The Tiger senior beat Parkland state qualifier Andrew Mastrangelo at the Easton Lions Classic.
Joe Renne walks away from scholastic wrestling with a smile.
“I’m not a selfish wrestler,” the Hackettstown senior 126-pounder said. “I had an awesome time for four years with my teammates and my coaches. They sure gave me some good memories to look back on.”
Renne added one more good memory Tuesday night at the 36th annual Easton Lions Classic all-star event at Easton’s 25th St Gym.
Renne posted an impressive 4-1 defeat at 130 pounds of Parkland’s Class AAA state qualifier Andrew Mastrangelo, a nice consolation prize for Renne, the Tigers’ all-time win leader at 123, for missing out on NJSIAA states.
“I knew I had a tough weight class at regionals,” Renne said. “I really enjoyed my high school wrestling and this was one more chance to compete. I knew I was getting a really tough kid and my coaches just told me to go out and have fun. I wanted to wrestle tonight, for one last time.”
Renne was at his best Tuesday – efficient, strong, solid on his feet and infuriating to score on. Given that he’d been off for over two weeks and Mastrangelo had just wrestled this weekend, Renne’s conditioning and freshness were no issue whatsoever.
“I’d been in our room before states to help Alex Carida prepare for states,” Renne said. “But Pennsylvania had one more week than us.”
Renne had many special moments at Hackettstown, such as breaking the all-time wins record, but he said his top moment may have come in January when he defeated Joe Sacco of South Plainfield 3-1 in a dual for his 100th win.
Special moments were and far between on the New Jersey side of the Lions Classic. Renne was the only Hunterdon/Warren wrestler to win as Phillipsburg and Delaware Valley had a tough night, going 0-for-6 combined.
The Terriers’ Kyle Refalvy was pinned in the first period by the wrestler who won the Outstanding Wrestler award, Parkland’s Jacob Lizak.
Brad Wilson may be reached at bwilson@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @bradwsports. Find Lehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook.