Mat Rats compete at state competitions

State champion Jesse Lyon in the intermediate heavyweight division and runner up Dean Sherry in the 80-pound midget division led a group of eightwrestlers out of the Brick Recreation Mat Rats programwhowere state place-winners this year in competitions held earlier this month.

Dan Rackliffe was third in the 65-pound junior division while other state place-winners in the midget division were fifth-place finishersGiovanniGhione at 55 pounds and KyleWojtaszek at 80 pounds, sixth-place finisher Justin Kiesler at 95 pounds, seventhplace finisher Alec Donovan at 90 and eighth-place finisher Joe Ghione (Ghiovanni's older brother) in the 80-pound division.

Lyon, an eighth-grader at Lake Riviera Middle School, who also sparked the school to the Ocean County Red Division championship and who won the county and tricounty championships, used his athleticism to prevail as a relative newcomer to competitive wrestling.

But it was Sherry, a fifth-grader at Lake Riviera,who showed a flare for the dramatic by pinning his way into the finals where he lost a tough 4-1 decision. Most of his victories came via pin in a 39-6 season. He avenged one of his losses in the semifinals and said he relied primarily on a "spradle," which he called a "defensive move" and a "grandy roll,"which is amove off the bottom.

"This is the best he's wrestled all year," said his father, of the state championships. "He had some really goodmatches at the end of the season.He's very aggressive and super smart with his defense."

Experience helps, as Sherry said he started wrestling in kindergarten, a big difference from Lyon who began around the time he entered middle school.

Sherry said he can't wait to move up to the middle school program at Lake Riviera next season.He said he'llworkmore on taking his shots in the Shore Thing gym in the hopes of doing even better next season.

Anderson said a number of theMat Rats wrestlers did surprisingly well, including Kiesler and Wojtaszek. After losing his second roundmatch, Kiesler came back to beat the No. 1 seed in his next match en route to his sixth-place finish.