TR East Hoping to Catch 'Frankie Fever'

Toms River East senior Dan Wasilick is a three-sport athlete, and baseball and football were his priorities during the first three years of his high school career, at least according to Raiders 32-year wrestling coach, Warren Reid. Then, a funny thing happened halfway across the world that would shift Wasilick’s focus from the diamond and the gridiron to the mat.

Like a lot of the Toms River community, Wasilick got caught up in Frankie Edgar fever after Edgar, the Toms River native and former Raiders wrestling standout, defeated B.J. Penn in Abu Dhabi in April 2010 to capture the UFC Lightweight Championship at age 28. The Toms River East wrestling program has had a number of athletes make a name for themselves while wearing the black, blue and silver of the Raiders, but its biggest success story happened after high school.

“Frank’s the man,” Wasilick said. “He’s such a great role model for the athletes at this school because he’s an example of what you can accomplish by working hard and never giving up. We have a big poster of him hanging up in the locker room, and it’s a constant reminder that a kid from Toms River, just like us, can be great with that kind of work ethic.”

Even since winning the title and successfully defending it against Penn in August of 2010, Edgar has found time to make himself available to the program that helped make him a state place-winner in 1999 and 2000 before he made his move to mixed martial arts. He placed second in the state at 119 pounds as a junior and fifth as a senior at 135.

Edgar is just one piece — albeit a large one — of Toms River East’s tradition at the lower weights, and Wasilick is making a push to become part of that tradition as his senior season nears its apex. After posting a 9-17 record while wrestling in the 130-pound weight class as a junior, Wasilick has dropped weight to wrestle at 125 pounds this season and currently boasts a record of 19-4 as he prepares for the NJSIAA Individual Tournament, which begins with district championships on Feb. 18.

Toms River East’s most recent state championship came just two seasons ago, when Vinnie DelleFave won his second consecutive state championship. DelleFave won his first state title at 112 pounds in 2008 and followed that up with a championship at 119 as a senior.

“I learned everything I know from DelleFave,” Wasilick said. “I had a chance to work with one of the best wrestlers in the state every day in practice as a sophomore and there’s no doubt in my mind I wouldn’t have been able to become a better wrestler without competing with Vinnie. That’s one thing people don’t see. They know Vinnie’s a great competitor but they don’t see what a great teammate he is, and that’s something I take pride in as well.”

Wasilick, along with 12-2 senior 130-pounder John Resto, is the senior leader of a strong class of lightweight wrestlers on the Raiders roster, but he is probably not the best bet to place at the state championships, as he will admit. That distinction goes to sophomore Rich Lewis, a 119-pounder with an 18-2 record and, according to Wasilick, a great chance to place in the top five at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on March 6. If Lewis has a big tournament, he could join DelleFave as East’s only state place-winners in the 119-pound weight class.

“We call him ‘Coach Richie’ because he just has that serious demeanor about him,” Wasilick said. “I know Rich because I work with him every day in practice and I know the sky’s the limit for him. He has all the ability in the world and if he can put it all together, he’s going to do great things. I think he should place in the top three, top five in the state and if he doesn’t, I’ll actually be a little disappointed.”

“It’s mental with Richie,” Reid said. “If he wrestles smart, yeah, I think he can do very well, but he’s gotten into trouble when he doesn’t wrestle smart. That sometimes happens when you’re young, but you have to grow up fast in the state tournament.”

Another sophomore, Mike Veneziano, has also come on strong this season, going 17-6 while wrestling at 135 pounds. He has shown flashes of dominance, winning by pin nine times and major decision twice.

“We’re a very young team,” Reid said. “Some of the guys just aren’t picking up the technique as quickly as we’d hoped, but they’re working hard. We have some guys that we hope can go pretty far in the state tournament, but they’re not all that experienced, so this is going to be a challenge for them.”

Unfortunately for Toms River East, the scattered success of a handful of individuals has not translated into team success. The Raiders’ 44-26 loss to Clearview Monday in the first round of the NJSIAA South Jersey Group IV Team Tournament ended their season as a team. Toms River East finished 8-15 overall and 1-4 in a loaded Shore Conference Class A South division that includes state powers Jackson Memorial, Brick Memorial and Southern Regional. Toms River South has joined that class of teams this season and is the No. 1 seed in South Jersey Group III, giving the Raiders a brutal division schedule on top of a solid non-divisional slate.

“Our guys know how to compete as individuals, but they don’t all understand that we’re a team,” Reid said. “That’s something a lot of people don’t realize is that this is still a team competition and you have to work together and pull for the other guy. Sometimes I wonder if some of our guys are even rooting for the other guy.”

In the first full season since Edgar won the UFC Lightweight title, the swell of pride in Toms River’s native son hasn’t quite translated to success at Edgar’s alma mater, but Lewis and Veneziano are core pieces of a young team that will try to make its own history in the next several seasons. In the meantime, that core will try to get a head start, starting at the districts.

“I’m a senior, so it’s important to me to go out feeling good about this year and the four years I put in,” Wasilick said. “I want to see all of us do well and hopefully we can bring home some championships.”