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Arthritis Treatment in Marlboro, NJ - Get Moving Again, Without Surgery or Endless Medication

You've been told it's arthritis. Maybe your knee, maybe your hip, your lower back, your shoulder, or your hands - arthritis rarely picks just one spot. And the advice so far has probably sounded something like this: take the anti-inflammatories, lose a few pounds if you can, try to stay active, and come back when it gets bad enough to talk about surgery.

That's a long runway of "deal with it" for something actively changing how you live.

If you've been putting off the stairs, canceling the walks you used to love, sleeping badly because nothing feels comfortable, or switching to shoes you can actually wear - you already know arthritis isn't something you just get used to. It progresses. The stiffness in the morning stops going away by noon. The knee that used to hurt after a long day starts hurting when you stand up from the couch.

At NJ Sports Spine and Wellness in Marlboro, NJ, we help patients with arthritis get back to living their actual lives - without rushing to surgery, without depending on daily medication, and without accepting that this is just how it has to be. Our combination of advanced therapeutic tools, targeted physical therapy, chiropractic care, and a real multidisciplinary team gives us a broader set of options than most practices have.

Let's talk about what's driving your pain and what can actually change it.

Arthritis Treatment in Marlboro, NJ - NJ Sports Spine and Wellness
Arthritis Treatment in Marlboro, NJ | NJ Sports Spine and Wellness
What Is Arthritis?
Common Types of Arthritis We Treat
Arthritis Symptoms That Mean It's Time to Come In
Why "Just Manage It" Isn't Actually a Treatment Plan
Our Approach to Arthritis Treatment
When Surgery Becomes the Right Call
What to Expect at Your First Visit

What Is Arthritis?

Arthritis isn't a single disease - it's an umbrella term for more than 100 conditions that cause joint pain, stiffness, and inflammation. The two broad categories most people have in mind are osteoarthritis (by far the most common) and inflammatory arthritis (rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and others).

Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is a mechanical condition. The cartilage that cushions your joints gradually wears down from years of use, injury, or abnormal loading. As the cushioning thins, bones start rubbing more directly against each other, which causes inflammation, stiffness, and pain. The body often responds by forming bone spurs - small bony projections that can further limit motion and compress nearby nerves. Osteoarthritis typically affects weight-bearing joints (knees, hips, lower back) and heavily used joints (hands, thumbs, neck).

Inflammatory arthritis

Inflammatory arthritis is an immune system problem. The body's immune cells mistakenly attack joint tissue, causing widespread inflammation, pain, and eventually joint damage. These conditions need to be managed by a rheumatologist, because the core treatment involves medications that modulate the immune system. Our role in inflammatory arthritis is supportive - helping manage pain and maintain function alongside the rheumatology care.

The majority of the arthritis we treat in Marlboro, NJ is osteoarthritis, and that's where conservative treatment has the most to offer. What follows focuses primarily on osteoarthritis, with notes on the inflammatory types where relevant.

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Common Types of Arthritis We Treat

Knee Osteoarthritis.

The most common arthritis we see. Cartilage breakdown in the knee joint causes pain with stairs, difficulty standing up from chairs, stiffness after sitting, swelling, and a grinding or catching sensation. Often develops after years of sports, physical work, previous knee injury, or cumulative wear.

Hip Osteoarthritis.

Pain typically felt in the groin, outer hip, or buttock. Hip arthritis often presents as stiffness first (the feeling that you can't put your socks on the same way you used to), then progresses to pain with walking, prolonged sitting, and sleep positioning.

Spinal Arthritis.

Facet joint arthritis in the lower back and neck causes stiffness, reduced range of motion, and localized pain. When bone spurs encroach on nerve openings, spinal arthritis can also cause radiating pain into the arms or legs - a condition closely related to stenosis and radiculopathy.

Shoulder Arthritis.

Pain and stiffness that limit reaching overhead, reaching behind your back, or sleeping on the affected side. Common in patients with a history of shoulder injuries or repetitive overhead activity.

Hand and Thumb Arthritis.

Pain and stiffness in the small joints of the fingers and at the base of the thumb. Makes gripping, opening jars, writing, and fine motor tasks progressively harder.

Ankle and Foot Arthritis.

Often follows previous sprains or fractures. Pain with walking, morning stiffness, and difficulty with uneven surfaces. Frequently coexists with plantar fasciitis or bunions.

Post-Traumatic Arthritis.

Arthritis that develops in a joint after a previous injury - a knee that was surgically repaired years ago, an ankle badly sprained in college, a shoulder never quite right since a fall. Often hits younger patients who don't fit the usual arthritis profile.

Rheumatoid, Psoriatic, and Other Inflammatory Arthritis.

We provide supportive musculoskeletal care for patients who are already being managed by a rheumatologist - helping manage joint pain, maintain strength and mobility, and reduce the impact on daily function.

Arthritis Symptoms That Mean It's Time to Come In

Joint stiffness that's worst in the morning or after sitting still
Pain that flares with activity but also shows up at rest
Joint swelling, warmth, or tenderness
A grinding, clicking, or catching sensation with movement
Reduced range of motion - trouble straightening the knee, turning the neck, or lifting overhead
Pain that's worse with weather changes

Difficulty with stairs, standing from a seated position, or prolonged walking
Morning stiffness that takes more than 30 minutes to ease
Joint pain waking you up at night
A previous joint injury that's now starting to hurt again, years later
Multiple joints involved at the same time
Pain that's changed how much you do or what you can do

Arthritis progresses faster when untreated. Early intervention slows progression, preserves function, and produces better long-term outcomes than waiting.

Why "Just Manage It" Isn't Actually a Treatment Plan

The standard arthritis advice - anti-inflammatories, weight management, low-impact exercise - isn't wrong. It's just incomplete. Those things help, but they don't address the specific biomechanical problems accelerating joint wear in your particular body.

If your knee arthritis is partially being driven by weak glutes letting your knee collapse inward with every step, generic advice to "stay active" won't fix that - and may actually accelerate the damage. If your lower back arthritis has a significant piece of hip stiffness contributing to it, a general fitness routine won't address the hip piece. If your shoulder arthritis is being aggravated by compensatory posture from an old injury, nobody's going to fix that unless they look for it.

Effective arthritis treatment finds the specific factors accelerating your joint wear and changes them. It reduces the inflammation you're already dealing with, strengthens the structures that support the joint, and improves the movement patterns that overload it. That's what makes the difference between arthritis that slowly steals your function and arthritis that stabilizes so you can keep doing the things that matter.

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Our Approach to Arthritis Treatment

Non-Surgical Treatment Options

LiteCure Class IV Laser Therapy

Our therapeutic laser delivers deep, photobiomodulating light into arthritic joints to reduce inflammation, support cellular repair, and significantly reduce pain. It's one of our most effective tools for osteoarthritis of the knee, shoulder, hip, and hands, and it's well-tolerated by patients who can't use anti-inflammatories long-term.

Shockwave Therapy

Acoustic-wave treatment stimulates healing in soft tissues around arthritic joints, reduces inflammation, and can improve pain in cases where laser alone isn't enough. Particularly useful for knee, shoulder, and foot/ankle arthritis with associated tendon involvement.

DRX9000 Spinal Decompression

For arthritis of the lower back - especially when facet arthritis is combined with disc degeneration or stenosis - spinal decompression gently reduces pressure on compressed nerves and discs. It's often the piece that finally provides meaningful relief for patients with long-standing spinal arthritis.

Chiropractic Care

Targeted adjustments restore motion to joints that have become restricted and compensation patterns built up over years. For spinal arthritis, neck arthritis, and the low-grade stiffness that accompanies most arthritic conditions, chiropractic care is often part of what keeps patients moving.

Physical Therapy and Targeted Strengthening

The single most evidence-supported intervention for osteoarthritis is appropriate strengthening of the muscles that support the affected joint. For knee arthritis, that means building glute and quad strength. For hip arthritis, glute medius and core. For spinal arthritis, deep core stability and hip mobility. Our in-house physical therapy team builds arthritis programs around exactly this work - and the difference it makes is substantial.

AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill

For knee and hip arthritis patients, the AlterG allows walking and light running at a fraction of your body weight. That means rebuilding conditioning, maintaining cardiovascular fitness, and retraining gait without loading the painful joint. For many patients, this is what breaks the cycle of "I can't exercise because it hurts, so I'm getting weaker, so it hurts more."

Manual Therapy and Soft-Tissue Work

Arthritic joints are almost always surrounded by tight, compensating muscles. Hands-on techniques - including instrument-assisted soft-tissue mobilization and cupping - release that tension and restore the mobility that protects the joint itself.

Acupuncture

There's a substantial evidence base for acupuncture in osteoarthritis, particularly knee OA. We use it as a standalone option or alongside other treatments, especially for patients who've relied heavily on NSAIDs and are looking for other ways to manage pain.

Custom Orthotics

For arthritis of the knee, hip, ankle, or lower back, how your foot strikes the ground matters. Custom orthotics correct biomechanical issues that are quietly overloading the arthritic joint with every step. Often a small change here produces a disproportionate improvement upstream.

Pain Management Options

When needed, our pain management team can provide targeted interventions to control acute flare-ups while the mechanical treatment takes effect. The goal is to help you get moving again - not to build dependence on medications.

When Surgery Becomes the Right Call

For advanced arthritis - particularly bone-on-bone knee or hip osteoarthritis that hasn't responded to thorough conservative care - joint replacement surgery can be genuinely life-changing. When that's the path, we coordinate with orthopedic surgeons who use modern, minimally invasive techniques. Smaller incisions, less tissue disruption, and lower infection risk than traditional approaches.

But here's the honest framing: a lot of arthritis patients are told they need surgery significantly earlier than necessary. Before any surgical conversation, we want to know that laser therapy, structured physical therapy, AlterG-assisted rehabilitation, and (where relevant) spinal decompression or custom orthotics have all been genuinely tried. For most patients, that changes the picture.

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Why Patients Choose NJ Sports Spine and Wellness for Arthritis

A True Multidisciplinary Team Under One Roof

Arthritis rarely involves just one joint or one contributing factor, which is why single-provider approaches often fall short. Our chiropractors, physical therapists, occupational therapists, acupuncturists, pain management specialists, and podiatrist all work in the same building, on the same chart, toward the same plan. If your knee arthritis has a hip component, a foot component, and a back component (and many do), we can address all of it at once.

Advanced In-House Technology

We've invested in the tools that move the needle for arthritis: LiteCure Class IV laser, shockwave therapy, DRX9000 spinal decompression, AlterG anti-gravity treadmill, and on-site imaging. These aren't add-ons - they're central to how we treat this condition.

Same-Day Appointments

When a flare-up is keeping you from doing your job or sleeping through the night, you don't want to wait three weeks. We offer same-day appointments whenever the schedule allows.

A Treatment Plan With an Actual Finish Line

Arthritis is chronic, but your treatment shouldn't be indefinite. We build plans with clear phases: reduce the current pain, strengthen what needs strengthening, address the contributing factors, and transition you to a maintenance approach you can manage on your own. The goal is a stable, functional baseline and periodic check-ins - not a permanent spot on the schedule.

What to Expect at Your First Visit

Your first arthritis evaluation at our Marlboro, NJ office is thorough. We'll ask when your symptoms started, which joints are involved, what makes them better or worse, what you've already tried, and how arthritis is affecting the specific things you want to do. Then we'll do a detailed exam - assessing range of motion, strength, gait, and biomechanics of the affected joint and the related structures above and below it. If imaging would clarify the picture, we can often do it on-site.

From there, we walk you through what we think is going on and what the treatment plan looks like. You'll leave knowing the next steps, what's realistic to expect, and roughly how long before you notice real improvement.

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Book Your Arthritis Appointment in Marlboro, NJ

If arthritis is limiting what you can do - and "just live with it" hasn't worked for you - let's take a look. For most patients, we can significantly reduce pain, restore function, and delay or avoid surgery.

Call our Marlboro, NJ office at (908) 866-7246 to schedule. Same-day appointments available.

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Frequently Asked Questions

It depends what you mean by "treated." Arthritis itself - the underlying joint changes - typically doesn't reverse. But the pain, stiffness, and functional limitation absolutely can be reduced, often significantly. The goal isn't to turn back the clock on the joint; it's to address inflammation, restore mobility, rebuild supporting strength, and change the factors accelerating the wear. Done well, this approach stabilizes many patients for years and keeps them doing the things they want to do.

Not necessarily, and usually much later than you've been told if you do. Joint replacement is reserved for advanced cases where bone-on-bone changes have significantly compromised function, and many patients never reach that point with good conservative care. For those who do eventually need it, non-surgical treatment in the meantime keeps you stronger and more mobile going into surgery - which meaningfully improves surgical outcomes and recovery.

Class IV therapeutic laser delivers specific wavelengths of light into the tissues around an arthritic joint. At the cellular level, the light reduces inflammatory signaling, supports mitochondrial function, and accelerates tissue repair. For patients, that typically translates into meaningful pain reduction and improved function. It's drug-free, non-invasive, and well-suited to patients who can't use anti-inflammatories long-term.

Rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory arthritis conditions need to be managed by a rheumatologist, because the core treatment involves immune-modulating medications. What we provide for patients with RA is supportive musculoskeletal care - laser therapy, physical therapy, manual work, and acupuncture to help manage pain and maintain function alongside their rheumatology treatment.

The right exercise is essential. The wrong exercise can make things worse. "Stay active" is incomplete advice if nobody's telling you which movements strengthen the supporting structures of your affected joint, which ones load it in a way that accelerates wear, and which ones to avoid for now. That's what our PT and AlterG programs address - and why patients told to "just exercise" without specifics often end up more frustrated than when they started.

Shore native, once cut from middle school team, now in March Madness

PHILADELPHIA – In sixth grade, Jack Seidler was cut during tryouts for Marlboro Memorial Middle School’s basketball team.Ten years later, he’s suiting up for UCLA in the NCAA Tournament.March Madness viral moment as Marlboro High School grad Jack Seidler finds UCLA teammate's toothSeidler’s journey - from that middle-school disappointment, then starring at Marlboro High School to walking on at UCLA - comes full circle Friday at Philadelphia’s Xfinity Mobile Arena, where the Bruins take on C...

PHILADELPHIA – In sixth grade, Jack Seidler was cut during tryouts for Marlboro Memorial Middle School’s basketball team.

Ten years later, he’s suiting up for UCLA in the NCAA Tournament.

March Madness viral moment as Marlboro High School grad Jack Seidler finds UCLA teammate's tooth

Seidler’s journey - from that middle-school disappointment, then starring at Marlboro High School to walking on at UCLA - comes full circle Friday at Philadelphia’s Xfinity Mobile Arena, where the Bruins take on Central Florida at 7:25 p.m. It’s a little over an hour from home, so his parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles will be there.

“It’s a dream come true,” he said Thursday in UCLA’s locker room.

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The 6-foot-4 redshirt junior guard has appeared in six games this season, scoring one bucket and grabbing five boards. His main contribution is as a member of the Bruins' scout team – studying the upcoming opponent’s film and simulating its plays in practice.

“It’s definitely a change coming from Marlboro High School, where I was the guy, and then to take a back seat type of role,” he said. “You’re doing whatever you can to help the team. I love it – you’re around great basketball players, great basketball minds. I’ve learned so much since I got here. It’s been an amazing experience.”

Seidler was the 2022 All-Shore Player of the Year after leading Marlboro to its first-ever Shore Conference Tournament title. That experience served as a springboard.

“It had never been done there, we did it, and it gives you confidence that you can achieve anything you put your mind to,” he said.

Seidler set out for UCLA at the invitation of Bruins’ associate head coach Darren Savino, a Jersey City native and St. Anthony High School graduate whose Garden State connections run deep. He’ll earn a bachelor’s degree in sociology this spring and has his sights set on becoming a sports agent.

“We call him Jerry Maguire,” UCLA head coach Mick Cronin said, referring to the 1990s Tom Cruise movie about a sports agent. “My players are younger, I had to make sure they saw the movie…and Jack is Jerry Maguire.”

Cronin said it’s refreshing, in the free-agency era, to still have some four-year players in his program.

“Jack Seidler, he's just been awesome for us,” he said. “Stories like that, those kind of guys, they're what makes us different than the pros.”

To have Mick Cronin praising you at the NCAA Tournament – it’s a long way from that day Seidler was cut as a sixth-grader. There’s a lesson here for every hooper with a dream.

“Anything is possible,” Seidler said, “if you keep working hard and keep believing in yourself.”

Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.

NJ School Board Makes Decision On Renaming School After Trump

COLTS NECK, NJ — A New Jersey school board will not be moving forward with a board member’s suggestion to rename one of the district’s schools for President Trump.During a Colts Neck Board of Education meeting on Wednesday night, Board President Angelique Volpe said the district will not be moving forward with Board Member Robert Scales’ proposal to rename one of their schools as “Donald J. Trump Primary School.”The proposal was first made earlier in March, during one of the board’s pre...

COLTS NECK, NJ — A New Jersey school board will not be moving forward with a board member’s suggestion to rename one of the district’s schools for President Trump.

During a Colts Neck Board of Education meeting on Wednesday night, Board President Angelique Volpe said the district will not be moving forward with Board Member Robert Scales’ proposal to rename one of their schools as “Donald J. Trump Primary School.”

The proposal was first made earlier in March, during one of the board’s previous meetings.

“On Wednesday, March 4th, during the New Business section of the board’s committee of a whole meeting — a portion of the meeting where we discuss new programs and new opportunities for consideration — a sitting board member brought forth the idea of a potential name change of our primary school,” Volpe said.

“Please be reminded, many ideas are brought forward every single meeting, especially during New Business. Some advance forward, others take on a hybrid variation, while others cease to proceed,” she continued. “With that said, I want to make it clear – very clear – the board will not be moving forward on the proposed name change of Conover Road Primary School.”

Though the board won’t be moving forward with Scales’ renaming proposal, many residents still showed up to the meeting to voice their opposition to a potential renaming, with some even suggesting alternate names that poked fun at the idea.

Kyler Dineen, a representative of NJ Voters For Church & State Separation, read the results of a contest that the organization ran to find alternative names for Conover Road Primary School, should the board ever pursue renaming in the future.

Suggested names ranged from Bruce Springsteen Elementary to Jon Bon Jovi Elementary, Queen Latifah Elementary, and Jon Stewart Elementary.

Some even sent in “Conover Road Primary School” as a submission, imploring the board to keep the school’s current name intact.

“One was ‘Bored of Education Elementary,’” Dinenn said. “With the submitter writing ‘This is a waste of time and resources and is bringing much unwanted, negative attention to the Colts Neck School System. The Board of Education should instead just focus on children’s education and not this entirely unnecessary nonsense.’”

The NJ Voters For Church & State Separation are far from the first to quip about the board’s suggested renaming, either.

During a recent episode of Saturday Night Live (SNL), Weekend Update Co-Host Michael Che commented on the proposal as well, joking that a “New Jersey school board” was considering renaming a school to “Trump Elementary: Home Of The Fightin’ Allegations."

Though some residents attended Wednesday night’s meeting to object to the renaming idea, some also came to voice their support.

One resident, Alice Finney, said there are over 4,000 schools renamed after U.S. presidents, and while Scales’ renaming proposal didn’t make it far, she did think “it was a great idea.”

“President Trump is one of the best presidents of this century,” Finney said. “I think there’s a lot of misinformation, and I just hope that some of the young people really listen to all sorts of information and actually listen to what is produced by the White House and what some of the politicians are saying, because I think there’s a lot of secondhand information that’s coming out, and I think history will tell the truth in the end.”

During Wednesday night’s meeting, Volpe also directly addressed Scales regarding his proposal, adding that “nothing was ever moving forward, it was just a nice sentiment.”

“I appreciated it, Mr. Scales,” she said. “I’m sorry that this got blown out of proportion.”

To watch a full recording of Wednesday night’s school board meeting, you can click here.

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This Marlboro, NJ Pizza Place Has Been Part of School Nights for Years

If you grew up around Marlboro, Morganville, Freehold, Englishtown, or even Old Bridge, chances are you have a Meli’s Pizza story. Maybe it was after a Friday night football game, a quick slice after school, or one of those nights when nobody felt like cooking, and the answer was an easy call to Meli’s. It has quietly become one of those neighborhood spots that feels like part of the routine.Meli’s Pizza in the Shoprite Plaza off Route 9 in Morganville is the kind of place that knows its town. Over the years, they ha...

Meli’s Pizza in the Shoprite Plaza off Route 9 in Morganville is the kind of place that knows its town. Over the years, they have built strong connections with Marlboro’s schools, sports teams, and families. Walk in on a weekday afternoon, and you will probably see groups of students grabbing slices, still wearing their school gear, talking about the game, the test they just took, or weekend plans.

For many local teams and school events, Meli’s has been there to help out. Whether it is supporting school fundraisers, feeding hungry athletes after a big game, or simply being a reliable spot where kids and parents can meet up, they have become part of the rhythm of the community.

There are even sandwiches dedicated to area school teams. One of the most popular ones is the Marlboro Mustang hero. It's chicken parm in vodka sauce with a fresh-fried mozzarella wedge, a hot honey drizzle, and garlic bread. Be sure to try the Old Bridge Knight hero, Manalapan Braves hero, and the Freehold Bomber hero.

Meli's neighborhood reach goes further than just schools and teams. They believe collaborating with local businesses is just as important. Whether it be linking up with Mostly Smoked to make some killer BBQ pizza, or being part of community charity events with Livotis and Jersey Freeze to raise money. Yes, that Jersey Freeze! In fact, you can’t miss the freezer stocked with your favorite ice cream right when you walk in.

Meli's is competing in the Jersey Pizza Playoffs for a chance to win $10,000 in radio advertising. You can support Anthony and his staff simply by voting for them now and telling everyone you know to do the same.

Marlboro High School Students Win County Consumer Bowl For 5th Year

MARLBORO, NJ — For the fifth year in a row, a team of students from Marlboro High School have been crowned the winners of the Monmouth County Consumer Bowl, a game-show-style competition that tests students’ knowledge of consumer-related information.The 2026 Monmouth County Consumer Bowl, which is sponsored by the NJ Division of Consumer Affairs, was held on Feb. 26 at the Monmouth County Fire Academy in Howell.Participating students for this year’s event included those from Freehold Township High School, Mana...

The 2026 Monmouth County Consumer Bowl, which is sponsored by the NJ Division of Consumer Affairs, was held on Feb. 26 at the Monmouth County Fire Academy in Howell.

Participating students for this year’s event included those from Freehold Township High School, Manalapan High School, Marlboro High School, Middletown South High School and Raritan High School.

It is the fifth year in a row that Marlboro High School students have been crowned winners of the event.

“On behalf of my fellow commissioners, I want to congratulate the Marlboro High School students for winning the 2026 Monmouth County Consumer Bowl,” Commissioner Director Thomas Arnone said.

“Marlboro has now won the County Consumer Bowl five years in a row and won the State championship in 2024 and 2025, which is an incredible accomplishment!” he continued. “We look forward to cheering them on as they move on to the next round.”

During the Consumer Bowl, students are testing on their understanding of the Consumer Fraud Act and how it’s applied to certain consumer-related topics, said Commissioner Erik Anderson, liaison to the Monmouth County Division of Consumer Affairs.

According to Anderson, the questions addressed topics such as home improvement contractors, the Lemon Law and the grandparent scam, along with tips to avoid scams associated with telemarketing, gift cards, cryptocurrency, identity theft, internet issues, amusement games and purchasing a pet.

Now that the team from Marlboro High School has won the Consumer Bowl, they’ll advance to compete in the Central Regional Consumer Bowl on April 28.

“Congratulations to the Marlboro team on their fifth consecutive victory and to all the participating high schools for their hard work,” Anderson said.

Marlboro High School students previously won the Monmouth County Consumer Bowl in 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026. The members of this year’s winning team are:

The team’s teachers/advisers are Patrick Scinto and Nicole Bendik, and Marlboro High School’s principal is David Bleakley.

To learn more, you can visit the Monmouth County website.