For some, winter means post-holiday blues and hot cocoa; for others, it means the beginning of a promising athletic season in the Shore Conference.
“The season started on Nov. 27 for us,” sophomore Anya Alston of Middletown, a Varsity Track & Field sprinter for Middletown High School South said.
Since Alston’s freshman year, she has run the 400m 4×4, the high jump, and occasionally, the 200m dash. With her sophomore season underway, Alston has a handful of predictions of how this year will play out.
“Unfortunately, we’ve lost a lot of very good [senior] athletes. Now, we’re kind of stuck with people who aren’t at their level,” Alston said. “Hopefully we can build up to that by getting a few more people to bring us up there.”
Freshman Joe Graff of Spring Lake has a similar optimistic outlook on the 2023 to 2024 season. Graff is a wrestler for Manasquan High School who is out for the season due to an injury, but he has been observing his team putting in the work since the start of the season.
“There are a lot of folks who are new, but they have that mamba mentality,” Graff said. “If we keep wrestling in the season and in the matches like we have so far, I think we got this.”
Manasquan, who held 14 consecutive seasons with a losing record, has been on a different track ever since their new coach, Justin Barowski, took over the program. This year, Manasquan is looking to be led by junior Michael O’Connor and senior Noah Mammeri, who both qualified for the Region 6 tournament last year after placing 2nd and 3rd in the District 21 tournament.
A team that has always been in the spotlight for its dominance in the Shore Conference for wrestling are the Middletown North Lions; a team that’s sent at least one wrestler annually to the NJSIAA State tournament since 2013 (excluding 2020). This year is looking to be no different, as seniors Brady Kilinsky and Matt Castelli are looking to make a farther run than they did last year at the state tournament in Atlantic City.
“I think Brady’s got a good chance of winning states this year. He’s definitely our best overall wrestler on our team. Same thing with Matt Castelli. They both work really hard. I think they’re both gonna have great seasons,”senior Jack LaRocca of Middletown, who wrestles at 190 lb for Middletown North said.
With high expectations for the Lions to do well, this year’s team is one to look out for when they get onto the mat. With all the talk about these big powerhouse teams on the shore, there’s one team that might be going under the radar. The Keansburg Titans wrestling team had a complete turnaround last season, going from 8-16 in 2022, to going 16-10 in 2023. Led by head coach James Reid, the Titans look to build off of last year’s monumental season, even after losing four starters due to graduation, who combined for 87 wins.
“I’m very excited about this year’s wrestling season. I think last year, we had a lot of underclassmen who made an impact on our team. They have the experience that will help them go further into districts, and hopefully through regions this year,” Reid said.
To sum it up, this will be an adventurous season for the Titans. Wrestlers aren’t the only ones making moves in the 2023-2024 season, as swimmers all across Monmouth County are preparing to make a ‘splash’ this winter.
Gianni Dentino of Belmar has been preparing for his first-ever season swimming for Manasquan High School. This year, he plans to join his all-star brother, Manasquan High senior Dante Dentino, in his last season before college.
“Because he’s a senior, we realized this is the last year that I’d ever be able to be on a swim team with him,” Dentino said. “We thought I could give it a try, take a shot at it, and it just worked out.”
Dentino’s optimism stretches beyond just him and his family, predicting a very prosperous season for Manasquan Swim as a whole.
“I think that we have a very strong girl’s team. I think they’re gonna perform really, really well, and I think that the boys are just as talented this year,” Dentino said.
Finally, as basketball season approaches, one player hopes that a few star players can help the team to some key wins.
Marius Rossey, a freshman on Wall’s basketball team, said, “we haven’t been good the last couple of years, but we’re gonna get better and better as the years go on. We got Connor Dudas, he’s insane. We have Demitri Tu, he’s insane. We have Liam Killea, he’s a sophomore, he’s pretty good.”
The Crimson Knights are looking to overcome their shortcomings from the last two years, when they had a combined record of 8-39. To say the least, anticipation is surely in the air for winter athletes all around as they equip themselves for a season of hard work.
“The mentality, the don’t quit, never give up mindset, that’s the stuff you need to succeed in life,” Graff said. “That’s what you need to be a successful individual.”
