Bridgewater-Raritan Wrestlers Secure 3 District Titles, 7 Qualify for Regionals

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — Bridgewater-Raritan High School wrestlers achieved significant success at the District 14 tournament held at South Plainfield High School on Feb. 28.

Matthew McCann and Trent Levash each repeated as champions, while Carmine Vella secured his first district title. Coach Kyle Murphy was also recognized as the District 14 Coach of the Year.

McCann won the 165-pound District 14 title by pinning Dylan McGuinness of North Hunterdon Regional High School in 34 seconds. This marks McCann's second consecutive District 14 championship, having won the 150-pound division last year.

Levash secured his second title in the heavyweight championship with a 6-3 decision over Anthony DeSimone of North Hunterdon. He was the 215-pound champion in the previous year.

Carmine Vella earned his first District 14 championship in the 157-pound final, pinning Robert Griffin of Middlesex High School in 5:41. These three victories contributed to Bridgewater-Raritan High School's strong performance at the tournament.

Murphy was honored for guiding Bridgewater-Raritan to its second consecutive North Jersey, Section 2, Group 5 state sectional championship this winter. He managed to rebuild the team with eight new starters, leading them to a 20-9 record for the season.

In addition to the champions, four other Bridgewater-Raritan wrestlers placed in the top three of their weight classes, qualifying for the Region 4 tournament.

Drew Adell was a runner-up at 113 pounds, and Farel Cespedes placed second at 175 pounds. Lucas Churpakovich finished third at 126 pounds, and Michael Garcis took third place at 132 pounds. The team placed third overall in the District 14 standings, which North Hunterdon successfully defended.

Paige Karp of Bridgewater-Raritan also qualified for the North 2 Region tournament in the girls' District 6 tournament. She placed third at 120 pounds, advancing from the event held on March 1, at South Plainfield.