Wrestling Team Advances Three to Regions

Three Scotch Plains-Fanwood wrestlers took the next step to state championship glory this past weekend, including Tristan Bundy, who won the 125-pound District 11 title at Westfield High School on Saturday.

Bundy defeated Cranford's Brian Buontempo to advance to the regions. He'll get a bye to the final round on Friday at Union High School.

"I'm happy to win it," said Bundy, who also won a district title at 119 last year. "I'm happy to move on. I could have wrestled better. I got work to do this week, hopefully bring my 'A' game on Friday. I expect to get out of regions, go to A.C. (Atlantic City), I just want to be wrestling my best right now. It's the most important part of the season. Everything we've done for three months all comes down to this weekend."

SP-F Head Coach John Scholz commended Bundy for going out there and doing what he needed to do.

"He wrestled a tight match, kept things in front of him when he needed to, got the lead, kept the lead and finished the match," Scholz said. "Tristan does a nice job wrestling on top, keeping it really tight."

At 140, sophomore Mike Steinfeld took third after his win in the consolation round.

"It really felt great," Steinfeld said. "140 is such a tough weight class. I feel having such great guys as Barber and Reiss really helped me to move up and inspire me to work harder, 'cause I know that's where I have to be, that's where I have to get to. That's where I want to be someday."

Also moving on to regions is Andrew Jacobs, who grabbed a third-place medal after his victory in the consolation round.

"I was pretty happy with my performance," he said. "I was actually able to outlast the guy, that's one reason why I'm winning some of my matches, so I'm pretty happy about that. I'm just going to practice hard until Tuesday and see what happens there."

"Jacobs being a sophomore, this is a really big tournament for him" added Coach Scholz. "He's coming into his own. I thought his third-place match was one of the best matches he's wrestled all year, under control. He looked like a really good wrestler out there. It'll be fun to see who he'll end up getting in the regions Tuesday. He has a very unorthodox way of wrestling and it makes it difficult for his opponents."

It's obvious that work ethic and dedication are making a difference.

"Mike works really hard in the room," Scholz said. "It's paid off here to take third in the tournament. Again, another sophomore. I have a great group of sophomores and for them to do what they were able to do here today is going to help them for the next year as well."