NETCONG ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
26 College Road, Netcong, NJ 07857
Contact: Dr. Gina Cinotti, Chief School Administrator
Email: [email protected]
Work: 973-347-0020, x211
Netcong, NJ -
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 26, 2016
Netcong School’s Top Youth Wrestler
Eleven year old T.J. Morton, a sixth grader at Netcong Elementary School, is one of the top youth wrestlers in
the region. T.J. started wrestling four years ago; before that he played football and baseball. “He gave up
football and baseball to concentrate on wrestling,” says Mr. Todd Morton, his father. “TJ knew that to compete
on a national level he would have to give up football and baseball,” says Mr. Morton. TJ’s parents noticed their
son’s interest in the sport a few years back when he would wrestle on the playground with his peers. “We said
you couldn’t do that” on the playground, “so we took him where he could.” A major time and energy
commitment turned TJ into a champion. Some of his wining statistics are as follows:

2014 NJ Kids State Wrestling Champion for the Novice 50 pound, age nine and ten year old bracket,
in Trenton, NJ.

2014 Eastern National Champion for the Novice 50 pound, age eight and nine year old bracket, in
Salisbury, Maryland. This tournament was a culmination of a regional and district qualifier
competing against kids from Massachusetts to Virginia.

2014 All American Status after earning a Silver Medal with a 9-1 overall record at the Virginia
Holiday Duals Tournament. This tournament is a National Team tournament where TJ wrestled for
the Scorpions National Team competing against the country’s best wrestlers.

2015 All American Status after earning a Bronze Medal an 8-2 overall record at the Wildwood
National Duals Tournament. This tournament is a National Team Tournament where TJ wrestled for
the Scorpions National Team competing against the country’s best wrestlers.

2015 USANJ Wrestling Finalist for the Novice 55 pound, age nine and ten year old bracket, in
Trenton, NJ. TJ finished in second place losing 3-0 in the finals.

2015 Eastern National Finalist for the Junior 58 pound, age ten and eleven year old bracket, in
Salisbury, Maryland. This tournament was a culmination of a regional and district qualifier
competing against kids from Massachusetts to Virginia.

2015 All American Status after finishing 10-0 at the NHSCA National Duals in Virginia Beach,
Virginia. This tournament is a National Team Tournament where TJ wrestled for the Scorpions
National Team competing again the country’s best wrestlers.

2015 Grand River Rumble Copper Medalist after finishing with a 8-3 record in Kalamazoo,
Michigan.

2016 North New Jersey Youth Wrestling Silver League Champion, 65 pound weight class with
Lenape Valley Jr. Wrestling

2016 USANJ Qualifier Champion Junior 60 Pound Bracket, age eleven and twelve in North
Hunterdon, NJ. This qualifier advances T.J. to the USANJ Kids State Tournament on March 12 in
Trenton, NJ
His dad says, “It’s all hard work. He puts in a lot of effort in practice. It’s not a natural talent; he has to work.
He puts a lot of time into it.” Wrestling for the past four years, TJ currently wrestles for two teams: the NJ
Scorpions Wrestling School in Fairfield, year round; and Lenape Valley Wrestling during the season.
“We couldn’t be more proud,” says Morton, of his son’s success so far in wrestling. “We know his hard work
over the years has paid off. TJ practices four times weekly with tournaments every weekend. T.J. has also
become very interested in helping out the younger kids wrestling for both Lenape Valley and Scorpions. “You
can often find TJ working with the little guys teaching them some different moves.” To top that, TJ is in gifted
and talented classes receiving honors or high honors every marking period.
“You have to work hard to be good,” says TJ. “I go to all the practices; I go to all the tournaments.”
TJ’s next short term goal is to be a two time state champion on March 12th when wrestling in the USANJ State
Finals at the Sun Bank Arena in Trenton, NJ.
If you would like more information on this topic, or to schedule an interview with Dr. Cinotti, please call Mrs. Liz Juliano at 973-3470020, x220 or email at [email protected].