The first day of the District 26 wrestling tournament took place on Friday night at Holy Cross. Cinnaminson will be sending nine wrestlers to the second day of districts after a strong showing on Friday.
The Pirates are also tied for third as a team with Holy Cross with 72 points after one day.
“Guys are fired up and are excited about wrestling tomorrow,” head coach Mike McConnell said. “We will see if we can make a run at the team competition.”
The Pirates enjoyed victories in the first three weight classes as TJ Emanuel picked up an 8-3 decision over Ayush Mohan of Burlington City at 106 pounds.
Isaiah Elias then pinned Eric Gardner of Delran in just 37 seconds at 113 pounds and Kevin Schoch pinned Jake Ermi of Bordentown at 120 pounds in 4:37.
Jarrod Averill suffered a 15-10 loss at 126 pounds to Jordan Senior of Riverside. The Pirates did not wrestle at 132 pounds due to an injury.
Ryan Teague picked up a pin of Makhy Smith of Bordentown in 3:41 at 138 pounds. Joe Saxton dropped a 6-4 decision to Troy Longley of Holy Cross in the first overtime period in a hard-fought bout.
“I would have liked Saxton to make it through,” McConnell said. “He had a good match. He’s one of our hardest-working guys. It could’ve went the other way, but it didn’t work out for him.”
Shane Spence dropped a 5-0 decision to Evan Chagnon of Westampton Tech at 152 pounds.
“Spence beat that kid earlier in the year and he’s a freshman,” McConnell said. “He’s not a big 152-pounder. He should be proud of the way he’s wrestled.”
At 160 pounds Mike Dunleavy made easy work of Ariel Carreno of Riverside by a 7-3 decision.
Shaun Davilla accepted the first of two forfeits for the Pirates at 170 pounds. Eren Baysal dropped an 11-1 major decision to Burak Ozbay of Delran at 182 pounds.
“I was really proud of the way Baysal wrestled,” McConnell said. “He came from Delran two years ago, so he knows all those guys. He’s wrestling tough.”
Andrew Halecki used 5:55 to pin Zach Bohn of Delran at 195 pounds before Joe Cody pinned Dante Marrow of Bordentown in just 38 seconds.
“Andrew got that pin with five seconds to go,” McConnell said. “He wasn’t killing himself to get a win, he had that pretty much locked up. He was working for that pin because he wanted to get it for the team.”
Keith Swartley accepted the second forfeit of the night for the Pirates at 285 pounds to end the evening.
Be sure to follow Cinn City Sports on Twitter for live updates throughout day two of the District 26 wrestling tournament as the Pirates go for a team title and individual titles. The day begins at 10am.
“All the guys have been doing the right things; studying their videos and doing the right stuff in practice, so we will be optimistic for tomorrow,” McConnell said.
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