Point Beach Wins Holmdel Wrestling Tournament

Point Pleasant Beach’s Rob Finnerty was named Most Outstanding Wrestler, one of six Garnet Gulls who made it into the finals, as Point Beach won the Holmdel Christmas Invitational on Wednesday in Holmdel.

Finnerty, wrestling at 138 pounds, recorded a tech fall in his semifinal victory over Keansburg's Jose Jara, 17-1, and defeated Monsignor Donovan's Tom Donnelly with a 20-4 technical fall in the final.

Gustavo Garcia (106), Trey Watkins (113) and Tore Capriglione (120) opened the finals with three straight victories for Point Beach.

Garcia battled through to the third period in his 11-5 victory over Mike O'Malley of JP Stevens in final, after pinning in the second period in the semifinals.

Watkins came from behind to defeat Holmdel's Billy Martin, 8-6, in the finals. The clinching takedown came in third period, when Watkins was able to get behind Martin before the duo slid out of bounds. Watkins got a pin in the second period in his semifinals bout.

After jumping out to an early lead, Capriglione pinned Justin Olejnik of Manville at 4:03. He got a pin in his semifinal bout as well, 61 seconds into the bout.

James Finnerty, Rob’s younger brother, was unable to make it a four-for-four opening to the finals, as he surrendered 15 third-period points to Rumson-Fair Haven's Marcus Iwama in the 126-pound bout, where Iwama went on to win, 23-14. Finnerty won by technical fall, 17-1, in his semifinal bout.

Riley Kelly advanced to the finals for the Garnet Gulls in the 145-pound class, but fell to St. Rose's Nick Greenquist via pin in the final match. Greenquist got the pin with under a minute remaining in the second period. Kelly earned a 5-4 decision in the semifinals.

Manasquan had two wrestlers reach the semifinals. Harry Warner rallied in his 220-pound semifinals matchup with Point Beach's Lucas Jordy, as he got the match-clinching takedown with 19 seconds remaining, and went on to advance to the finals with a 6-2 decision.

In the final, Warner was pinned by Holmdel's Tom Fazzio at 3:14, giving Warner the silver medal.

Warner’s teammate, Brian Glanforte, fell to Monsignor Donovan's Francis Duddy via pin with 15 seconds left in the first period in the semifinals at 152 pounds.

Tom Donnelly at 138 and Duddy both reached the finals for Monsignor Donovan.

Donnelly got a reversal with 40 seconds remaining in the third period to come from behind for his semifinals win, then lost by tech fall to Point Beach's Rob Finnerty, 20-4, in the third period.

Duddy, who pinned Holmdel's Brian Glanforte in the semifinals, lost by a pin in the 152-pound final, giving the Griffins a pair of silver medalists in the tournament.

Nick Greenquist was the lone St. Rose wrestler to reach the final.

Drew Squicciarini and Matt Syzmanski advanced to the semifinals for the Purple Roses, where both lost by pin.

Greenquist, who scored a tech fall against Holmdel's Alex Haplin at 152 pounds, 20-5, beat Point Beach's Riley Kelly, via a second-period pin, to take the gold medal for St. Rose.

Syzmanski won his consolation match to get the bronze medal in the 170-pound class.

Shore Regional was represented at five different weight classes in the semifinals, with two wrestlers reaching the finals.

Derek Arnette took the gold medal in the 132-pound class for the Blue Devils, beating Keansburg's Romello Union, 7-5 in the final. He won by technical fall in the semifinals, 15-0.

Chris Graham won the 160-pound weight class for Shore Regional with a 7-4 decision over Joe Prevost of Keyport. Graham pinned in his semifinal bout to advance.

Connor Feroce advanced to the semifinals for the Blue Devils in the 126-pound bout, but was defeated by Rumson-Fair Haven's Marcus Iwama, who eventually took gold. Stefanos Koursaris also moved on to the semifinals, but he was pinned in the second period.

Team scores

1. Point Beach 191.5; 2. Holmdel 125; 3. JP Stevens 93; 4. Shore Regional 90.5; 5. Manville 90; 6. Keansburg 89; 7. Keyport 76; 8. Rumson-Fair Haven 69; 9. St. Rose 57.5; 10. Lakewood 42; 11. Manasquan 42; 12. Monsignor Donovan 42.

Finals Results

106: Gustavo Garcia (Point Beach) d. Mike O'Malley (JP Stevens), 11-5

113: Trey Watkins (Point Beach) d. Billy Martin (Holmdel), 8-6

120: Tore Capriglione (Point Beach) p. Justin Olejnik (Manville) 4:03

126: Marcus Iwama (Rumson-Fair Haven) d. James Finnerty (Point Beach), 23-14

132: Derek Arnett (Shore Regional) d. Romello Union (Keansburg), 7-5

138: Rob Finnerty (Point Beach) tf. Tom Donnelly (Monsignor Donovan), 20-4

145: Nick Greenquist (St. Rose) p. Riley Kelly (Point Beach) 3:14

152: Jake Caswell (Manville) p. Francis Duddy (Monsignor Donovan), 1:45

160: Chris Graham (Shore Regional) d. Joe Prevost (Keyport), 7-4

220: Tom Fazzio (Holmdel) p. Harry Warner (Manasquan), 2:36