College Wrestling In The Garden State

2000-2001 College Wrestling Season

College Wrestling Programs   Princeton (NCAA I) Rutgers (NCAA I)   Montclair State (NCAA III) The College of New Jersey (NCAA III) 2001 The College of New Jersey Division III All Americans

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Belleville's Anthony Conte of The College of New Jersey	Belleville's Conte captures silver medal on NCAA Division III mats By Dennis Wilson Belleville's Anthony Conte turned in a silver medal performance in the 2001 NCAA Division III national wrestling tournament as he completed his junior wrestling campaign in Waterloo, Iowa. A grappler for The College of New Jersey, the former Buccaneer standout competed in the 125-pound weight division for the Lions. Conte earned his third straight ticket to the NCAA Division III national championships when he wrestled to a 16-10 victory Seamus McGuinnes of Montclair State University in the 125-pound title bout at the Metropolitan Regional Championships. Drawing a bye in Friday afternoon's opening round as the No. 3 seed, Conte opened his quest for the title by posting a 10-0 major decision over Solvatore Rigitano of North Central College in the second round. On Saturday morning, he blanked Davey Starks of the University of Wisconsin/Eau Claire by a score of 4-0 in the quarterfinals and advanced to Saturday afternoon's semifinals where he showed Jamie Taxted of Buena Vista University the lights 2 minutes, 43 seconds into the bout. The victory sent Conte to the championship finals for the first time in his career. He was matched against Augsburg College's Darin Bertram who entered the finals sporting a 41-2 record. Bertram won the title by a 7-4 decision as Conte picked up the silver medal after finishing in third place at the NCAA's the past two seasons. The former Buccaneer state champion went 17-3 this year and sports a career mark of 77-15 while becoming the Lions 26th Division III runner-up.
Stanhope's Moscatello wrestles to D-III All American honors By Dennis Wilson Stanhope's Matt Moscatello finished fourth in the 2001 NCAA Division III wrestling tournament at Young Arena in Waterloo, Iowa. A junior at The College of New Jersey, the former Lenape Valley standout was a first-time NCAA participant for the Lions, competing in the 157 pound weight class for TCNJ. Moscatello earned the trip to Iowa by winning the 157-pound class in the Metropolitan Region by posting an 8-5 decision over Mike Oldham of New York University in the championship round. He opened his quest for a medal in the NCAA tourney that was hosted by Wartburg College with an upset over fourth-seeded Dmitry Tarasov of Central College (IA) when he won a 3-3 decision on riding time on Friday afternoon. In the quarterfinals on Friday evening, Moscatello sent fifth-seeded Peter Doucet of Roger Williams University to the wrestleback bracket when he registered a 5-3 decision. In the semifinals, Moscatello fell by an 8-4 decisionto top-seed seeded Ryan Ciotoli of Ithaca College. He bounced back to record a 4-2 decision over Luther College's Jesse Reyerson in the wrestleback semifinal round before falling in the third place consolation match to the No. 3 seed, Jimmy Wallace of Wilmington College by a 7-5 score to take fourth place. Moscatello turned in a 37-12 record this season that topped the Lions in victories for the 2000-2001 campaign while upping his career mark to 63-30.	Stanhope's Matt Mosctello of The College of New Jersey
West Caldwell's Anthony Casciano of The College of New Jersey	West Caldwell's Casciano wrestles to D-III All American honors By Dennis Wilson West Caldwell's Anthony Casciano finished seventh in the 2001 NCAA Division III wrestling tournament at Young Arena in Waterloo, Iowa. The former Chief picked up his first All-America citation for his efforts. A senior at The College of New Jersey, the former Caldwell standout was a first-time NCAA participant for the Lions, competing in the 157 pound weight class for TCNJ. He earned his second berth in the NCAA tournament by defeating Montclair State's John Shipley of High Point 4-0 to collect his second straight Metropolitan Regional title. He opened quest for a medal in the NCAA tourney that was hosted by Wartburg College as the No. 5 seed in the heavyweight division. In Friday afternoon's first round, Casciano dominated the action as he posted a 13-6 decision over Tyler Cathey of Muhlenberg College. In Friday evening's quarterfinal round, Casciano dropped a 4-2 decision to fourth-seeded Eric Urdzik of John Carroll University and fell into the wrestleback bracket. He bounced right back to post a 4-2 decision over Jon Small of Pacific University. On Saturday in the fourth round of wrestlebacks, Casciano fell to Jason Ott of the University of Wisconson-LaCrosse by an 11-9 decision. He faced Dax Doran of Buena Vista University in the 7th-8th place bout and finished his collegiate career winning a 6-4 decision to pick up the seventh place medal and become an All-American. Casciano, who is a 2000 NWCA Scholar-Athlete and a candidate to repeat the honor this season, went 28-4 this year and sports a 51-11 career record at the Division III level. He competed as a freshman and sophomore at the Division I level as a member of the Hofstra University squad. "I am looking to get a job in teaching and would like to start a career in coaching," said Casciano, who was one of nine finalists for the prestigous Gagliardi Trophy that goes to the top Division III football player in the nation. "I have enjoyed playing football and wrestling at the college level and am looking to continue in both sports as a coach."

Red Hawks repeat as Metropolitan Conference team champions

Ewing, NJ --Montclair State University successfully defended its Metropolitan Conference Wrestling Championship on Sunday as they edged the host Lions of The College of New Jersey in Packer Hall. MSU produced five champions and racked up 160 points, while TCNJ also had five champions, but finished with 146.5 points in the team race. MSUs senior Florian Ghinea (Romania/Calarsi) was named the Outstanding Wrestler of the 2001 tournament after becoming a four-time champion for the Red Hawks with his win at 141 pounds. The honor was a repeat honor for Ghinea, who was also named the recipient of the 2001 Met Seniro Award for outstanding contributions to the Met Conference. MSUs 24th year head coach, Steve Strellner was tapped as the Coach of the Year, an honor he has collected the past four years. The 10 individual champions and four wild cards have earned invitations to the 2001 NCAA Division III Championships, which will take place on March 2-3 at Young Arena in Waterloo, Iowa. Wartburg College will serve as the host of the 2001 NCAAs that will feature 160 of the nations best Division III wrestlers competing for the team championship as well as individual honors.

Metropolitan Conference Team Standings

Metropolitan Conference Individual Champions

1st Montclair State University 160.0 2nd The College of New Jersey 146.5 3rd York College 102.0 4th New York University 89.0 5th U.S.M.M.A. 88.5 6th Hunter College 84.5 7th Centenary College 24.0 8th Gallaudet University 6.5 9th New York Maritime 0.0

125 Anthony Conte, TCNJ dec. Seamus McGuinnes, MSU 16-10 133 Danny Flounders, TCNJ dec. Brad Alcorn, York 4-1 141 Florian Ghinea, MSU pin Ryan Normandin, TCNJ 5:54 149 Rami Ratel, MSU maj. dec. Gary Jones, TCNJ 16-2 157 Matt Moscatello, TCNJ dec. Mike Oldham, NYU 8-5 165 James Henderson, TCNJ dec. Jason Snow, NYU 3-2 174 Brad Christie, MSU dec. Rob Mraz, NYU 12-5 184 Alex Aliakseyenka, MSU tech. fall Adam Jankos, TCNJ 20-5; 7:00 197 Todd Carone, MSU dec. Rich Gildner, TCNJ 9-6 HWT Anthony Casciano, TCNJ dec. John Shipley, MSU 4-0