Howell’s Mays completes perfect 2021 season; wins 160-pound state title ×
Howell High School junior wrestler Hunter Mays celebrates winning the 160-pound state championship with his parents on April 25 at Phillipsburg High School. PHOTO COURTESY OF JOHN GAGLIANO
HOWELL – The 2021 wrestling season was a banner first year on the mat with the Howell High School wrestling team for Hunter Mays.
Mays, a junior 160-pounder, went 16-0 and became Howell’s fourth state champion on April 25 with a 6-5 victory over Kingsway’s Dakota Morris. The state tournament was held at Phillipsburg High School.
“It feels awesome,” Mays said about winning a state crown. “It feels great. All my hard work paid off.”
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HOWELL – John Gagliano, who fashioned an outstanding career as a wrestler at Howell High School before returning to his alma mater to coach the Rebels, notched the 500th dual meet victory of his coaching career late in the 2021 campaign.
When the Rebels defeated Piscataway, 69-9, in Piscataway on April 6, Gagliano’s coaching record moved to 500-79 over his 24-year coaching career at Howell.
Gagliano’s teams have won two NJSIAA Group V team championships (2017 and 2018), four state sectional titles, seven district team championships and 18 Shore Conference A North Division titles.
Gagliano was named the National Wrestling Coaches Association New Jersey Coach of the Year for the 2016-17 season.
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From the time he took over as the head coach at his alma mater, Howell has reached unprecedented heights and become one of New Jersey’s best wrestling programs. Now, John Gagliano has reached a milestone no other area coach has achieved.
With the Rebels’ 69-9 victory over Piscataway on Tuesday, Gagliano became the first wrestling coach in Shore Conference history to reach 500 career wins. In 24 seasons leading Howell, Gagliano has a career record of 500-79.
Gagliano was a district and region champion for Howell during the mid-1980s when Howell was a good program but nowhere near the juggernaut it is today. Before Gagliano took over as the head coach, Howell had won six division titles and six district titles while having 60 wrestlers win district titles, 16 claim region championships and 12 wrestlers take home state medals - including 1965 state champion Carlos Fontanez - between 1965 and 1997.
Howell High School wrestlers primed for postseason action
Howell High School wrestlers primed for postseason action ×
Howell High School 126-pounder Nieko Malone celebrates picking up his 100th career victory during a match against Long Branch High School on March 16 in Howell. PHOTO COURTESY OF HOWELL HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT
A three-month wait to start the 2021 season may have been tough, but Howell High School wrestling coach John Gagliano knew administrators at the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association made the right decision to wait until March to allow wrestlers to hit the mats in the face of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
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