Gino Schinina of St. Peters Prep (top) wrestles Nick Barone of Paramus Catholic during the Non-Public A Quarterfinals match between St. Peters Prep and Paramus Catholic in Jersey City on Tuesday, February 7, 2023.

Christian Brothers Academy’s Sean Kenny became the only national champion for Team New Jersey this year at the Junior/16U Freestyle National Tournament at the Fargodome on the campus of North Dakota State University on Wednesday.

Kenny earned his title with a masterful finals performance, winning by technical fall over Oliver Pulliam of Texas 11-1, 2:53.

Pulliam hung with Kenny through most of the first period after getting an early point on a push out, but a late, first period takedown put Kenny up by four, 5-1 and he finished the job with a takedown and two successive turns off a trap arm in the second period to take home the gold.

The championship win was an improvement over last year’s seventh place finish at 100 pounds.

Earlier in the day, Kenny had won two matches to advance to the final. He wowed the spectators at Fargo with his quarterfinal win, pinning Pennsylvania’s Braiden Lotier, the No. 14 ranked 113 pounder in the country, with less than a second remaining in the first period.

In the semis, Kenny broke open a 3-3 tie after one period when he snapped Georgia’s Cody Clarke down for a takedown and then turned him for two more points to take a 7-3 lead. Clarke would get one more point for fleeing with eight seconds left, but that was all he was going to get, as Kenny advanced to the final with a 7-4 victory.

Nick Schwartz of Delbarton controls Vedwin Nivas of Blair in the 144 pound bout during the boys wrestling match between Blair and Delbarton at the Delbarton School in Morristown, NJ on Thursday, January 30, 2025.

“I wasn’t very familiar with him,” Kenny said of his final opponent. “I had to feel him out a little bit at first. But I knew that if I got a turn on top, the match would be over.

“I try to stay calm when I’m wrestling,” Kenny added of his style throughout the tournament. “I think of it as a chess match. Whatever they’re giving, I’m going to take. Scoring points is always on my mind.”

Kenny was particularly effective in the second period throughout the competition at Fargo and he says he is aware of the advantage he holds in the late minutes of a match.

Sean Kenny of Christian Brothers Academy (right) battles Santino DiMatteo of Brick Memorial during the 106 pound boys wrestling match of the Region 6 finals at Jackson Liberty High School in Jackson, NJ on Saturday, March 1, 2025

“I feel like, as the match goes on, I figure guys out more,” he said. “I get more aggressive. I figure out where their hands are going to be. My attacks are going to be there. I feel unstoppable as the match goes on.”

The championship was the culmination of an entire year’s hard work for Kenny, who admitted to feeling disappointed after his seventh place finish a year ago.

“Last year, when I took seventh, I walked out of here with a bad taste in my mouth,” he said. “I could feel the energy when I walked in here (this year). I was confident in myself. I was confident in the training I’ve been doing and how I’ve been wrestling. I knew when I came in here, that if I attack, I’m the best guy in the country. If I score points, no one is going to stop me.”

And no one did.

Kenny’s win was a high point for the New Jersey 16U Freestyle Team, which placed seven wrestlers in the tournament and finished seventh overall, well off the pace of champion Pennsylvania, with 267.

New Jersey’s Junior Freestyle Team placed five wrestlers, finishing 12th in the team scoring, with 58 points. Pennsylvania was the team champion with 221 points

Two other Team New Jersey wrestlers reached the finals in Fargo on Wednesday but had to settle for silver as Delbarton’s Cameron Sontz at 120 in Junior Freestyle and Tommy Marchetti at 126 in 16U Freestyle both lost their finals matches.

Sontz fell in the final to California’s Rocklin Zinkin, an Oklahoma State commit, by tech fall 11-0, 1:43. Marchetti was beaten in his final 7-0 by Minnesota’s Miklo Hernandez.

Marchetti had advanced out of the quarterfinals to start the day with a wild 11-8 win over Colorado’s Parker Wickam. Leading 6-3 with just 30 seconds remaining, Marchetti got caught in a headlock for four points. That set off a blur of scoring activity until the final buzzer as Marchetti fought off his back, got back points of his own, went back down and ultimately got a reversal. It took a few minutes to sort it all out after the final buzzer but Marchetti wound up advancing to the semis.

Once there, he had a more conventional 6-3 win over Pennsylvania’s Jordan Manyette. Marchetti got a takedown and back points to take a 4-2 lead after one period and added a second period takedown to complete the win and advance to the final.

Sontz began his day with an 11-2 win in the quarterfinals over Minnesota’s Titan Friedrichs but had his hands full in the semifinals against Pennsylvania’s Brock Rothermel.

Against Rothermel, Sontz got put on the clock in the first period as Rothermel took a 1-0 lead after one period on a passivity point. Sontz would get a passivity point of his own to tie the match in the second period 1-1.

Although he was already ahead on criteria, Sontz advanced to the finals when Rothermel was hit for a second passivity point with 50 second remaining, giving Sontz a 2-1 win.

In addition to Sontz’s second place finish, four other members of the Junior Freestyle Team were able to medal and achieve All-American status.

The team made a particularly strong showing at 126 where two members placed. Christian Brothers Academy’s Paul Kenny, who won a New Jersey state championship in March, became the highest finishing non finalist when he pinned Mikey Ruiz of Texas in 1:43 in the consolation final.

The other New Jersey place winner at 126 was Blair’s Vincent Anello, who finished fifth when he defeated Wisconsin’s Brady Collins 8-0 in his medal match. Collins, like Anello, had reached the semifinals of the championship round.

Kenny, who was knocked out in the quarterfinal round, clashed with teammate Anello in the consolation semifinals. Kenny had reached his match with Anello by scoring two wins in wrestle backs on Wednesday morning, pinning Ignacio Villasenor of Oklahoma and defeating Utah’s Lander Bosh 7-5.

Another CBA wrestler, Bobby Duffy, also placed, finishing sixth at 144. Duffy had made it all the way to the semifinals after scoring a 6-4 quarterfinal win over Colorado’s Derek Barrows, But he was knocked into the wrestle backs a round later by Indiana’s Clinton Shepherd.

Holmdel’s Alex Reyes also placed sixth, at 190. Reyes had moved into the semifinals in the morning session when he won his quarterfinal match 10-6 over Trey Craig of Missouri. But Reyes’ impressive run through the tournament came to an end in the semis when he lost 2-1 to Kentucky’s Lucas Ricketts. Neither wrestler could score a takedown in the match as Ricketts’ points came on a step out and passivity.

In addition to Sean Kenny and Marchetti’s respective gold and silver finishes, five other 16U freestylers were able to medal at Fargo.

Steve Bagocius of Swedesboro was the highest placer among the non finalists on the 16U team, as he finished fourth at 94 pounds. Bagocius impressed throughout the tournament, but was knocked out in the quarterfinals on an 8-8 criteria decision by top seed Carter Smith of Ohio.

He won three straight wrestle back rounds to reach the consolation final, defeating Arizona’s Jack Thrush 6-2, Maryland’s Damien DuChez by tech fall and Delaware’s Cody Bakhsh, also by tech. He was defeated in the third place match by Iowa’s Knox Avala 8-5.

Bergen Catholic’s Gideon Gonzalez was a fifth place finisher at 144 in the 16U Division, defeating Calvin Rathjen of Iowa in the medal match by pin in 3:25.

Earlier in the day, Gonzalez had reached the semifinals with a 10-3 quarterfinal win over Oklahoma’s James Anderson. But Gonzalez lost that semi to Indiana’s Peyton Hornsby 14-12.

Two other 16U freestylers finished sixth as CBA’s Shiloh Joyce at 100 and Delbarton’s Nick Schwartz at 157 both medaled.

Joyce had reached the semifinals by a disqualification win over Missouri’s Wyatt Dennepper in the quarterfinals before losing to top seeded Kooper Deputy of Pennsylvania by tech fall.

Schwartz was knocked out of the championship bracket in the Round of 16 but won four straight bouts in wrestle backs to earn a place.

The four bout comeback by Schwartz included two pins and a pair of technical falls. He began the run with tech falls over California’s David Daniels and Connecticut’s Antonio Arguello. He then registered back to back pins against Emerson Tiaden of Kansas and Colten Jones of Virginia.

Jack Cole of Lebanon placed eighth at 126 pounds, one of two place winners for Team New Jersey at that weight in 16U. Cole had dropped into the consolation bracket in an agonizing 11-10 loss to Pennsylvania’s Jordan Manyette after staging a dramatic, six point comeback in the final 30 seconds to tie the match at 10-10.

Cole guaranteed his place when he won his first consolation match by tech fall over California’s Julian Holquin.

There are always a number of compelling stories at Fargo that can’t be seen from the medalists’ podium. Even though he didn’t wind up placing in the tournament, St. Peter’s Prep’s Gino Schinina turned in one of the most stellar efforts for Team New Jersey in the tournament. but it went largely unseen in the wrestle back rounds.

The long trail to medaling through the consolation rounds is recognized as a meat grinder of a run, but Schinina plowed his way through it for two days as he fought the odds.

Schinina had won his opening round match by tech over Missouri’s Luke Steffens but lost in the Round of 128, dropping into the wrestle backs.

After receiving a bye in the first consolation round, Schinina went on a five match odyssey, eliminating five wrestlers in turn. He won all five matches by technical fall over Asa Reis of Vermont, Hudson Beckley of Oklahoma, Matthew Almedina of Pennsylvania, Collier Hartman of Pennsylvania, and Team New Jersey teammate Sammy Spaulding, who had reached the Round of 16 in the championship bracket.

But Schinina’s comeback run stalled out just two matches shy of a medal, as he lost on Tuesday to Ohio’s Blake Barlos, eliminating him from the tournament.