Winning Saturday’s Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex Tournament was nothing more than a stepping stone to Atlantic City for wrestlers like Pope John’s Carson Walsh and Kittatinny’s Ethan Dalling.

Not so for High Point’s Gavin Mericle and Pope John’s Cole Dunham.

Boardwalk Hall is not a given for those two, so they are spending the early stages of the 2024-25 campaign building their case.

And so far, they are staking their claim.

At the H-W-S, they showed that they are worthy of AC.

Both came away with convincing victories in their respective weight classes in the tournament, held at Phillipsburg. 

Both were mighty impressive in doing so. 

Mericle (285), the No. 1 seed, majored Phillipsburg’s Ben Ellis in the finals at heavyweight, 10-0. He also recorded first-period pins over Hackettstown’s Samir Mrad (:48) in the quarters and Hunterdon Central’s Declan Joyce (1:20) in the semifinals.

“I got there early and prepared myself mentally,” Mercile said. “I didn’t go out with too much confidence. I just got the job done and went home. I was pretty locked in.”

The 250-pound Mericle feared the size of Delaware Valley’s second-seeded Luken Alberdi but that became a moot point because Alberdi was stuck in the first period by Ellis, who finished off Alberdi in 41 seconds.

“The Del Val kid was pretty big,” Mercile said.

Mericle, a junior, wrestles for High Point but attends Sussex Tech because he wants to become a welder. Since Sussex Tech doesn’t offer wrestling, Mericle is permitted to wrestle for his sending district. No wonder former High Point coach John Gardner and Gavin’s older brother Mason persuaded Gavin to hit the mats. 

Gavin Mericle had wrested until sixth grade and then took some time off before returning. He has shown that he is more than capable, having finished fifth at HWS, fourth at District 4 runnerup and sixth at Region 1. 

He stepped up his game this year thanks to a rigorous offseason weight training program for football at Sussex Tech, where he played fullback and middle linebacker. 

Mericle has also improved on his feet. The newfound arsenal has helped him pile up the points on the way to a 14-1 record. 

“Last year I’d win a lot of 1-0 victories and win some close matches by riding people out,” he said. “In the offseason, I worked out a lot. We had a lot of lifting for football. Working out and conditioning for football translates over to wrestling.”

It was Mericles’ first major tournament victory – perhaps the first of many. He is already one to target at District 4 and Region 1 and is a strong possibility to qualify for Atlantic City.

Winning his weight class at HWS proved that.

“It felt great coming off the mat (after beating Ellis),” he said. “Everyone was congratulating me. I was happy with my performance. My goal is to help the team as much as possible in duals. My personal goal is to make AC this year, but I’m gonna let that determine itself.”

Dunham has shown marked improvement since last year. He turned a lot of heads at the HWS when he took out the top seed (Delaware Valley’s Olivier Paul by technical fall, 21-6, 3:39) in the semis and then the No. 2 seed (North Hunterdon’s Josh Joubert by teck fall, 20-4, 5:46).

Dunham, a Roxbury resident, won two matches at the Beast of the East last year and won three more regular-season matches before tearing his meniscus to end his season. 

It was about that time that he decided that he wanted to pour himself into wrestling. He spent his offseason working with former High Point state champion Nick Francavilla of Iron Horse in Newton. 

“The mindset was just to get better,” Dunham said. “I started working really hard and setting goals. I was doing all right but not winning matches against any of the big guys.”

Turns out, Dunham was close to being a top-level wrestler who just needed to fine-tune what he had.

“Nick and I really just worked on technique, reviewed my previous matches and critiqued everything little by little,” Dunham said. “It was all just the little things.”

Dunham also hit the weights. He weighed around 138 last year and built himself up to 175 pounds. 

“I added a lot of strength, which is a big thing,” he said.

In addition, he talked a lot in the offseason with Pope John assistant coach JoJo Aragona, a former Lions standout.

“That motivated me,” he said. “I didn’t have the season I wanted last year but he really helped me.”

Dunham knew he was headed for an improved season when he went 9-1 at the Columbus Day Duals, held in Pennsylvania in mid-October. He doesn’t know if he beat any standout opponents, but going 9-1 is still 9-1.

And now, after winning the HWS, he has made it clear that he is a contender for reaching AC. He also finished 6-3 at the Beast of the East and was one match away from placing. 

Pope John will compete at District 12 and in Region 3.

“I set some goals,” he said. “I wanted to place at the Beast of the East, but I lost in the blood round, one round away. Another goal is to qualify at the states and place. I’m definitely close. There is a lot I need to work on, so I need to keep training and getting better by the end of the year.”

Walsh and Dalling, meanwhile, didn’t disappoint at HWS.

Walsh (138) won his fourth straight HWS when he stuck Sparta’s talented Logan Hrenenko in 3:57. He also tecked North Warren’s Coles Castles, 19-4 (1:40) and tecked Hackettstown’s Adrian Pinto, 19-2 (1:13).

Dalling tecked North Hunterdon standout Evan Kinney, 20-2 (2:55) to win at 175. Dalling pinned Belvidere’s Cinderella story Pedro Dos Santos in 1:01. Dos Santos shocked P-Burg’s No. 2 seed Derek Stone in 3:56 in the quarters. It was Dalling’s first HWS title after placing second twice.

P-Burg won the overall title with 223 points, followed by Pope John (177), North Hunterdon (157), Del Val (140), Warren Hills (132½).

High Point and Sparta tied for sixth in the team standings with 109 points apiece.