Westfield Wrestling Faces Tough Opponents in David Brearley High

Westfield coach Glen Kurz knew it would have taken a few miraculous developments to

keep the Blue Devils close to defending Union County Tournament champ David Brearley Friday night. The Blue Devils dropped a 58-13 decision, falling to 2-5. Brearley is 13-1.

"I wanted to see our team not be intimidated (wrestling at Brearley) and I don't
think we were,'' Kurz said. "We wrestled hard.''

Westfield won three bouts -- sophomore 103-pounder Mike Kalimtzis had a fall and
sophomore 125-pounder Troy Skibitsky and senior 160-pounder Chris Tomasso had wins.

"I thought Skibitsky wrestled well, he was pretty physical and that's something
we've been working on with him,'' Kurz said.

Kurz added that he was pleased with the way senior 145-pounder Brian Henry performed. Henry is 8-5 for the season. Henry lost a major decision to junior Devin Geoghegan, who is 15-2.

 "In the end, Brian kept coming at him,'' Kurz said.

Kurz said the team has to work on finishing their moves, their takedowns.

"I thought Brian pushed him pretty well, but so far we haven't really been able to
finish our takedowns,'' Kurz said.

The featured bout came in the last one of the night at 145 pounds. Junior Christian
Barber (10-2) lost in four overtimes to junior Dan Ries (13-3) in the fourth extra
session. Both wrestlers escaped, forcing a tie-breaking session. Barber chose the
defensive position, but couldn't escape in 30 seconds.

"I thought Christian was more aggressive on his feet,'' Kurz said. "I thought
Christian had two really nice shots. We might see this kid three more times,'' at
Saturday's Union County Tournament, the District 11 Tournament and at the Region III
tournament.