For the first time in its history, the SAR Sting won the Yeshiva University Wittenberg Wrestling Invitational Tournament. Approximately 200 yeshiva high school wrestlers participated in the event, which took place over President’s Day weekend. Returning 2014 champions TABC finished in second place and, for the first time in a decade, MTA finished in the top three, placing third.

Wrestling began on Friday morning, February 13th, on three separate mats at Y.U.’s Max Stern Athletic Center. Fifteen schools were represented from across the country. After several hours of non-stop matches, the wrestlers were transported to a hotel in New Jersey for their annual Wittenberg Shabbaton. Friday night’s featured inspirational speaker was five-time track and field Paralympian Marlon Shirley, speaking about perseverance in the face of adversity.

The tournament continued all day Sunday, with many matches in the 14 different weight classes, from 106 lbs. through 285 lbs. While each individual wrestler proceeded to advance in the brackets, winners also gained overall points for their teams. So, in addition to having 14 individual champions by Monday afternoon, the school team with the highest overall score was deemed the winner as well.

Championship Monday began with the 5th/6th place matches followed by the 3rd/4th place matches. At noon, after opening remarks by YU Vice President for University and Community Life Rabbi Kenneth Brander, the packed crowd at the Athletic Center was treated to an exciting display of high-level wrestling, as each of the 14 championship matches took place on a lone center mat. Monday’s matches were lives treamed, with commentators, on macslive.com. (The championships are now uploaded to youtube, as well.)

RESULTS:

The SAR Sting had a dominating position on the final day of wrestling, with 10 wrestlers taking part in the final matches, seven in the championships themselves. The team’s overall score for the tournament was 262.50 points. Team captain Jeremy Berger (120lbs.) finished in first place for the second straight year. Having finished in second place as a freshman, Jeremy now earns entrance into the Wittenberg Hall of Fame. Also entering the Hall is senior Xander Haberman, who finished first in the 220lbs. weight class for the second year in a row as well, by pinning his TABC opponent in 14 seconds, one of the shortest matches of the entire tournament. Freshman Max Berger (113lbs.) and junior Cfir Feinberg (132lbs.) also won first place trophies. Second place trophies went to captain Jonathan “Psycho J” Wiener, Kenny “Bear” Burstein, and Danny Alexander, third place to Liav Garbuz and Aidan Smolar, and fourth place to Leo Weiner.

The TABC Storm finished in second place with a total of 247.00 points with 14 wrestlers participating in Championship Monday matches, 13 of whom placed in these final matches. Of the five wrestlers in the championships themselves, two won their matches: Captain David Mendelovitz (152lbs.) and Netanel Arussy (285lbs.).

The team’s other captain, senior Robert Elsas, who had gained a podium position in the last three years’ tournaments, was unfortunately unable to participate due to a torn ACL suffered earlier in the season.

The MTA Lions returned to the winner’s circle for the first time in many years by earning 180.50 points as a team and coming in third. The team placed 10 wrestlers in the finals; four were in championship matches. Captains Naftali Horowitz (138lbs.) and Michael Amuev (145lbs.) both won first place medals. At the closing ceremonies, Horowitz was also given the Jack Merkin Most Outstanding Wrestler Award, as chosen by the coaches of the 15 participating teams, and Amuev was presented with the Dominator Award, signifying that he had the most pins in the least amount of time wrestling throughout the tournament.

The other championship matches were won by wrestlers from other high schools: Shlomo Warren (106lbs.) Maimonides School, Boston; Joey Frank (126lbs.) Fuchs Mizrachi, Cleveland; David Haskell (160lbs.) DRS Yeshiva, Long Beach; Ariel Froimchuk, Frisch School, Paramus; Menashe Shershow (182lbs.) Kushner Academy, Livingston; Jacob Zwelling (195lbs.) Ida Crown Jewish Academy, Chicago. Full results and brackets are posted at YeshivaWrestling.com.

Last year’s Most Outstanding Wrestler, Coby Kestler (138lbs.) earned second place this year, with his loss to MTA’s Horowitz. However, combined with his two previous first place wins in 2013 and 2014, the Kushner senior will also enter the Wittenberg Hall of Fame this year.

Also, of note, at the tournament was the addition of a newly formed wrestling team from Westchester Hebrew High School. The team of five wrestlers demonstrated great skill in its inaugural season, with multiple wins, including one placement in the semi-final rounds.

The tournament is named for Olympic medalist Henry Wittenberg, who founded and coached YU’s wrestling team beginning in 1955. Wittenberg passed away in 2010 at the age of 91.

Jeremy Berger is an SAR High School Junior, a 2015 & 2014 Wittenberg Champion, and a captain of the SAR Sting Wrestling Team.

By Jeremy Berger