Aiden Weil figured the Pond Road Middle School wrestling team would be good, but the 8th-grade tri-captain couldn’t imagine just how good.
“I knew we were going to do really well,” Weil said. “We took second (in the Central Jersey Middle School Tournament) last year, and we didn’t really lose that many good kids. So I knew we’d do well, but I didn’t know we were going to be undefeated and beat a lot of shore teams. A lot of kids stepped up from our JV lineup and wrestled varsity and did really well.”
It turned out to be a season for the ages as Pond Road went 15-0 and won the CJ tournament by a whopping 60 points by producing six champions, three runners-up and two third-place finishers. More importantly, Pond Road had success against middle schools that feed the always-powerful Shore Conference high school teams.
“The turning point for our program was beating a shore team for the first time at the middle school level,” coach Sean Greig said. “We had never beaten a shore team. We had a lot of success in the county and some success with South Jersey, but now we’re wrestling shore teams. This was the first year we beat Point (Pleasant) Boro and we really handled some other teams. To me, that got it all going as far as confidence for these guys.”
Gavino Pecina, another 8th-grade captain, felt that Greig and assistant coach Ricky Cordero played a big part in the team’s success.
“This means a lot,” Pecina said. “It just shows how hard we trained and what good coaches we get; and how thankful we are to the coaches we have and the wrestlers we have. We’re not only like a team, we’re like a family.”
The team championship was Pond Road’s third overall and first since 2015, when Robbinsville High state finalist Garret Bilgrav led the team as an 8th-grader.
Pecina and Weil each won their second individual championship and finished with 17-0 records. Pecina won his second straight title, while Weil won in sixth grade and finished second last year.
“It felt great to come back and win another one,” Weil said.
Other CJ champions were 7th-graders Cole Cifrodelli (17-0), Dylan Cifrodelli (17-0), RJ Stradling (17-0) and Naquan Green (15-2). Finishing second were 8th-grader AJ Mackey (14-3) and 6th-graders Anthony Viscido (15-2) and Jack Bottoni (15-2).
Third-place finishers were 8th-graders Mike Manieri and Nick Migliaccio, while also contributing with solid records were 8th-graders Robert Hutchinson (10-0), tri-captain Evan Duchscherer (12-5) and Shawn Updegraff (11-1). Rounding out the team were 7th-graders Brian Manners, Cameron Burns, Noah Young, Christian Tejeda, Srinand Tanakala, Isabelle Stoldt, Sahil Patil, Nolan O’Grady, Edward Krasil, Nate Aromando, John Bartzak and Victor Trung; and 6th-graders Akhilesh Chauhan, Richard Esterly, Justin Young, Donald Ryan and Blaise Grippa.
“I knew we had potential,” Greig said. “We had a great room, a lot of great kids. I knew the talent was there. Like anything else, when dealing with younger kids it’s a balance of having fun, working hard and staying healthy. Very similar to the high school level. I just think the greatest thing about these guys is they really like each other. They really enjoy being part of the team, they’re excited about the future at the high school level and it just kind of all kind of came together for us.”
Much of that had to do with the captains, who took their role seriously.
“I try to keep everyone on track,” Pecina said. “Whenever we’re running, everyone gets off track and starts to walk when coach isn’t watching. Me and Aiden just kind of tell them, ‘Hey, you gotta start running.’”
“You’ve got to just make sure everyone stays focused and that they’re ready to go out there and wrestle,” Weil said. “It was fun, I liked it.”
Pecina was proud of his captainship, figuring it is a reflection of how seriously he takes his sport.
“It shows that you work,” he said. “You can’t be captain and not work hard. It means a lot to be a captain. I guess it’s a really good role. I don’t like bossing everyone around but it shows how hard you’ve been working.”
Weil and Pecina took different routes to wrestling. Weil started seven years ago while living in Montvale. He wrestled in their recreation program before joining Robbinsville’s program when he moved down here.
“Getting really tough competition always helps, so that really helped me,” he said.
Pecina was a somewhat late bloomer. After moving here from Texas, Pecina began in sixth grade at Pond Road.
“I wanted to gain muscle because I wasn’t really that strong,” he said. “In seventh grade, I started taking it seriously so I joined another team so I could get better. Wrestling with two teams helped.”
Unfortunately for Robbinsville High School’s program, they won’t be getting Pecina’s services as his family is moving to Arizona this summer. He hopes to continue his wrestling career out there but will never forget what he accomplished during his brief stay in Robbinsville.
“It’s huge, winning the championship here,” he said. “This is a really big part of my life.”
The good news for the Ravens is Weil will be in an RHS singlet next year and is looking forward to it.
“They have a lot of really good wrestlers and we have some really good wrestlers,” he said. “We should be really good.”
As is usually the case, the middle school works with the high school, making sure the wrestlers learn what will be expected of them once they get to Robbinsville High.
“Coach (Sean) Flynn and I have known each other for 10 years, he was an assistant coach at the middle school level three years ago before he took the head job,” Greig said. “The reason he did that was he wanted to be involved, and just see what we’ve done. I’ve been at Pond Road for 12 years and what he did coming on as my assistant and seeing what we do at that level, I think he was really happy and impressed by what we were dong down here.
“We’ve really formed a phenomenal relationship between myself, coach Flynn and (assistants) Dan Hughes and Brian Dempsey. Our assistant Ricky Cordero doesn’t get enough credit on our level. And RWA (Robbinsville Wrestling Association) has been a huge supporter of our program. They’ve made a huge impact and definitely deserve the credit for supporting us and helping us become a really nice program.”
The Pond Road Middle School wrestling team celebrates its Central Jersey championship last month.,
