point loss to Shore Regional.
“When Jason first took over the program, I told him you are in this for the long haul,” said Giordano, who himself has enjoyed team success at the district level and who always seems to have a wrestler or two competing in Atlantic City.
“I remember saying to him, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it lasted 2,000 years.’ There’s so much talent in the inner cities. I always said if you could corral that talent. I told (the New Brunswick staff), you’re doing a really great job here. You’re really improved. Just keep doing what you are doing.”
New Brunswick is not ready to contend with prohibitive favorite Middlesex for the division title, but the Zebras expect to be competitive in their division matches.
McLean remembers the program’s infancy, when he borrowed mats from Rutgers Prep or the Franklin recreation program and struggled to get kids to make an offseason commitment.
“I think the guys have bought into it now,” said McLean, noting his wrestlers are lifting, running and wrestling in the summer. “I think the other kids are starting to follow. Our biggest hope is that the freshman class (of 11 wrestlers) will follow the same suit.”
McLean described the atmosphere at New Brunswick’s last two home dual meets as “insane,” noting the auxiliary gym is so hot and loud that he wants to come up with a cool nickname for the room.
New Brunswick has never advanced a wrestler to the state tournament. McLean said the school’s four previous region qualifiers all would have been better wrestlers had they competed with his current group.
McLean said he has matured as a coach, learning from the likes of North Brunswick’s Mark Salge, South Brunswick’s Bobby Januska and former Vikings mentor Joe Dougherty. He also talks several times a week with Jeff Buxton, the legendary former coach at Blair, where McLean previously wrestled.
“Coaching is more than just showing moves,” McLean said. “It’s offseason (commitment), it’s paperwork, it’s keeping up on things.”
With support from parents and five team managers – “that’s strange to me,” the coach said – New Brunswick is building for a bright future.
The team’s immediate plans are to meet Tuesday morning at the city’s teen center to lift, play some indoor soccer and watch a movie together.
Asked what flick he was going to show the Zebras, McLean replied with a smile, “Vision Quest. What else?”
Bear Invitational Results
Team Scores: 1. Montgomery 180; 2. Lacey 179; 3. East Brunswick 151; 4. Manville 150; 5. Matawan 122; 6. Hopewell Valley 118; 7. South River 97; 8. New Brunswick 80; 9. Metuchen 79; 10. Spotswood 71; 11. Bernards 70; 12. North Brunswick 66; 13. West Windsor-Plainsboro South 48; 14. Perth Amboy 29; 15. Lawrence 22; 16. Highland Park 18.
OW: Lower Weights 113 lb. Mark Schliefer East Brunswick; Upper Weights 152 lb. Kevin Coleman Metuchen
FINALS: 106: Luke Moynihan, Lacey d. Mitch Polito, East Brunswick 9-2; 113: Mark Schliefer, East Brunswick d. Brian Kuhlman, Manville 6-4; 120: Terence Rohmeyer, Montgomery d. Sean Thompson, WW-P South 4-3; 126: Tyler Burgess, South River p. Kevin Tranz, Lacey 1:01; 132: Mark Gerstacker, Hopewell Valley d. Nick Maher , WW-P South 5-0; 138: Connor Garrity, Lacey p. Brandon Pacheco, South River 3:07; 145: William Rodriguez, Matawan d. Jared Smith, South River 5-2; 152: Kevin Coleman, Metuchen d. Matt Garrity, Lacey 8-4; 160: James Pierce, Matawan d. Jeremy Nurnberger, Manville 5-4; 170: Anthony Tamayo, East Brunswick d. Jacob Bobal, Montgomery 4-3; 182: Alex Doty, Montgomery md. Edwin Aguilera, New Brunswick 11-3; 195: Anthony Maloney, Metuchen d. Sebastian Sanchez, Bernards 5-3; 220: Sam Walker, East Brunswick d. Nico Ipeker, Montgomery 4-3 UTB; 285: Joe Maloney, Metuchen d. Dylan D’Amore, Montgomery 5-1.