Ron Ippolite has resigned after achieving a career record of 93–78 from 2010–17
Washington Township High School varsity wrestling coach Ron Ippolite has resigned his post after seven years at the helm. Ippolite amassed a 93–78 career record from 2010–17, coaching 35 all-conference wrestlers, 14 district champions, one regional champion and two state place winners. Four of his wrestlers posted 100 career wins.
“Our Washington Township High School wrestling program has benefited greatly from the coaching leadership of Ron Ippolite for the past seven years,” WTHS athletic director Kevin Murphy said. “He is an educator who always valued the growth and development of our student-athletes on and off the mat. Coach Ippolite placed a high emphasis on sportsmanship. His teams always were respected throughout the South Jersey region and state as fine wrestlers and young men.”
A 2015 inductee into the Highland High School Athletic Hall of Fame along with his 1983 teammates, Ippolite, a heavyweight on the Tartans roster, led his teams to New Jersey Group IV state titles in 1982 and 1983. The team captured the South Jersey Group IV championship in three consecutive seasons-1981, 1982 and 1983-ranked as the number one team in the state in 1983 and was recognized by the Courier Post as the team of the decade. Individually, Ippolite was a District 30 and Region 8 champion, a state runner-up, team captain and most valuable player in 1983.
Ippolite wrestled at nationally ranked Bloomsburg University from 1984 to 1988, where he was an NCAA Division I national qualifier and a runner-up at heavyweight in the Eastern Wresting League. He was the 1987 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Champion and served as team captain and ranked fifth in the nation in his weight class as a senior. Ippolite posted an 86–22 record in college as member of Bloomburg’s teams that ranked fifth in the nation in 1987 and 19th in 1988.
The 2013 District 30 Coach of the Year, Ippolite had served as an assistant coach at WTHS from 1995–2000 and was the district’s middle school wrestling coach in 1993 and 1994. He has taught special education in the district for 24 years and will remain in his teaching post.
A search for Ippolite’s replacement is underway.