UPPER MONTCLAIR, NJ — The College of New Jersey’s wrestling team, which went 21-1 this year in dual match competition, collected the 2003 Metropolitan Conference Championships on Sunday, while competing at Montclair State University’s Panzer Gymnasium. TCNJ had eight wrestlers in the finals, while coming away with six titles. 

Ranked No. 4 in the National Wrestling Coaches Association Division III Brute/Adidas national poll, the Lions will send seven wrestlers to the 2003 NCAA Division III Championships on March 7-8 at Ohio Northern University (Ada, OH). The 2003 trip to the NCAA’s marks the first time in the 27-year coaching career of David Icenhower that he does not bring a returning All-American to the NCAA’s.

Earning additional honors at the meet from TCNJ were head coach Dave Icenhower, who picked up his second straight Met Coach of the Year award and his 12th overall, while senior co-captain Dave Ilaria (Belleville, NJ/St. Peter’s Prep) was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament. Montclair State’s senior Rami Ratel (Bloomfield, NJ/Bloomfield) was named the recipient of the Met Conference Senior Award.

TEAM STANDING

1. TCNJ   154.5

2. Montclair State  124

3. York College (PA) 109

4. New York University 105.5

5. Kings Point  85

6. Hunter College  75.5

7. Centenary   29

8. SUNY Martime  17.5

9. Gallaudet  0.0

2003 Met Conference Wild Cards Selections:

174 Paul Vaccaro, TCNJ

133 Cliff Medina, Hunter

133 Gary Mikolay, MSU

First Alternate

149 Pat Brady, TCNJ

Weight by Weight Review

125

Senior James Marrero (Glendora, NJ/Highland Regional) picked up the 2003 title at 125 pounds after he defeated top seeded Jason Custer of York College on a tie breaker after the two wrestled to a 1-1 tie. Marrero, a 2002 NCAA qualifier, has advanced to the 2003 NCAA’s and brings a 23-9 record on the season into the tournament.  On his career, Marrero is now 63-37.

133

TCNJ’s senior co-captain Dave Ilaria (Belleville, NJ/St. Peter’s Prep) had a banner day. After dropping the regular-season meeting to Hunter College’s sophomore Cliff Medina (Brick, NJ/Brick) by virtue of a pin when he was nursing a rib injury, Ilaria proved his metal on Sunday as he collected 14-2 major decision over Medina in the finals at 133 pounds. Ilaria went 3-0 on the day and is now 31-3 on the year and will be making his first trip to the NCAA Division III Championships. A former wrestler for Division I Seton Hall University. Ilaria was an NCAA Division I qualifier for the Pirates as a freshman in 1999. Wrestling for TCNJ for the first time this season, Ilaria now has a career record of 100-35 having compiled a 69-32 record with the Pirates. Sunday’s title bout victory marks his 100th career win in college. Ilaria is currently ranked No. 6 nationally. Medina would earn a wild-card bid to the NCAA's.

141

TCNJ’s senior P.J. Morreale (Forked River, NJ/Lacey Township), who is ranked No. 8 in Division III, will also be joining his teammates at the NCAA’s. He recorded a 7-5 win in the finals over York College’s freshman Luis Quinones (Hockessin, DE/Thomas McKean) in the finals after going 3-0 on the day. Morreale, the top seed at 141 pounds, is now 31-12 this year. He also boasts a team-high 17 pins this season, which also leads Division III this year as well. He has a career record of 62-30 with 22 pins with the Lions.

149

At 149 pounds, Montclair State’s senior Rami Ratel (Bloomfield, NJ/Bloomfield) posted a 10-1 win over the Lions’ rookie Pat Brady (Point Pleasant, NJ/Point Pleasant Boro). Ratel, who is ranked No. 2 in Division III and is a returning All-American handed Brady the 7-5 loss to make him the runner-up at 149 pounds. On the season, Brady falls to 32-8. Brady was picked as the first alternate for the NCAA's as well.

157

Junior Greg Ilaria (Belleville, NJ/St. Peter’s Prep) will be joining his brother at the 2003 NCAA’s after he won the title at 157 pounds. Ranked No. 5 at 157 pounds nationally, Ilaria defeated the No. 2 seed in the bracket, Hunter’s Joe Lovello, 8-6. The top seed at 157 pounds, Ilaria, who is also a former two-year letterwinner for the now defunct Seton Hall Pirates, improves to 31-5 this year at TCNJ.  Combined with his two years of wrestling at Seton Hall University, Ilaria is now 46-29 on his collegiate career.

165

Sophomore Sean Flynn (Denville, NJ/Morris Knolls) finished in third place after he defeated Hunter’s Joe Amalfitano, 5-3 in overtime. Flynn is now 34-10 on the season,having improved to 48-20 on his career.

174

The finals at 174 featured a pair of nationally ranked wrestlers in MSU’s junior Eduard Aliakseyenka (Minsk, Belarus), the defending national champion at 174 pounds and the current top ranked wrestler in the country, and TCNJ’s freshman Paul Vaccaro (Egg Harbor City, NJ/Absegami), ranked No. 6. Aliakseyenka posted a 17-7 major decision win over Vaccaro in the finals to win his third straight Met title and make his third trip to the NCAA’s. Vaccaro falls to 36-8 on the year and leads the Lions and Division III with his 36 wins. Vaccaro earned a wild card bid and will represent TCNJ at the NCAA's.

184

Junior Josh Pavlov (Columbus, NJ/Northern Burlington) picked up a third place finish after he posted a 3-2 win over York College’s No. 5 seeded Gavin Luckman in the third –fourth place bout. Pavlov, the No. 2 seed fell in the semifinals and went 5-1 for the day, upping his season record to 21-11, while now standing at 35-23 on his career.

197

Ranked No. 6 in the nation at 197 pounds, TCNJ’s senior co-captain Rich Gildner (Waretown, NJ/Southern Regional) finally picked up his first Met Championship title after finishing as the runner-up the three previous times. In the finals, Gildner pinned NYU’s Ilya Panchernikov at 3:18 to win the 2003 Met championship and a return trip to the NCAA’s after earning a wild card bid last season.  Gildner is now 2-0 for the day as the top seed in the bracket and is now 27-4 this season, while standing at 73-24 on his career at TCNJ. A two-sport athlete at TCNJ, Gildner was an All-ECAC tight- end last year with the Lions’ football team and is currently a candidate for the 2003 NWCA Scholar-Athlete Team.

HWT

Junior Carlos Panfili (Saddle Brook, NJ/Don Bosco Tech) picked up a decisive 16-1 tech fall in 4:07 to win the crown at heavy weight. Another former SHU wrestler, Panfili picked up the top seed in the draw and went 4-0 on the day to improve to 35-7 on the year. Combined with his time at SHU, he is now 62-46 on his career.

Now in his 27th season as head coach of TCNJ’s grappling program, David Icenhower boasts a 396-68-3 career record in dual match action and has now directed the Lions to 21 Met Championships, including the 2002 title. He has also coached the Lions to five NCAA Division III Team championships, while producing 113 All-Americans. The Lions are coming off an 11th place showing at the 2002 NCAA’s and will look to extend their streak as the only Division III wrestling program to have finished in the Top 20 in each of the previous 29 NCAA Division III championships.