John Jay Wrestlers Place in Top Third at State Tourney

It was a tumultuous few weeks for the John Jay wrestling team, which celebrated its history and then lost a league meet for the first time in five years.

First came the Indians' first-ever Alumni night, which celebrated the 10th anniversary of the re-establishment of the wrestling program after a 13-year hiatus. There were 26 former wrestlers in attendance, representing 12 different graduation years dating back to 1967.

"It was an incredible night for me to see so many of our alumni come back into the room and watch us compete," said coach Bill Swertfager, who was responsible for bringing the program back. "Once you've wrestled, you can never get it out of your system. I have 20-30 kids come back every year to stop by our wrestling room and say hi."

As typical of Swertfager's philosophy on scheduling, John Jay didn't take the opportunity to celebrate an easy victory against an overmatched opponent. Instead, the Indians took on Fairfield Warde, the third-ranked team in the state of Connecticut, and lost 41-33.

Wyatt Gilchrest started the match with a pin in 1 minute and 31 seconds for John Jay at 189 pounds, followed by another pin from teammate Lucas Myer at 215 pounds in 3:02, but Farfield Wards won the next three matches to take the lead. 

The other winners for the Indians were Ben Jadow's pin in 3:37 at 135 pounds, Mark Swertfager's pin in 59 seconds at 140 pounds, Jay Smith's pin in 39 seconds at 160 pounds, and two decisions — Jared Egler at 119 pounds and David Egeler at 145 pounds. Swertfager said that Egeler's performance, which ended in an 11-8 decision, was his best of the season. Also the pin for Jadow, an injury replacement, was his first win on the varsity level.

John Jay then opened 2011 against two very tough opponents—Warwick, the champions of Section 9, and Carmel, a league rival.

Already facing the loss of eight seniors from last year's Section 1 championship team, the Indians also had to deal with six varsity starters who were either injured or sick during the week. 

It was all too much for the team to overcome, as Warwick won 50-20 and Carmel won 51-24.

Against Warwick the winners were Swertfager, Myer, Gilchrist and Jay Smith, while against Carmel the winners were Swertfager, Smith, Gilchrist, Myer and Mike Rosenthal.

"Our mainstays won and a lot of our less experienced kids are learning the hard way, by taking their lumps," Coach Swertfager said. "They are showing tremendous resiliency, and keep coming back, working harder, going out to compete and getting better. Really the only other option is to quit, but the type of kid this very rough sport attracts is the polar opposite of a quitting mentality."

Swertfager was also pleased that the junior varsity team won 12 of 16 matches against the Rams, which bodes well for the future.

The team was back in action last weekend when nine John Jay wrestlers went to Eastern States at Sullivan Community College, the best regular-season tournament in the state. The Indians finished 27th out of 90 teams. Myer and Swertfager both won four of their six matches, with Myer placing fourth and Swertfager finishing seventh.