Three Green Wave Grapplers Place in A.C.

Delbarton bagged two bronze medals at the state wrestling championships at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall on Sunday.

But that's not all.

Heavyweight Dean Sullivan finished fourth, 112-pounder Max Rogers landed sixth and 103-pounder Christian Innarella ended seventh.

Rogers said wrestling with Delbarton, which sent eight grapplers to Atlantic City, has been a great experience this season.

"It's been a lot of fun," he said. "You don't really have to focus on individual goals. You can focus on team goals. You can just focus on doing the best for your team. I think it definitely made us bond a lot closer. We became a lot more team-oriented."

But at the championships, it was all about individual performances. And the Green Wave didn't disappoint.

Sullivan lost to Montville's Taylor Bernstein in the third-place match. But Sullivan, who'll throw the javelin at Harvard next year, said wasn't too upset with the defeat.

"He's pretty tough on top," Sullivan said of Bernstein. "He's really long like me. He can control the majority of your body. For those last two periods, he really wrestled better than I did."

Delbarton head coach Brian Stoll said "we're just so proud of him for making it down here."

"Dean's a guy—wrestling is just something that he does,' Stoll continued. "He doesn't live it. So he's the kind of kid that didn't feel the pressure the whole time. That's why he ha a great tournament. Obvioulsy, we were a little disappointed [with the loss]. But you know that kid's good."

Rogers fell to Clearview's John Vantorill, 7-1, in the fifth-place match. Stoll said he was proud of Rogers, too, for coming back after a tough loss Saturday.

Innarella, a freshman, beat Glen Rock's Mike Andreano, 9-5, in the seventh-place match. Innarella overcame a 5-3 deficit.

"At the beginning of the year, I wasn't wrestling that good," said Innarella, a Fairfield resident. "But I just got better and better, practicing more and more."

Stoll said Innarella's "hard work paid off" this season.

"It's so impressive," he said. "Hopefully that's going to be something that motivates him so he can end up higher on the podium next year. I don't know how many freshmen placed in tournament, but it's usually only three or four total. We've got some tough freshmen. We've got some tough guys at every weight. It looks good for the future.