Dance parties and wrestling: St. Thomas Aquinas girls team having fun, success

Conditioning and cutting weight aren’t always, well, fun.

Hey, did somebody say dance party?

Who doesn’t like busting a move, and the St. Thomas Aquinas girls wrestling team found it’s also an ideal way to stay in shape. So, after practice, they’ll often put on the Just Dance app or Cotton Eye Joe and sway away.

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“We just like to have some fun,” junior Saniyah Queen said. “Definitely this year we’re having a lot more fun. We all love the sport. We take it serious, but we try to have some fun, too. Make it easy for the new girls.”

Junior teammate Makayla Decker added, “The dance parties are our favorite … and honestly, I feel like since we’re doing that we just are coming together better as a team.”

Chemistry, talent and work ethic – that’s an optimal combination for a sports squad, and St. Thomas Aquinas is again looking as one of the favorites heading into Monday’s Greater Middlesex Conference girls wrestling tournament.

The host Trojans won last year’s first official GMCT team title by 40 points over second-place Perth Amboy. However, other GMC teams are closing the gap. East Brunswick, North Brunswick Old Bridge, and Perth Amboy, again, can challenge with star power and depth.

The team race may very well be decided in the consolation rounds or in the championship bouts.

“Everybody’s got to go out there and perform the best that they can and do the most work that they can for the rest of their teammates,” STA coach Bob Murphy. “There’s five girl teams now in Middlesex County who could easily walk away as the number one team. I mean, we’d like to continue that tradition. It’s been us for a bunch of years. We don’t want that to go away, but it will be a little tough.”

He added, “And that’s good. That’s how we want girls wrestling to be, especially in Central Jersey. Let’s build the toughest girl wrestling county in the state and that’s what our goal is.”

St. Thomas Aquinas will enter a mainly young team after graduating a handful of starters, including state champion Apryl Coffman.

They include eight freshmen starters and several first-year wrestlers. One benefit is STA doesn’t have separate girls and boys staffs with longtime boys head coach Nick Tonzola, Murphy, Vincent Gioffre, Christina Raspa, Gabriel Roman and Alex Bianchini all giving pointers.

“Every coach is invested in making the girls team better,” Murphy said. “They work hard every single day. Their toughness is what gets me. ... They just always impress me from day one. You could just see their work ethic, their desire to do well, their love of the sport. It’s a lot of fun to see.”

The co-captains Queen and Decker are making sure to keep the youngsters upbeat.

“That’s me and Saniyah’s main thing was to make sure that if anyone was uncomfortable or self-conscious that they weren’t anymore,” Decker said. “We think that we did such a good job so far and we really hope to keep it up. I’m really proud of how our team is working so hard this year.”

Queen said with a laugh they “correct them every single time that they do something wrong.”

“They’re doing pretty good in practice,” she said. “They’re very attentive to what we’re doing. Conditioning-wise they’re pretty good. So I’m really proud of them.”

Take junior Madison Brew, a first-year wrestler who bumped up to 114 in Wednesday’s dual meet against North Brunswick. She found herself in the final match with her team leading 36-30.

The Raiders’ Yulissa Jimenez had her in danger, but Brew fought off her back and refused to get turned at times, even scoring late points in a 7-2 loss that sealed the 36-33 team win. The bench acted like she just won a state title.

“She could have easily gone to her back, said I’m tired and ended it, but she knew she just had to survive and she would win this match for her team,” Murphy said. “It wasn’t about actually winning. Although you could see she tried like heck.”

Other wrestlers encapsulate that spirit. Isabella Bonilla is having a breakout sophomore campaign and placed sixth (107) at last Sunday’s Elizabeth Minuteman Classic. Freshmen Megyn Kerstetter and Kayleigh Howarth, who each has a brother on the Trojans boys team, earned multiple wins, as did classmate Aniyah Garcia.

Decker (152) and Queen (145) are both returning GMCT champions and Alessandra Socio (165) and Mariana DeLaHoz (132 last season, has been out, but Murphy said they hope she’ll return Monday) both finished third last season.

Queen seems primed for another big year after winning a region title and placing second in the state for her second state medal (fifth as a freshman).

Last season, she had 16 pins mostly in the first or early second period. In Wednesday’s dual, she worked a methodical 6-2 lead before getting the fall in 2:45.

“Now, it’s all about scoring,” she said. “(Gabriel) Roman wants me to score a lot more this year and then get the pin. No more just pins. So we’re not trying to break my records last year. First period’s all about taking down, letting up and then after that, second period we can get the pin.”

That measured approach – along with all the dance parties – give the Trojans a boost heading into the GMCT and stretch run.

“It’s about having fun,” Decker said. “It’s about working hard. It’s about not giving up. It’s about everything. We give our all.”

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ wrestling: St. Thomas Aquinas girls team ready for GMCT