Sports

Despite Loss, Shleyfer Is Last Bear Standing

Pair of wrestlers take losses at state wrestling finals

The two wrestlers representing East Brunswick took to the mats at the state finals on Friday night in Atlantic City. And while they both lost the only matches they competed on, freshman Jonathan Shleyfer is the the only one continuing on to Saturday's action.

After winning the Region 5 title in his first appearance at the tournament, and having lost just one match all year, the freshman was upset by Sal Mastriani of perpetual powerhouse Don Bosco Prep. Mastriani was the second place finish in Region 2 and beat Monty Krough in the preliminary round to face Shleyfer. 

For his part, Shleyfer will face Chris Zak from Jackson Liberty. Zak finished second at the Region 6 tournament and started his night with an 8-2 win over Josef Johnson from Delbarton. He was quickly sent to the consolation round when Region 1 Champion Joseph Gaccione of High Point pinned him in just 17 seconds.

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While Shleyfer's region title assured him of a first round bye and a free trip to Saturday's action, senior Julian Quintin did not have that luxury after finishing second at the Region 5 event last weekend. Wrestling at 189 the Bear grappler saw his career come to an end with a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to Damian Murberg.

Representing Pascack Valley, Murberg finished third at the Region 2 Tournament last weekend and went on to beat Eric McMullen of Paulsboro to advance to Saturday morning's quarterfinal round.

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