Indian River’s third annual Battle at the Beach wrestling tournament came and went successfully this past weekend with Indian River placing 10th out of 20 teams from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Virginia.
Coastal Point JESSE PRYOR
Indian River placed 10th, out of 20 teams, in the third annual Battle at the Beach tournament held at Indian River this past weekend.Indians head coach Jeff Windish said he had hoped that his team would’ve placed higher, after they placed eighth and had two wrestlers compete in the championship round last year. But he said the competition has gotten better every year.
This year, No. 3 Indian River had five wrestlers place in the top seven, though none of them made it past fourth place – including senior 125-pounder Mike Magaha, who was one of the Indians’ two finalists last season, along with Perry Townsend. And only four Delaware wrestlers made it to the finals.
“It just goes to show this is a tough tournament,” he said. “We don’t claim to be the Beast of the East [tournament] but ours is laden with quality out-of-state teams.”
Howell and Delaware Valley Regional placed first and second in last year’s tournament and have very reputable wrestling traditions in New Jersey. Howell High (21-2 last season) won the Battle at the Beach tournament in 2006 and again this year, and finished 10th in New Jersey last year in a league that averaged 17 wins and only four losses.
Delaware Valley Regional are three-time District 17 defending champs, and have 14 Group II sectional championships and seven Group II titles. They have had eight New Jersey state champions, 82 district champions, 36 regional champions and 33 New Jersey state tournament finishers.
Glenvar, which placed seventh in this year’s tournament, is the No. 1 ranked single-A wrestling team in the state of Virginia.
Magaha (125 pounds) and Delfino Pascual (103 pounds) both finished fourth. Freshman Elijah Foreman (145 pounds) finished fifth. Junior Bo Wilkinson (152 pounds) placed sixth. Darjuan Pitts (130 pounds) placed seventh, and Nick Kmetz (189 pounds) placed in his second tournament in December, at seventh.
And though none of Indian River’s wrestlers made it past fourth place, Windish said he believes that tournaments that yield so many competitive wrestlers will only benefit them down the road, when they start the dual-meet schedule.
“Every year the tournament is getting more competitive, which is what we’re trying to do,” he said. “I want my kids to wrestle the best – especially early in the season – because it will build their confidence later in the season.”
The Damascus Invitational (Dec. 28-29) is the final tournament in which Indian River will participate before the conference tournament at the end of the regular season. Indian River is hosting Caravel, Sanford and Laurel in a quad-meet tomorrow, starting at 11 a.m.
Sanford, which placed 15th at the Battle at the Beach, had three wrestlers finish in second place. Sussex Tech’s Ryelan Pavlik also placed second in the 145-pound weight class.