Wrestlers Claim League Titles in Dramatic Wins

With huge wins over rival teams, River Dell (18-0) and Bergen Catholic (16-1) claimed their respective league titles this week as the Golden Hawks decimated the Westwood Cardinals, 57-9, and the Crusaders etched out a 26-24 victory over Don Bosco.

The Patriot League champion Hawks flew away with the title as six wrestlers (Chris Kallensee, Danny Lynch, Cenzo Cariddi, Brendan Campbell, Nick Siegel, Tyler Kallensee, Nick Baranello) won their match by pin.

River Dell also maintained their perfect record this week by defeating Bergenfield, 41-18; Lodi, 65-6; Pascack Valley, 49-18; and Fair Lawn, 43-24.

Bergen Catholic's match-up with the Ironmen all came down to freshman phenom Nick Suriano at the very end to clinch the title, by beating rival Kyle Bierdumpfel, 4-1 in the final match. Fellow freshman Joe Grello (9-3 decision) and Kevin Mulligan (16-6 decision) and veterans JP Ascolese (13-9 decision), Laurien Anghelina (16-5 decision), Johnny Sebastian (pin) and Carmine Goldsack (7-3 decision) also provided the momentum BC needed to overcome their rival.

The Crusaders previously defeated Teaneck 64-13 courtesy of Suriano (0:43 pin), Tyler Casamenti (0:39 pin), Collin Hanley (0:12 pin), Ascolese (1:32 pin), David Brennan (pin), Zack Spira (1:25 pin), Sebastian (0:49 pin); and Bound Brook, 39-18 via Anghelina (1:19 pin), Gianni Hallak (6:00 pin) and Christian Jenco (5:50 pin).

Indoor Track

The River Dell Lady Hawks surprised Ridgewood and IHA at the Bergen County Relays by winning the title over the perennial victors. Since 1990, only schools from Group 4 (such as Ridgewood) or Non-Public A (IHA) have claimed the County Relay title. The Lady Hawks claimed 56 points followed by the Maroons (44.50), Ramapo (36) and IHA (35.50).

The Lady Hawks won the title when the 4-x-400 team (Sam Schleiger,
Melissa Gibbons, Noreen Byrne, Paige Fernandez) outpaced Ridgewood by four seconds to pick up their lone first place finish of the evening in 4:08.7.

River Dell finished second in the 4-x-55HH, the shot put, long jump; third in the pole vault; and fourth in the 4-x-200, 4-x-800 and high jump.

The Golden Hawks, finished sixth overall at the County Relays with second place in the 4-x-55HH; third in the pole vault; fourth in the 4-x1,600, triple jump and shot put; fifth in the high jump; and sixth in the 4-x-200.

Bergen Catholic, scoring in eight of 11 events, came in third overall courtesy of the 4-x-400, 4-x-800, triple jump and high jump (all second place), the long jump (fourth place), and fifth place finishes in the 4-x-200, shot put and pole vault.

River Edge's Colleen Buckley (IHA) ran her final meet of the winter season at the County Relays and gave the Eagles a fourth place finish. Recently diagnosed with a stress fracture, the sophomore anchored the 4-x-1,600 (5:27.2), 4-x-800 (2:21.8) and 4-x-400 (61.8).

Basketball

Bergen Catholic dropped huge numbers this week as the Crusaders downed archrival Don Bosco, 64-60, and Elmwood Park, 65-61. The win over Elmwood Park advanced the Crusaders to the next round in the County Jamboree. The Crsuaders also survived a trople overtime threat from Paramus Catholic, escaping with a 96-90 victory.

The Lady Hawks were able to hang through an overtime thriller against Rutherford in the County Tournament for a 48-43 victory as Kayleen Melvin scored 17 points and Emily McGovern added seven rebounds. Kayla McGovern led the Lady Hawks in their 52-15 trouncing of Dumont.

River Dell struggled this week, extending their losing streak to 10, with a 32-31 decision to Dumont and then 53-39 to Garfield.

Swimming

Bergen Catholic (9-1) finished undefeated in the Big North United Division after handing Don Bosco a 112-58 loss and then DePaul a 100-70 decision. The Bergen County champions managed to win every event over the Ironmen relying on its deep lineup to carry the rest of the scoring on the day. The BC 200-freestyle relay team (Josh Sembrano, Rob Farrell, Liam Kelly, John Om) broke a school record in their victory over the Spartans.

Bowling

Bergen Catholic clinched their seventh consecutive United Division title after shutting out Paramus Catholic, 7-0, as Simon Lezaja rolled a 704 series (248, 232, 224), Freddy Dressel a 646 (247, 238 games), and PAtrick Sucero a 213 game.

Scott Kim rolled high games of 209 and 206 in River Dell's dual 7-0 loss to Ridgewood.

Ice Hockey

Bergen Catholic (5-11-3) faltered twice this week after squandering an early lead to St. Augustine Prep, 7-4, and then falling behind 5-1 to St. Joseph Regional of Montvale.

River Dell has been enjoying its resurgence on the ice as the Hawks took an early 2-0 lead against Hackensack and then staved off the Comets for a 3-2 victory. Jack Schaefer, Brett Connon and Greg Rassam all netted a goal while Connor O'Reilly stopped 31 shots between the posts.

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