Pack Celebrates Season As 6 Gain All-Conference Honors

WMC Wrestling Parent’s Club President Jeff Hill, and team head Coach Ken Rossi led a team celebration at Black Oak Golf Club last Tuesday, with plenty of honors to go around.

Graduating seniors Mike Brown, Alex Kaltenhauser and Caleb Isemann sat on the dais of honor as Rossi, Hill and juniors Kade Loughney, Christian Trimarchi and Shane Metzler toasted (and roasted) their days on the WMC mat.

Rossi announced the team’s All-Conference nods. Mike Caso (106), Isemann (160), and Metzler (120) earned first team honors. Justin LeMay (132), Marco Gaita (152), and Loughney (138) were named to the second team, while Kaltenhauser (285) was given Honorable Mention.

Rossi bestowed the team’s top honors: the MVP Award to Metzler, the Blue & Gray Award to Kaltenhauser, and the Coaches’ Award to Isemann. The assistant coaches honored John DeVito with the JV MVP Award.

Samantha Gaita, Katie Hill, Jenna MacMorris and Sydney Manning were praised for their outstanding work as team statisticians.

Monty Cholish honored Isemann with the Cholish Family $500 scholarship.

The seniors honored Rossi and Coaches Chris Marold, Jim Balella, John Barnett and Jeremy Adickes. Rossi and Hill thanked a long list of parents – including Club officers Vince and Kira Trimarchi and Pat Loughney, Strength Coach Chris DelPreore, Athletic Trainer Suzanne Barba, Acting Director of Athletics Jeff DiLillo, and numerous WMC personnel and officials.

The team finished 10-9 on the year with wins against Voorhees, Parsippany Hills, Mt. Olive, Cedar Grove, Morristown, Warren Hills, Hackettstown, North Warren, Dover and West Essex.

The Wolfpack placed 7th at the Excalibur Tournament with five place winners, 3rd at John Goles with seven place winners (including five champions), 6th in Morris County with six place winners, and 4th in District 1 with seven place winners. Four also placed in Region 1, and Metzler placed 5th in States.

In addition to the graduating seniors, Rossi named 12 varsity letter winners -- which bodes well for next year’s squad. Metzler (who was 38-2 this season at 120 lbs.), Loughney (28-10) and Trimarchi (14-15 at 145) each won their third varsity letters.

Gaita (28-10) won his second letter. AJ Hill (8-11 at 113), LeMay (15-15), Jack Lyden (4-12 at 126), Luke Stefanelli (2-6 at 170), Billy Apostolico (1-6 at 106), Caso (23-9), Robert Rosen (6-12 at 170), and Jonathan Vazquez (4-6 at 126) each became first-time lettermen.

Rossi quipped that Stefanelli was in the running for the JV MVP Award but despite his dominant performance (20-2 with three JV tournament championships) was disqualified from consideration. But it was because he earned the even more prestigious varsity status.

2016-17

Importantly, Metzler, Loughney, Trimarchi, Gaita, Hill, LeMay, Caso, Rosen, Vazquez and Lyden are all returning starters – twice as many returning starters as last year. These include four returning Regional qualifiers (Gaita, Loughney, Metzler and Caso), and the returning NJ State Championships 5th Place winner in Metzler.

Metzler will begin his senior year with a career 105-14 record -- more wins than any WMC junior, and tied for fifth all-time with John Sickles. Health permitting, the win totals of David Migliaccio (107), Brandon Carcuffe (110), Dylan Luciano (111) and even Nick Matthews (131) could be within reach.

Loughney’s 74-37 career record places him 16th in all time victories, between #15 Chris Cholish and #17 Mike Sickles. An injury-free year could mean 100 wins by the end of senior year. Loughney may also become the first senior in school history to have two brothers on the team, as Colin and Ryan just finished their eighth grade wrestling seasons.

In addition to Metzler and Loughney, both Gaita and Caso project to be returning hammers. Hill, LeMay, Trimarchi and Rosen seem ready to leap to the next level, with others such as Lyden, Vazquez, Stefanelli and Rutter and likely more could well step up – in addition to the JV stars and incoming freshmen.

JV

DeVito’s terrific JV campaign included a 19-4 record, two tournament gold medals, and two silver. That sort of success usually bodes well for varsity. Chris Parisi was also dominant, going 16-2 with two tournament championships, one silver, and one bronze.

Dan Kern was 13-8 with one championship and two bronze medals. Louis Mautone was 12-8 with a gold, silver and bronze. Jack Dunn was 10-8 with a silver and a bronze medal. Austin Gast was 7-6 with a bronze, and Zach Fuchs (5-14) won a silver. Karan Baraj (7-12) and John Melicharek (8-9) each placed, while Max Kraft and Mike McSeveney also won matches for the Pack. Due to injuries, Rick DeFrance, and Matt Blount didn’t see action, while Jacob Rutter’s only action was one varsity bout.

The team is also looking forward to a strong group of current eighth graders likely to join the team next year, including Kade’s brothers Colin Loughney (who placed 3rd in the Grade School League) and Ryan Loughney (6th); Nick Kaltenhauser (6th), who is Alex’s brother; Robbie Bohr (6th); Grayson Apgar; Eli Shepard; Jonathan Matthews, who is WMC all-time wins leader Nick’s brother; and Matt Borgia (6th in North Jersey League).

It’s been said that wrestling matches are often won or lost long before the wrestlers step on the mat – based on who worked harder in the off season. Many in the Pack compete year-round, and Hill has already begun scheduling a full slate of off season tournaments.