Stadtmueller Takes Sixth in the State

Kevin Stadtmueller saw a familiar face across the wrestling mat Sunday at the Wrestling State Championships.

The Absegami High School senior wrestled Clearview's Dan Garwood, who beat Stadtmueller in the Region 8 Tournament last weekend. This weekend, they competed in the fifth-place consolation match at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall.

Once again, the Clearview 215-pounder won a close match, this time finishing fifth with a 1-0 victory. Stadtmueller, who missed out on being on the podium last season by one win, finished in sixth-place.

"It's a close match all the time," Stadtmueller said. "He is a really tough kid. I was excited for it but I knew it was going to be really tough. It came down to a one-point match again."

Stadtmueller is accustomed to tough matches. The Braves senior wrestled three overtimes matches in the state tournament.

"He is just a grinder," Absegami coach Shawn Scannell said. "He is hard-nosed, he is in shape and he knows he can go the distance. That's what his game plan is to keep it close and hopefully pull it out in the end."

No match or result was tougher to deal with than Stadtmueller's semifinal match on Saturday. He was one takedown away from topping Cherokee's Mike Zeulli, for the chance to wrestle Bound Brook's Andrew Campolatta, the four-time state champion and the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler award winner.

Instead, Stadtmueller dropped three straight matches to finish sixth.

"I was kind of bummed that I was a second away from getting to the finals," Stadtmueller said. "I didn’t recover yesterday and it kind of went downhill."

"I can say from experience that it is such an emotional roller-coaster," Scannell said. "You're up so high for the semifinal bout and get a heartbreaker and an hour later you have to regroup, refocus and get a different game plan. I take my hat off to him and the rest of the guys that have to come back right away. It is tough. I'm proud of his effort."

Despite the losses and missing out in a chance to wrestle in the finals, Stadtmueller is pleased with his senior season. 

"I'm pretty satisfied with my season," he said. "I had a great season. I was 33-7, my best season so far. And I actually placed in states."