Wrestling Coaches

John Garriques enters his fourth season as a head coach of the Centenary College wrestling program, where the team has posted a 22-18-1 mark in his three seasons. Under his direction, the program has also sent a wrestler to the NCAA National Tournament in two of the past three seasons.

Last season was a banner year for the Cyclones, as they set a program record with 10 dual victories, as opposed to only six losses. In tournament action, the wrestlers placed on 13 occasions, including one championship and one runner up. Owen Vernon was named second alternate to the NCAA Tournament, as the team finished fourth out of nine in the Metropolitan Championships. Off the mat, the team finished with the 22nd-best GPA in Division III, and Jon Stillo earned Scholar All-American honors with the 23rd-best individual GPA in the nation.

Garriques came to Centenary by way of a very well known wrestling program at Phillipsburg High School, where he had been an assistant for three seasons under legendary coach Rick Thompson. At Phillipsburg, which happens to also be his alma mater, Garriques was directly involved with every aspect of the daily activities within the program. During his stint with the Stateliners, the team won three Skyland Conference Championships, one Group 4 Championship and had three individual state place winners.

Prior to his return to Phillipsburg, Garriques was an assistant for one year at Middlesex County College in Edison, N.J. While at Middlesex he coached five National Qualifiers, one All-American and coached the team to a fourth-place finish in the NJCAA National Tournament.

Garriques wrestled for Phillipsburg High School, where he was a three-time New Jersey State placewinner.  He also helped his team to receive recognition of being number one in the state, three years in a row. In 1997, his senior season, Garriques was a New Jersey State Finalist, taking second-place at the State Tournament. He was also named a High School All-American that same season, due to his second-place finish at the NHSCA National Tournament.

During his high school years, Phillipsburg won three Group 4 State Championship and three Skyland Conference Championships. Upon graduation, Garriques attended Gloucester County College in Gloucester, N.J. During his freshman year he became a Junior College National Champion, on his way to becoming a two-time Junior College All-American in both 1998 and 2000. 

During his career at Gloucester he also helped the team win two National Team Championships and was ranked among the top-seven in all Division I, II, III and the NJCAA.

From there he transferred to Seton Hall University in the fall of 2000, and was an NCAA National Qualifier.

Garriques then completed his wrestling career the next season at Hofstra University where he also became a National Qualifier for the second consecutive year. While at Hofstra, Garriques helped the Pride achieve National Recognition, as they were ranked in the top 20 in the country and won the CAA conference. Garriques was ranked as high as fourth in the country at his weight class during his senior season. During his time at Hofstra, Garriques was coached by Tom Ryan, who went on to win Division I Coach of the Year honors last year at Ohio State. Ryan was caoched by the legendary coach Dan Gable in Iowa.

Garriques’ high school and college career record stands at 224-44. Along with his wrestling accolades, Garriques also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Liberal Studies with minors in Psychology and Communications from Seton Hall University in 2004.

Garriques currently resides in Phillipsburg, N.J. with his wife Jacqueline and their son Owen Teague, who was born Nov. 5, 2008 and classified in the eight-pound, 12-ounce weight class.

Jason Hanisak enters his third season as Centenary’s Strength and Conditioning Coach. Hanisak has been involved in exercise and fitness his entire life. He began experimenting with weights in middle school and high school trying to gain size for his own sports career. After graduating high school he began getting serious about strength training. He became a certified personal trainer and started competitive powerlifting in the local area. Over the next six years Coach Hanisak trained many athletes ranging in ages from 8-40. In January 2006, he created Hanisak Sports Performance which is based in Mansfield Township, N.J. He specializes in training athletes for improved sports performance and does on-line consulting.

On the competitive side of the sport, Hanisak began competing on the professional circuit in 2006 and in his first meet at the IPA World Powerlifting Championships he earned a first place finish in his division and set four world records.

His knowledge and background in the area of physical training will certainly be a huge benefit to the Cyclone Wrestling program.

Mike Gummerson joins head coach John Garriques after a year away from Centenary. Gummerson was a four-year wrestler at the school, two of which were under the leadership of Garriques.

Gummerson is the only Centenary wrestler to ever be a three-time NCAA National Qualifier. His final year he was named team MVP and earned the Cardy Gemma award for overall performance on the mat and off. He was also an Academic All-American.