With a jiu jitsu background but no experience in wrestling, Colucci tried out the sport as a senior, the first year it was a sanctioned sport for girls in New Jersey, and collected South Jersey’s first regional title. — Bruce Quinn certainly has the credentials of being a bona fide tough guy. He’s an ironworker and Army veteran. He’s also the owner of Endgame Brazilian jiu jitsu in Williamstown. But earlier this month, first in Toms River and then a week later in Atlantic City, the tears were difficult…

Hooker collected her first Meet of Champions medal earlier this month with a 5–8 high jump. It could jumpstart her to a memorable spring season. — The collection of medals and plaques the Timber Creek High School junior fished through to find the right one must have made her Nike backpack weigh more than anyone else’s at the school — even the kid lugging his pre-calculus and chemistry textbooks home.

The defending Group 2 state champion Bulldawgs trailed by seven with just over a minute to play and by double digits a few minutes before that, but still prevailed to collect a second straight South Jersey Group 2 crown — You can’t call it standing room only when there isn’t anywhere to stand, let alone sit. Call it whatever you want. You’re lucky to get in at all, when at least a dozen dejected fans are on the other side, still unwilling to accept the trio of “sold out” signs…

Haddonfield sophomore Jack Nuckols is in love with baseball. So he and his father created their own online baseball ballpark guide for fellow fans of America’s pastime — Jack Nuckols, a sophomore at Haddonfield Memorial High School, goes to professional baseball games regularly each spring and summer. He has a knack for tracking down souvenir baseballs (he’s collected over 40). …

How do you go from never competing in a sport to mastering it in three months, on the cusp of a state championship? We asked the undefeated Colucci, the first female regional champ in South Jersey wrestling history — The high school sports calendar is barely halfway over and some of the winter season’s premier teams and players have yet to compete for championships. But it’s going to be very difficult to find a better story than the one Williamstown High School senior Paige Colucci is writing in 2018–19.

Some of South Jersey’s best amateur athletes have familiar last names — their fathers starred in Philadelphia as pro athletes. Is that a burden? Does it help or hinder their budding athletic careers? — During the waning minutes of the 10th annual South Jersey Invitational Basketball Tournament’s nightcap semifinal game, a free throw shot clanked off the rim and seemed to hang in the air for at least a half a beat too long.

Some of South Jersey’s best amateur athletes have familiar last names — their fathers starred in Philadelphia as pro athletes. Is that a burden? Does it help or hinder their budding athletic careers? — During the waning minutes of the 10th annual South Jersey Invitational Basketball Tournament’s nightcap semifinal game, a free throw shot clanked off the rim and seemed to hang in the air for at least a half a beat too long.

Some of South Jersey’s best amateur athletes have familiar last names — their fathers starred in Philadelphia as pro athletes. Is that a burden? Does it help or hinder their budding athletic careers? — During the waning minutes of the 10th annual South Jersey Invitational Basketball Tournament’s nightcap semifinal game, a free throw shot clanked off the rim and seemed to hang in the air for at least a half a beat too long.

Burlington Township senior Craig Cook took a perfect 33–0 record into high school wrestling’s individual postseason, with dreams of Atlantic City dancing through his head. — Burlington Township wrestling coach Don Lintner looks at the progression of Craig Cook’s high school career and is bullish on how he thinks the final three weeks of the senior’s final prep season will play out. “He’s always obviously been very good,” Lintner began, “but I feel like his technique…