WOOD-RIDGE — One of the first things that Thomas Kroncke did after being named as the new Wood-Ridge head wrestling coach was to move the practices from the high school to the intermediate school.
Kroncke was named the new Blue Devils wrestling coach in October and wanted to start build a program to connect the Wood-Ridge Rec wrestling program with the high school. The Rec wrestlers work at the intermediate school.
His goal is to keep the same philosophy between the Rec and the high school program with the ultimate goal of keeping the wrestlers in the borough.
“A lot of the wrestlers have left over the years,” said Kroncke.
The new Blue Devils wrestling coach decided to apply for the position after it had opened up. Kroncke had been an assistant football coach for Wood-Ridge the last two seasons and had recently been Paramus Catholic’s head wrestling coach for four years.
This is only the second year for Wood-Ridge wrestling going solo in its recent incarnation. The Blue Devils had their own wrestling program for several years before becoming a co-op with Hasbrouck Heights in 2001.
Kroncke takes over for Evan Dolan who was head coach for one season.
And with his connections with football, he has brought some of them into the wrestling program, nine of the dozen varsity wrestlers played on the gridiron.
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