Robbinsville High School wrestler Andrew Reca launches Bound Brook’s Dominck Vatalare during their Feb. 12 match at Robbinsville High School. Two weeks later, RHS hosted the state regional meet in the same gymnasium. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)

For a young high school, Robbinsville High School has achieved plenty. The girls’ soccer team won its second Group I state championship this year, and the boys’ cross country team won its first state title in the fall. And now Robbinsville High School received the opportunity to host the state regional wrestling tournament.

Robbinsville High School is the first school in the history of Mercer County to host the state regional wrestling tournament, the second-most important wrestling event in the state of New Jersey next to the state finals in Atlantic City. The meet was scheduled to take place during the last week of February and go into the weekend.

To host the regional tournament, the school had to have successfully hosted wrestling tournaments in the past. Robbinsville High School has hosted the Mercer County middle school wrestling championships and Robbinsville Wrestling Association duals tournament.

The school must have the gym capacity and locker room space required to accommodate 1,000 wrestlers, coaches and fans. Available parking near the school is essential as well. It helps to have a good relationship with the NJSIAA, which RHS Athletic Director Curtis Wyers said Robbinsville does. The NJSIAA headquarters are located in Robbinsville on Route 130.

Wyers and wrestling head coach Rich Gildner hosted several meetings to figure out what needed to be done and assign people to those jobs. They started meeting in late August and continued to do so until the tournament.

Robbinsville officials decided they would utilize the school’s commons area to ensure they could accommodate everyone in attendance. The school rented three large projector screens that were hung from the ceilings so parents and spectators could still watch the wrestling matches while in the commons. Wyers hoped this would free up some space in the gym.

“Getting ready for the State Regional Tournament took countless hours of hard work but it was all worth it,” Wyers said.

The tournament was scheduled to start Feb. 23 with 12 wrestlers in each weight class. The qualifying wrestlers finished in the top three in their district finals. On the tournament’s first day, only the wrestlers who finished 2nd and 3rd in districts would wrestle. The four winning wrestlers were to wrestle the four district winners on Feb. 26.

The top four wrestlers would then move on to Feb. 27’s semifinal round. Wrestlers who finished in the top three of their brackets on Saturday qualified for the state finals in Atlantic City. This makes the consolation match important. The winner of this match heads to Atlantic City with both of the regional finalists.

Both Wyers and Gildner hoped Robbinsville High would be able to host the tournament again next year.

Wyers saw hosting the state regional wrestling tournament as a great opportunity to bring some positive publicity to the town of Robbinsville.

“Hosting a sporting event of this size was great for the wrestling program and even better for the community,” Wyers said.