State champion wrestler Rocco Dellagatta transfers to St. John Vianney

Rocco Dellagatta, the 2024 NJSIAA 285-pound champion, has transferred from St. Joseph (Montvale) to St. John Vianney for his senior season.

St. John Vianney athletic director Rich Lamberson said late Monday afternoon Dellagatta has enrolled as a student at the school.

A Cornell University recruit, Dellagatta won his state championship by pinning Delbarton’s Connor Martin. He pinned in four of his five bouts in the state tournament, with the other win coming via a 15-6 major decision over Toms River East’s seventh-place finisher James Lynch.

He made the move up to 285 from 175 the previous season, when he finished fourth in the state. He was one win away from being a state medalist at 157 in 2022.

The 285-pound weight class has been one of St. John Vianney’s weaker weights the last three seasons, as the program, led by three-time NJSIAA champion and Cornell recruit Anthony Knox, surged into a state power.

The Lancers won the NJSIAA Non Public B team championship this past season for their first state championship since 1995. They finished ranked No. 6 in the New Jersey Wrestling Writers Association Top 10.

Dellagatta will be joining a team that appears to be loaded again for the 2024-25 season.

Besides Knox, other key returnees are three-time state medal winner Patrick O’Keefe, two-time state eighth-place finisher Matthew Gould, returning state seventh-place finisher Jake Zaltsman and three-time state qualifiers Cole Stangle and Dezmond Lenaghan.

Flowrestling.org has Dellagatta ranked 16th in the country at 285.