Stone, 6-foot-3, 270-pound star offensive lineman in football, graduated early last weekend so he could begin his academic and football career at Rutgers University. Stone went on to finish third at District 30 and second at Region 8 last winter. Tait’s mat mentor was Stone, who also got a late start in his high school wrestling career when he didn’t go out for the team until his junior season. He got better on the mat and in school too. It’s cool to see him get the opportunity now. When he did make the weight, he kept working in the dark to get better. He put in more time and got way more disciplined with his diet. “When he first came into the program, we were focused on helping him get healthy and helping him long term. “He’s made tremendous progress,” Washington Township head coach Eric Ring said. Tait, a senior, improved to 6-3 on varsity with four of the victories coming in six-minute bouts. Tait went the six-minute distance on Friday, locking up a 6-3 decision at heavyweight as the second-ranked Minutemen marched to a 35-27 win at No. Now I can go the whole three periods and feel like I’m in better shape than a kid that might wrestle 106.” Back then, I used to get out of breath just walking the hallway. "It took me about a year to lose enough to be able to wrestle (at 285). And with wrestling, I knew I could lose weight and get my life together. “I went out for wrestling because I needed to do a sport. “Losing that weight, it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done,” said Tait, who tipped the scales at 360 pounds as a 16-year-old sophomore. Shedding over 80 pounds just to be able to step foot on the mat for an official bout was the much bigger accomplishment. However, taking over for Region 8 runner-up John Stone in the starting varsity lineup turned out to be the easy part for the senior heavyweight on the Washington Township High School wrestling team.
PAULSBORO – Shane Tait knew he had some big wrestling shoes to fill.
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