Matthew McCann and Trent Levash each repeated as champions. At the same time, Carmine Vella won his first title, Kyle Murphy was named Coach of the Year, and a total of seven wrestlers from Bridgewater-Raritan High School placed at the District 14 tournament held at South Plainfield High School on Saturday, February 28.
McCann won the 165-pound District 14 title when he pinned Dylan McGuinness of North Hunterdon Regional High School in just 34 seconds during the final. Levash won by a 6-3 decision over Anthony DeSimone of North Hunterdon in the District 14 heavyweight championship.
Last year at District 14, McCann was the 150-pound champion, and Levash won the 215-pound division.
Vella won his first District 14 championship when he scored a pin over Robert Griffin of Middlesex High School in 5:41 in the 157-pound final.
Coach Murphy was honored as the District 14 Coach of the Year after he guided Bridgewater-Raritan to a second straight North Jersey, Section 2, Group 5 state sectional championship this winter. Coach Murphy had to rebuild this year with eight new starters while he also guided Bridgewater-Raritan to a 20-9 record.
Also placing in the top three of their weight class at District 14, who earned a trip to the Region 4 tournament, were runners-up Drew Adell at 113 and Farel Cespedes at 175, and third-place finishers Lucas Churpakovich at 126 and Michael Garcis at 132.
In the team standings, North Hunterdon successfully defended its District 14 title while Bridgewater-Raritan placed third.
The top three finishers in each of the 32 Districts advanced to the eight Region tournaments that are scheduled for Friday, March 6, and Saturday, March 7. Bridgewater-Rartian and all of the District 14 teams will wrestle in Region 4 at Union High School.
From there, the top four placewinners from each weight at each of the eight Regions will wrestle in the State tournament on Thursday, March 12, through Saturday, March 14, at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
In the girls' District 6 tournament, held on Sunday, March 1, at South Plainfield, Paige Karp of Bridgewater-Raritan advanced to the semifinals at 120 pounds and placed third to qualify for the North 2 Region tournament at Union on Sunday, March 8.
The top four wrestlers from each weight division from the four Regions will advance to the State tournament, which will also be wrestled March 12-14 in Atlantic City.