Spartans finish 7th in wrestling

Senior Connor White captured the 215-pound championship in leading Sparta to a seventh-place team finish at the 14th annual Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 13 at Phillipsburg High School.

Sparta finished the 18-team race with 100 points, while Hunterdon Central, ranked No. 17 in the state, won the team title with 225 points. No. 6 Phillipsburg (220 points) and No. 12 Delaware Valley (181.5) were in second and third place, respectively.

Phillipsburg was seeking its third straight team title and ninth in the history of the tri-county event.

White pinned Kittatinny’s Tucker Lockburner in 3:52 to win the 215-pound weight class.

Other Sparta place-winners included Peter Donnelly (fifth place at 113 pounds), Ryan Hrenenko (third at 126), Logan Hrenenko (third at 138), Anthony Petrock (fourth at 150), Lukas Brown (sixth at 190) and Tahg Herbison (sixth at 285).

Sparta (5-1) is scheduled to wrestle against Kittatinny (11-1) at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 19.

Here’s how other Sparta sports teams fared last week:

Boys basketball

Leshem Little (17 points), Chrystian Grubbs (16 points) and Tyler Conlee (14 points) paced Sparta to a 65-57 victory over Jefferson on Jan. 13 in Oak Ridge.

The Spartans also recorded a 62-55 overtime decision at Randolph on Thursday, Jan. 11 behind 23 points from Little and 20 points from Grubbs.

Grubbs (13.8 points per game) and Little (13.2 ppg) continue to lead Sparta in scoring.

Sparta (5-5) will play at West Morris at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18 in Chester.

Girls basketball

Sparta came up just short against Cresskill on Sunday afternoon, Jan. 14, falling, 41-38, as part of the Zach Latteri Foundation Benefit Games at Pascack Valley.

The Spartans were paced by Molly Chapman (14 points), Abby Connors (13 points) and Malaya Dobbs (seven points).

Sparta (3-8) is scheduled to play host to Pope John at 7 p.m. Jan. 18 before hosting Westfield at 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 20.

Bowling

Khalil Masri had a high series of 545, including a high game of 225, to lift Sparta to a 7-0 victory over Lenape Valley on Monday, Jan. 8 at Sparta Lanes.

Other catalysts for the Spartans included Evan Miller (487 series, 178 game), Joshua Lipton (222 series, 122 game), Matthew Trela (217 series, 126 game), Karen Maasbach (216 series, 110 game), John Ferrara (132 series), Nicholas Vasquez (122) and Josue Tituana (107).

Sparta (3-8) will roll against High Point at 4 p.m. Monday, Jan. 24 at Sparta Lanes.

Indoor track

Isabella Frattura finished second in the high jump with a leap of 4-10 to lead Sparta at the Wayne Valentine Invitational on Wednesday, Jan. 10 at Drew University in Madison.

Kayla Johnson was 11th in the 400-meter dash in 1:07.90, and Alexandra Radcliffe was 11th in the 1600-meter run in 6:02.45.

For the boys, Deagan Hopkins was the highest place winner, finishing 17th in the 1600-meter run in 5:03.94.