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7 SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 2002 ASBURY PARK PRESS PAGE C5 NJSIAA REGION VI WRESTLING TOURNAMENT "taw i i i i -sjyur Cki rff.V:-'-. Valasa's effort pays with upset i'eter AiKKRMANchier photographer Toms River East's Fred Pontoriero flips Joe Blake of Brick off his back at 130. Pontoriero won 6-4 to advance to the semifinals. Manalapan sends surprising six into semis According to the Feb. 20 article, only three states have separate teams Florida, Hawaii and Texas.

South Jersey currently has two girls wrestling on the high school level Lindenwold's Christine Cairoli and Gateway's P.J. Ryan, who both wrestle at 103. Last week in the West Virginia Class AAA state tournament, Wirt County High School senior Erin Dye finished her career with a record of 100-21 when she lost 9-1 in the state 103-pound title match. Ticket watch General admission seats are still available for the state individual wrestling championships March 9-10 in Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall. Tickets can be purchased by calling Ticket-master at (800) 736-1420 or stopping by the Hall's box office.

coached both Manalapan and Brick Memorial, joins former Jackson coach Al Aires in the coaches division. And Judge Julio Fuentes, a Toms River wrestler who finished second in the state, was selected in the pioneer division. Court battle According to a Minneapolis St. Paul Star Tribune, a Minnesota House committee will be ruling on a proposed law that would ban girls from participating on high school wrestling teams in the state. In the courtroom, the committee witnessed actual demonstrations of moves, such as high crotch takedowns and a ball and chain, that opponents deemed inappropriate for coed wrestlers.

If the law passes, it could set a precedent for legal action in other states that allow coed wrestling. this team's going to be Brotherly love Rich Veth, a longtime wrestling official and baseball coach at Middletown North, was recognized for his 20 years of service to the wrestling community. And who better to present the 20-year ring to him than his brother, Mike? "They thought it would be nice to do in front of all the coaches and kids who he worked with," Veth said. "It was emotional for him." Academic honors Sixteen Shore Conference wrestlers were honored for their academic accomplishments at last night's tourna-'ment. The distinguished wrestlers were Jackson's Jason Koonts, Lacey's Chris Aviles, Toms River East's Bill Kinder, Central's Mike Braun, Long Branch's Anthony Miscia, Keansburg's Frank Puglisi III, Monsignor Donovan's Mike White, Rumson's Jeff Wood-worth, Neptune's Matthew Anton, Middletown South's Scott Barbour, Ocean's Ray Pierre, Brick Memorial's Dave Rogers, Christian Brothers Academy's Bruce DeCotiis, Southern's Brendan Ackers, Manalapan's Chris Rock and Howell's Matt Ingrassia.

Hall of fame Nick Angen and Maurice Worthy were named to the Region VI Wrestling Hall of Fame, Angen, a former Brick Memorial wrestler, and Worthy, a former Central grappler, will both enter in the state championship division. Brick Memorial's Todd Palmisano and Pinelands' Brett Tullo enter in the high schoolcollege division. Dennis D'Andrea, who has time By SCOTT STUMP STAFF WRITER BRICK Marathon days of school, wrestling practice and intense workouts to lose weight seemingly blurred one into the other with no payoff in immediate sight for Middletown North's Anthony Valasa. After all that struggle from December to January to shed 45 pounds in order to make 275, the senior had his hand raised after a double-overtime win over Jackson's John Loff in last night's NJSIAA Region VI Tournament quarterfinals to show that yes, it was all worth it. Valasa, the seventh seed, weighed in at 274.4 and used a nearly 50-pound advantage on No.

2 seed Loff to ride him out for the 30-second double overtime win after being tied at 4. He will wrestle Marlboro's Evan Weiner in the semifinals this morning at Brick Memorial, i "If you told me a month ago that I would have to make it through a double overtime to win, I would've said you were crazy," Valasa said. "Now peo- pie know I'm here and I'm ready to do business." Struggling just to make weight, Valasa started his season on Jan. 2 and then had to slowly regain his strength. "I was going to practice for three hours and then going to the gym until 9:30 at night trying to cut the weight," Valasa said.

"I was exhausted every night and was falling asleep in class." A lot of top wrestlers seemingly slept on their quarterfinal opponents as Manalapan's Sean Burns also made seven into a lucky number when he deci-sioned region runner-up Mike Smith of Point Boro 4-2 at 130. Smith picked up the first takedown, but Burns fought back to take the lead on a takedown with 1:30 left in the third period. He then rode out Smith, the No. 2 seed, to move on to a semifinal against Southern's Dan Hall. "I thought to myself, can beat any one of these kids (in the Burns said.

"When he took me down, it woke me up because I didn't want to go out like that." All of the top seeds advanced. although Toms River North's Luis Franceschi put a scare into Howell's Zac Cunliffe (119), who was third in the state at 112 last season, in losing 12-10. In addition, Manasquan's Matt Vos-kian gave region champion Vin-nie Salek of TR East all he could handle in losing 12-9 at 160. Franceschi took Cunliffe down and also picked up two stalling points, nearly coming back to tie the bout in the end. Four six seeds knocked off No.

3 seeds, headlined by a 15-11 win by Manchester's Mike Conklin over Middletown North's Ryan Oswin (21-2) at 140. Oswin's only loss was to region runner-up Pat Brady of Point Boro, who also advanced last night, before Conklin's win. Other six seeds moving on were Howell's Jay Ucci (112), Point Boro's Leif Ruschmeyer (135) and Christian Brothers Academy's Paul Schibell (160). "It really doesn't matter to me whether I make a name for myself or not, I just came to wrestle," Conklin said. Rumson-Fair Haven's Patrick Berger made a name for himself last season when he finished seventheighth in the state at 103.

Now he is a known commodity as the second seed at 112. He won a 7-1 decision over Jackson's Joe Eurell last night to move on and remain undefeated, along with teammate and fellow semifinalist Bryan Heller (130). "Last year I was just trying to make apath to this year," Berger said. "I feel that it's important to prove yourself each year." By MIKE KERWICK STAFF WHITER There's still another entire day of the tournament. But Manalapan is already off to one of its hest starts in Region VI history.

From 103 to 145, the Braves pushed six different wrestlers into today's semifinals. Nick Manochio (103), Dan Hilt (112), Scott Becker- N0TES man (119), mhmbhhb Sean Burns (130), Mike Gaeta (140) and Brenden Pro-vow (145) all earned spots. "I knew we came to wrestle," Manalapan coach John Verde-rosa said. "It was a matter of wrestling to win." Burns was the biggest surprise for Manalapan, shocking Point Boro's Mike Smith 4-2 at 130. "As the season went on," said Dan Hilt, Manalapan's 112-pounder, "I thought, 'Wow, STAFF REPORT BRICK Many are on a mission this weekend at the NJSIAA Region VI Tournament at Brick Memorial.

But it's safe to say Region VI wrestlers in action are taking it one match at a time. St. John Vianney's Anthony Castro, in the thick of an interesting bracket at 125 pounds last night, was one of those displaying it is a one-match-at-a-time scenario on the way to a top-three finish. Castro exacted a bit of revenge in last night's quarterfinal round, running away with a 7-0 victory over fourth seed Rod Cunliffe of Howell. Castro, seeded fifth, suffered his first loss of the season last Saturday in the District 21 finals to Cunliffe, 2-0 in overtime.

Taking an offensive approach from the start, Castro scored a takedown in each of the first two periods to go ahead 4-0. He added a final takedown with another offensive takedown for the decisive point with 25 seconds left in the bout. "On Saturday I was defensive," Castro said of the district final loss to Cunliffe. "I did not shoot enough. Tonight I was offensive, like I usually am." "He came out strong tonight and that was one positive step," SJV coach Jack Shepherd said.

"Now (today) we have the sec I ond step in wrestling (Brick Memorial's) Marc Rosenfold. Anthony is going to have to wrestle his best match to beat him." With one step of the way taken care of, the next takes place this morning when Castro faces Rosenfeld, who was a winner by pin last night in the quarterfinals. In search of his third consecutive region crown today, Rosenfeld kept an interested eye on last night's Castro-Cunliffe bout. But, like the opponent he faces this morning in the semifinals, it's one step at a time. "I want to take this all one match at a time," Rosenfeld said.

"I definitely wanted to see those two wrestle because I had the winner. I wanted to see the outcome. But I wrestle every match the same. It doesn't matter what the other guy does." Rosenfeld and Castro have never met in scholastic competition. Castro was second at 112 last season to Cunliffe's brother, Zac.

Toms River East third seed Bill Kinder and second seed Mike Braun of Central meet in the other semifinal at 125. Braun beat Kinder in the District 24 final last Saturday. "I am just going out there and taking this one match at a time," Castro said. "I want to win th-ig thing." "jpf 1 if i PETER ACKERMANChicf Photo(rapher St John Vianney's Anthony Castro tries to hold onto Howell's Rod Cunliffe during their bout at 125 pounds..