Pope John’s Dunham wins Region 4 title

Cole Dunham of Pope John is headed to Atlantic City in style.

The 175-pound senior earned a 6-5 tiebreak victory over top-seeded Anthony Verdi of St. Peter’s Prep in the final to lead the Pope John High wrestling team at the NJSIAA Region 4 Tournament as the two-day event concluded on Saturday afternoon at Union High in Union Township.

The Lions, ranked No. 13 in the state, are sending a total of five wrestlers to the final event of the 2025-’26 wrestling season - the NJSIAA state tournament at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City - on March 12-14.

Joining Dunham will be Luke Katsigiannis (second at 165 pounds), Nick Mignone (second at 215), Dalton Weber (third at 126) and Braydan Lombreglia (third at 157)

Katsigiannis was seeded second and reached the 165-pound final but bowed to top-seeded Josh Piparo of St. Peter’s Prep, 11-4.

Mignone, the top seed at 215 pounds, reached the final but was pinned by undefeated Paul Boyle of Scotch Plains-Fanwood in 1:31.

Weber, the top seed, rebounded from a 3-2 loss to eventual champion and fourth-seeded Christian Ramirez of St. Peter’s Prep in the 126-pound semifinal round to take third with a 1:14 pin over Nicholas Campanelli of St. Thomas Aquinas.

Weber, a senior, who was third in the state at 126 pounds in 2024, was seeking his third region title after winning at 113 pounds at Region 1 as a freshman and at 132 pounds at Region 3 last year.

Lombreglia was edged by Cranford’s Luke Scholz, 5-3, in the 157-pound semifinal round but ended up securing third place with a quick 21-second pin over Youssef Elgarhi of Bayonne.

Other place-winners for Pope John included Daniel Arroyo (fifth at 150 pounds) and David Thomson (sixth at 190).

Pope John finished third overall in the Region 4 team race with 124.5 points. St. Peter’s Prep won the 35-team event with 258 points and 10 finalists, including five champions

Sparta Wrestling

While the Spartans won’t be sending any wrestlers to Atlantic City, the Spartans did have two place-winners at Region 1 in West Milford.

Patrick Bruseo at 132 pounds and Ryan Hrenenko at 144 each placed sixth at their respective weight classes.