Pope John wins district championship

Led by nine finalists and seven individual champions, Pope John XXIII Regional High School, ranked 10th in the state, won the NJSIAA District 12 championship Saturday afternoon, Feb. 22 in Morristown.

The Lions are sending 10 wrestlers to the Region 3 tournament Feb. 28-March 1 in West Orange.

Winning titles for Pope John were Jake Holly (113 pounds), Dalton Weber (132), Carson Walsh (138), Donny Almeyda (144), Lukas Katsigiannis (150), Brayden Lombreglia (157) and Cole Dunham (165).

David Thomson (175 pounds) and Shawn Baumann (215) each placed second in their respective weight classes.

The top four place-winners in each weight class in each of the region tournaments will advance to the NJSIAA state tournament March 6-8 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.

Here’s how other Pope John and Sparta teams have fared recently:

Sparta wrestling

Ryan Hrenenko (132 pounds), Sean Brown (144) and Luke Brown (190) each won individual championships to pace Sparta to a second-place team finish at the NJSIAA District 3 tournament Feb. 22 at Kittatinny.

Other place-winners for Sparta included Logan Hrenenko (second at 138 pounds), Liam Hassloch (second at 215), Patrick Bruseo (third at 120), Francesco Digioia (fourth at 106), Garrett VanHouten (fourth at 157) and Trevor Ekeland (fourth at 165).

Bergen Catholic won the nine-team event with 266.5 points. Sparta totaled 153.5 points to finish second.

All top three place-winners advance to the NJSIAA Region 1 tournament Feb. 28-March 1 in West Milford.

Pope John boys basketball

The 13th-seeded Lions will play at fourth-seeded Seton Hall Prep in the first round of the NJSIAA Non-Public A Tournament at 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28.

Pope John (4-19) has been led this season by Justin Lilley (11.5 points per game) and Anthony Schnabel (10.2 ppg).

Girls basketball

Sparta, which has won a season-high nine games, is seeded sixth for the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) North Jersey, Section 1, Group 3 tournament. It is scheduled to play host to 11th-seeded Northern Highlands in a first-round game at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 26. Pope John, 9-2 in its past 11 games, is seeded second for the North Jersey, Non-Public A tournament and received a bye into the quarterfinal round, when it will play seventh-seeded Oak Knoll or 10th-seeded Newark Academy on Monday, March 3.