Marlboro junior wrestlers shine at area tournaments

Following up on an outstanding dual-meet season, the Marlboro Mustang Wrestling program enjoyed big success in tournaments.

At the recent Edison Tournament, the Mustangs, a Marlboro Recreation youth program, finished second. They did it sending just 33 wrestlers, compared to other teams that sent near 50.

Coach Michael Iuliano pointed to the quality of his wrestlers' performances.

"The most impressive part of the weekend was that we advanced 23 out of 33 into the semifinals, and then an amazing 17 of 23 into the finals," said Iuliano.

The Mustangs crowned eight individual champions in Edison - Nick Romagnolo, Robert Cromer, Pat McAteer, Jeff Goldrosen, Chris Brower, Zach Goldrosen, Anthony Anzalone and Mitch Seigel.

Special recognition went to Brower, who scored a one-sided victory in his semifinal against a state place-winner. He beat last year's league champion in the final.

Anzalone beat wrestlers from Sayreville and South Brunswick, his rivals, en route to his title.

Seigel continues to pile up the championships. He's already a two-time state place-winner.

For Jeff and Zach Goldrosen, the victories were a sign of their continued improvement.

The wins by Romagnolo, Cromer and McAteer in the Bantam Division make them potential state place-winners this year.

Michael Anzalone, Riley Keating, Rick Magliozzi, Michael Moore, Andrew Doukas, Greg Lorzing, Jesse Patten, Michael Pizzo and Vincent Leone were the Mustangs who finished second in Edison.

Felipe Ferraz, Mike Triozzi, Domenick Paladino, Danny Banks, Michael Politz and Michael Penkower were the team's place-winners.

Marlboro sent its wrestlers to two tournaments last weekend, Monroe and Middlesex, where, combined, the Mustangs had four champions and 22 medal winners.

In Monroe, Brower and Seigel continued their outstanding seasons by finishing first and remaining undefeated.

McAteer, Keating and Romagnolo were runners-up, and Andrew Ciccone, David Banks and Dan Saraiva were place-winners.

In Middlesex, Christopher Koutzen and Saraiva picked up wins. It was the first tournament win for Koutzen.

Jacob Weiner, Dominick Esposito, Carl Vasati, Ferraz, Keating, Kevin Hayes, Daniel Kats, Nick Koutzen and Kenny McMurdo were runners-up, and the place-winners were Bonnie Piccone, Anthony Digrande and William Zembricki.

During the dual-meet season, the Mustangs' varsity squad was a perfect 7-0. The junior varsity went 6-1-1 and the senior squad came in at 7-3 overall, but 4-0 in the league.

Seigel and Brower are 14-0, with Anzalone 15-1.

The team's other big winners include Romagnolo (15-3), McAteer (14-2), Saraiva (14-5), Carl Vasati (14-5), Banks (14-2) and Jeff Goldrosen (14-7).

Kevin Hayes (12-6), Vincent Leone (12-3), Zach Goldrosen (121-3) and Ricky Magliozzi (12-4) have all won 12 matches. Nick Ottaviano (11-1), Ciccone (11-1), Costa (10-1), Adam Ramadan (11-3), Peter Ottaviano (11-6), Robert Kelly (11-2), Moore (10-4), Cromer (10-4), Ferras (10-7) and Keating (10-7) have all registered double-figure wins.

- Tim Morris