Sports

Barber Wins Roselle Park Wrestling Tourney, Team Finishes Eighth

140-pound junior captures victory in his weight class.

Westfield High School's wrestling team didn't have its best outing at the annual
Roselle Park Tournament. The Blue Devils were eighth out of eight teams, but did have a champion in junior 140-pounder Christian Barber.   

"Barber had a solid day,'' said Westfield coach Glen Kurz.   

Barber beat Howell's Brian Wilson 2-0, then Hanover Park's Charles Savino 2-0 before beating Piscataway's David Powell 6-1 for the championship.

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The Blue Devils finished with 72 points. Howell won the tournament with 190 points, while Hanover Park was second with 181 1/2. Roselle Park was third with 175.    Last year, Barber beat Powell 2-0 in a North 2 Group IV match that was won by Westfield 35-28.   

"We bumped Christian up (in weight from 135 to 140 pounds) for that meet and he beat Powell 2-0 and I thought that was a huge upset,'' Kurz said. "Christian has made up a lot of ground since. Barber is the real deal.''   

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Sophomore Mike Kalimtzis was third at 103 pounds, senior Brian Henry was third at 145 pounds, sophomore Troy Skibitsky was fourth at 125 pounds. Junior Erik Gozdieski and senior Bill Kim were fifth at 152 and 171 respectively.   

"We didn't look good wrestling, we wrestled hard, but not smart,'' Kurz said. "We
have to finish.''   

The Blue Devils are now off until a week from Friday when they have a dual meet at
improved Governor Livingston in Berkeley Heights. The Blue Devils are 1-0 after beating Rahway last week.


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