West Morris Central wrestler Gaita wins Goles gold again (again)

(Warren Hills High School, 12/27/17). “Someone should wake Marco up,” suggested a voice from the stands, as the West Morris Central senior serenely sauntered to center mat, shaking his finals opponent’s hand. But Marco Gaita’s stoic exterior belies his intensity, which on Wednesday yielded his third John Goles Tournament championship.

Gaita (7-1, 170) decked Sparta senior Mason Minetti in 45 seconds to become Goles’ only reigning three-time champ, and the 38th in Goles’ 60 year history. Shane Metzler (2014-16) is WMC’s only previous three-peat champ.

Eli Shepard, Justin LeMay, John DeVito, Luke Stefanelli and Robert Rosen all took home silver medals. In perhaps the two most exciting bouts of the day, Colin Loughney and Jonathan Vazquez won bronze.

WMC Takes Bronze

The Wolfpack also took home bronze as a team. Newton won the team title over North Hunterdon 161.5 – 159.5, followed by WMC (130.5), Warren Hills (106), Delaware Valley (91), Sparta (88), and Edison (79).

With just 11 wrestlers competing, WMC scored the most team points per wrestler, followed by Warren Hills which only filled nine weights. Top-seeded Mike Caso (113, 6-3), a Goles 2016 champion, and second-seeded Robby Bohr (106, 5-2), were missing from WMC’s lineup.

Rosen’s medal was his first at Goles. Shepard, DeVito and Stefanelli improved by one place over last year’s finish. LeMay and Loughney won silver last year.

Big Wins

Stefanelli (182, 7-3) upset Joseph Deluca 5-2 in the semifinals for silver. The Newton senior is 8-2 this season, after winning 26 last year.

Vazquez (132, 5-5), seeded fourth, was behind in a back-and-forth battle with Warren Hills’ District finalist Kyle Wulff. But the Wolfpack senior dramatically delivered the fall at 3:23 for bronze. Vazquez’s losses this season are to wrestlers who are a combined 42-9.

Loughney (120, 6-4) also dramatically decked his consolation finals opponent JoJo Lotruglio for third.

Finals

WMC had six grapplers in the finals, but finished with just one champion for the first time since 2013 when Jesse Windt was crowned.

Shepard (126, 4-4) and Rosen (220, 6-2) came closest, losing 3-1 and 5-2 respectively in the championship bout. Rosen’s loss was to Warren Hills Division champ Nicolas Galka.

DeVito (160, 9-3) became the Pack’s early-season wins leader before falling to undefeated Jonathon Borgognoni. The Newton senior would have been a three-time Goles champion had he not fallen to Gaita in 2015.

LeMay (152, 4-1) fell to NJ #7 ranked (Full Circle) Wyatt McCarthy of Newton, who was awarded Outstanding Wrestler honors for taking down the fellow State qualifier.

Stefanelli fell to state-ranked Jarod Ostir of Warren Hills.

Tournament Tidbits

DeVito was third in the entire tournament in “most pins shortest time” with two in 1:50. Loughney and Vazquez tied for ninth with two in 4:46 each.

Stefanelli was one of only six finalists not seeded first or second. He and Vazquez were two of the 12 medalists to place above his seed.

A.J. Hill (145, 8-4) contributed team points with a pin, as Chris Parisi (138, 2-5) and Adrian Heffner (195, 1-7) rounded out the Wolfpack starting lineup.

Goles History

"This tournament, started in 1958 by [Washington and Warren Hills coach] John Goles, is the second oldest holiday tournament in New Jersey," according to the event web site.

Last year, Gaita, Shane Metzler and Kade Loughney repeated as champions, as Caso won his first to pace the team to bronze. LeMay won silver, as did Colin Loughney – the first freshman in memory to do so. Stefanelli finished third, and both Shephard and DeVito earned fourth.

In 2015, WMC won five gold medals and the team placed third. Metzler, Kade Loughney, Caleb Isemann and Alex Kaltenhauser topped the podium, along with Gaita. Caso won bronze.

In 2014, WMC placed second, with Metzler and Dylan Luciano gaining gold.

In 2013, Jesse Windt gained gold for the Pack, with Metzler bringing back bronze.

At 2012 Goles, Nick Matthews and John Sickles won gold.

Next Up

WMC visits National division rival Roxbury 1/4, then on 1/6 visits Mt. Olive, where it will also face Paramus and Southern. On 1/9 the team wrestles arch rival Mendham on Pin Cancer Night.

Credits

Photos by JoAnn Vazquez