Highland Regional High School Sends Four Wrestlers to State Tournament

Four Highland Regional High School wrestlers are headed to Atlantic City to compete for a state title.

A week after capturing the District 30 title on the back of five individual titles, the Tartans didn’t crown any regional champions.

However, they did see two runners-up and two third-place finishers at the Region 8 tournament at Egg Harbor Township, according to nj.com.

Josh Clark, who became the first student athlete in state history to win a Meet of Champions title in cross country and 100 wrestling matches during the district tournament, was one of those state qualifiers.

The District 30 champion entered the 138-pound tournament as the No. 2 seed and advanced all the way to the final.

He received a bye past the pre-quarterfinal round and powered his way into the finals. He began with a technical fall over No. 7 Cody Wolf, of Woodstown, in the quarterfinals.

He then defeated No. 6 Dylan Skidmore, of Clayton, 7-2.

He fell in the final to top-seeded Michael VanBrill, of Clearview, 13-3.

Lucas Siegfried entered the 113-pound tournament as the No. 2 seed, and the District 30 champion received a pre-quarterfinal round bye.

In the quarterfinals, he upended No. 7 Connor Kraus, of St. Augustine, 5-2. He then downed No. 3 Terrell Coleman, of Egg Harbor Township, 4-2, in the semifinals. In the final, he fell to top-seeded Anthony Mininno, of Gateway, 3-2.

Heavyweight Andrew Baez entered the tournament as the District 30 champion and No. 4 seed. He received a bye past the pre-quarterfinal round.

He defeated No. 5 Ben Maggio, of Absegami, 3-1, in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, he suffered a narrow 1-0 loss to top-seeded Antonio Rodriguez, of Buena. Rodriguez was the eventual champion, defeating Cumberland Regional’s Marquay Richmond, in the final.

Baez battled back to take third place.

He pinned Clayton’s Tammoy Clarke in two minutes, 59 seconds in the wrestleback semifinals.

He then defeated Maggio a second time, in a 3-2 tiebreaker, to claim third place and advance.

Seth Henry entered the 103-pound tournament as the District champion and No. 3 seed. He received a bye past the pre-quarterfinal round.

He pinned No. 6 George Coleman, of St. Augustine, in 1:57 in the quarterfinals. He lost to No. 2 Nick Duca, of Paulsboro, 3-1, in the semifinals. Duca was the eventual champion, defeating Gateway’s Dante Mininno, in the final.

Henry battled back to take third place.

He defeated West Deptford’s Nick Palese, 4-2, in the wrestleback semifinals.

He then defeated Williamstown’s Shamun Smith, 8-6, to claim third place and advance.

The state championships will take place March 4-6 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.