Mendham HS wrestlers in the midst of another promising season
MENDHAM, N.J. — The Mendham wrestling program, led by coach Steve Baig, is in the midst of another promising season. Led by one hundred-fifty pounder senior Will Schlegel and heavyweight Josh Hermann, the Minutemen are charging full bore towards the New Jersey State tournament that is being held in Atlantic City March 3rd-5th.
Coach Baig wrestled for two years at Springfield College before beginning his coaching career with Don Bergamini at Mahwah High School for one year and two years at Cresskill High School. After three years with Don, Steve was hired as an assistant wrestling coach and physical education teacher at Mendham by legendary basketball coach and athletic director Jim Baglin.
Three years later, Steve began a successful coaching career at Mendham, shepherding many wrestlers to impressive careers, most notably Ryan Harrington, who went 88-0 while winning back-to-back state titles in 2011 and 2012. In addition to having an outstanding record over the two years, Ryan dominated his opponents to the point of not being scored upon until the state final his senior year.
鈥淲e have a lot of talented wrestlers on this team,鈥� Coach Baig relayed. 鈥淪enior Will Schlegel has an excellent chance of making the state tournament. If not for matches that were canceled due to COVID, he would have one hundred career wins by now. Josh Herrmann, a heavyweight district champion, can make the regional final. Rafael Fonti had only three losses through the end of January, two of which came against ranked kids.鈥�
鈥淚n addition,鈥� Coach Baig continued, 鈥淚鈥檓 especially impressed with the guys who came out for wrestling for the first time as freshmen. They have really come up the curve and picked up the sport, having made significant contributions to this year鈥檚 team. It鈥檚 great to see them develop and be able to compete at the varsity level. We have eight kids who had never wrestled before high school.鈥�
In addition to being optimistic about the state of the program鈥搕he team is currently ranked tenth in Morris/Sussex鈥揅oach Baig is also excited about the future of Mendham wrestling. He is confident due to the strong pipeline that has been emanating from the local youth program. Beginning at five years old, the program fields teams at every level through eighth grade. Managed by Alex Connover, his brother Ben, John Wicklow, and Matt Kosozlowski, the program has been ranked sixth in the state. Run as a travel team, it is not directly affiliated with Mendham High School, its teams compete in the Future Stars League, North Jersey League, and the Tri County League.
On Saturday January 22nd against Hackettstown, Coach Baig won his 200th match. Currently ranked third in the North II Group III (the top eight advance to the state tournament), Mendham is having another excellent season. Combined with the aforementioned strong youth program, and valued assistants Brett Raimondo (a New Jersey state champion who wrestled for Mendham) and Jason Lebaglia, the Mendham wrestling program is poised to continue its history of success going forward.
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