Kalimztis Captures County Wrestling Title, Barber Finishes Second

Westfield High School wrestling coach Glen Kurz preaches to his team to overachieve. The Blue Devils want to work hard and achieve more than what you might expect.

Saturday afternoon, sophomore 103-pounder Mike Kalimztis lived up to his billing. Kalimtzis, the No. 1 seed, pinned Roselle Park's John Devito in 1:59, winning a Union County tournament championship.

The Blue Devils were ninth as a team with 62 ½ points.

Junior 140-pounder Christian Barber, hoping to win his first county title, fell to Brearley's Dan Ries 5-1 in the county final. Barber was third in the county last year at 135.

"Mike had a good day, he did what he needed to do,'' said Kurz. "Coming in with the weight class he had here, anything less than winning would have been a bad day for Mike. But he stepped up and did what he had to do.''

Kalimtzis, fourth at 103 last year, improved his record to 12-3. He has pinned DeVito three times this season. He pinned him at the Roselle Park Tournament and in a dual meet last Wednesday.

"I was patient,'' he said. "The cradle was there, and I just kept working for it. That's what we want to do. Coach is always talking about overachieving, that's something we have been working for all season.''

Barber has been one of the hardest workers. He's had some tough bouts lately. He lost to Ries in overtime in a recent dual meet. The county final was also close until Ries broke it open in the third period.

"It was the same match as the last time,'' Kurz said. "We were the aggressor. I thought we were doing a good job going after him. They got one takedown and that's the difference. We have to tighten up our defense push him more earlier in the match. I really thought we pushed him hard this time.

"You know what? We'll let them take the county title, and then we'll start working for the district and regions.''

Senior Bill Kim, pinned by champion Dawud Hicks of Plainfield in the county semifinals, wrestled back to take fifth with a fall of his own.