North Jersey Summer Duels Help Hopatcong Wrestlers

While most of the glory days for high school wrestlers come in February and March, the champions at the end of winter are forged and refined during the summer.

For the last two weeks, several members of the Hopatcong Chiefs have been among the roughly 200 wrestlers from 20 schools grinding it out on the mats in the North Jersey Summer Duels at Hopatcong High School.

"We've been doing this for a lot of years now and a lot of state champion medals have come through this tournament," Hopatcong Athletic Director Tom Vara said Tuesday night. "You look around this gym at both coaches and wrestlers and you see a bunch of current wrestlers who are state champs. A lot of coaches here were state champs way back when. This is the place and the time of year when kids get better."

Giancarlo Cruz (134), Joey Cruz (125), and Eric Hughes (116) competed Tuesday night in the next-to-last day of the meet for Hopatcong. The North Jersey Summer Duals will conclude Thursday.

Giancarlo Cruz, who finished second in Districts and fourth in Regions last season, hit Don Bosco Prep's Billy Reardon midway through the third period with a slick cradle.

After his win, Cruz revealed his reasons for attending the duals.

"I want to get to the state tournament and place in it this year. To do that, you need to practice and work hard. You want to wrestle as much as you can if you want to improve," he said.

Cruz was also candid with the specific area of his game he was there to work on.

"I know I need to become a better chain wrestler. I need to do a better job at linking moves together."

Giancarlo's brother, Joey, was also victorious in his match against Delbarton's Daniel Reed, winning a 4-2 decision.

The younger Cruz was also direct and to the point when asked what brought him to the July meet.

"Summer wrestling is what makes people champions," Cruz said. "If you want to be really good, you have to wrestle whenever you can."

Cruz stated that he felt he has improved both his shot and his cradles during the offseason.

Eric Hughes, who battled to a 3-0 loss against David Popek of Kittatinny, is counting on the experience he takes away from summer matches to pay off this winter.

"I'm learning a lot more about techniques from the bottom position," Hughes said. "If you want to go anywhere in this sport, you need to have solid overall technique."

Hughes also feels that wrestling year-round is essential if he wishes to join the ranks of North Jersey's elite wrestlers.

"I think that in wrestling, maybe more than any other sport, it's so important to get on the mat every week," he said.

According to Vera, if Hopatcong's young wrestlers want to see the potential benefits of putting the extra hours in during the offseason, they need look no farther than team standout Dan Haines.

"I think Dan is a perfect example of how much you can benefit from coming here and working hard every year. Dan was here all last week, and I think matches like these have been a big part of him developing his skills.  If they come both weeks, they'll get between eight and 10 matches against some very good wrestlers. That's almost half a season's worth of matches for some of these kids," Vara said.

Hopatcong

116: David Popek (Kittatinny) dec Eric Hughes, 3-0

125: Joey Cruz dec Daniel Reed (Delbarton), 4-2

134: Giancarlo Cruz pin Billy Reardon (Don Bosco Prep), 3^rd period