For the second straight year, Union High School wrestlers excelled at The College of New Jersey Wrestling Camp in Ewing Township. Kneeling, from left, are Jimmy Moran of Audubon High School, who was the only non-Union wrestler; Cristian Hargrove, Jeremy Rivas, Jayson Resende, Hermelo Verga and Ryan Cross. Standing, from left, are Union head coach Dino DeBellonia, Macain Romain, Aaron Acevedo, Jaydon Robles, Ariel Azeredo, Jonathan Cordova, Bryan Okoye, Obreight Ingram, Sean Messina and Enzo Tammaro. Missing from picture are Nick Bertolotti and assistant coach Bob Mautone.
UNION, NJ — Part of the recipe for continued improvement stems from competition in a college setting some six months before the season begins.
That seems to be working out quite well for the Union High School wrestling program.
For the third year in a row and the second straight at The College of New Jersey in Ewing Township, Union grapplers benefitted from the expertise of guest clinicians while competing in team and individual events in an early summer camp.
Coming off a highly-successful 19-9 season that included a perfect 7-0 record to win the Union County Conference’s eight-team Mountain Division championship, 14 Union wrestlers and one from Audubon High School were part of more than 500 campers from New Jersey and Pennsylvania at TCNJ for a four-day period from June 26 to 29.
“We competed well as a team and went 6-4 in the toughest division,” said Union head wrestling coach Dino DeBellonia.
Many of Union’s campers also competed last June at the same TCNJ camp, run by TCNJ head coach Joe Galante. In June 2023, Union grapplers competed in a camp at Kutztown University.
Once again, DeBellonia guided the campers along with assistant coach Bob Mautone. Union campers included sophomore-to-be Cristian Hargrove, 103; senior Jeremy Rivas, 113; junior Jayson Resende, 120; senior Hermelo Verga, 125; sophomore Ryan Cross, 130; senior Macain Romain, 145; senior Aaron Acevedo, 170; senior Jaydon Robles, 135; senior Ariel Azeredo, 160; senior Jonathan Cordova, 170; senior Bryan Okoye, 215; Obreight Ingram, heavyweight; senior Sean Messina, 170; senior Enzo Tammaro, 152; and senior Nick Bertolotti, 190. The wrestler from Audubon was 140-pounder Jimmy Moran. Audubon went 22-5 last year.
“It was a great four days,” DeBellonia said. “The bigger picture was that our kids got to live the college experience again by staying on campus for the four days. From day one, things moved fast and it was a strict schedule.”
Guest clinicians included Sammy Sasso of Ohio State University, who is now an assistant coach at Lehigh University; former Colonia High School and Rutgers University standout John Poznanski, who is now coaching at the Yale Street Wrestling Club in Piscataway; Reece Humphrey, who along with Sasso was a former standout grappler at Ohio State University; former Rider University star Jason Nase; and former Ocean City High School standout Pat Lynch.
“There was instruction between dual matches,” DeBellonia said. “All the clinicians gave very good instruction.”
Union was situated in the A Division for the team competition that came first. DeBellonia said that Union’s team wrestled well, before falling to a strong Howell High School program.
“The culmination of the camp was the individual tournament,” DeBellonia said.
Three Union wrestlers placed second in their weight classes, including Azeredo at 160, Robles at 135 and Verga at 125. Last year, Azeredo was a Union County Tournament and District 14 champion and then placed third in Region 4 at Union to qualify for the season-ending New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Tournament in Atlantic City.
According to DeBellonia, Azeredo lost to a wrestler from Pascack Valley High School in his finals match.
On Saturday, June 28, all-star matches were designed. Union wrestlers who were selected all-stars were Ingram, Azeredo and Hargrove.
“Just like last year, it was a great experience for the kids,” DeBellonia said. “We hope to return in the future.”
Photo Courtesy of Dino DeBellonia
