Wrestled To The Top

It is an accomplishment perhaps perceived in the NCAA March Madness tournament, when a lower seeded team brings some of the best schools in the bracket to their knees. This feat is not common, however, and it is even more rare to witness an underdog achieve this kind of success in a high school wrestling tournament. Jake Maciejewski, a Delbarton sophomore, claimed the Morris County Championship at Mount Olive High School. Jake became the lowest seeded wrestler ever to win an MCT championship. He was ranked twelfth in the 285-pound weight class, and stunned many on his road to the championship mat.

When asked about his mind frame going in to the tournament, ranked as the twelfth seed, he replied, “I just tried to take it match by match, and tried not to lose.” This levelheaded approach to the daunting tournament matches may have been what led him to victory.  There were twenty-four teams in the MCT, and Jake noted some wrestling powerhouses, such as Pequannock, whom he defeated in the championship. Maciejewski acknowledged the MCT as one of the biggest tournaments of the year, and he reflected on his journey to this championship in, “Nothing really compares; it was really big.” Macijewski may have started as a low seed in the tournament, but he admirably finished at the top, and there he hopes to remain.