North Point High School senior Saniya Wheeler, left, looks to get the early advantage on Glen Burnie sophomore Pachince Gregory in their Maryland girls’ 100-pound state final match. Wheeler eventually departed with the crown courtesy of a 1-0 victory over Gregory in that title match last Saturday afternoon at the Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro.
Huntingtown High School junior Landon Vercoe gains complete control of Eastern Tech’s Chase Ullmann in the first period of their Maryland 2A/1A 144-pound state championship match last Saturday afternoon at the Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro. Vercoe earned the title courtesy of a 15-0 tech fall victory over Ullmann in that match.
North Point High School senior Saniya Wheeler, left, looks to get the early advantage on Glen Burnie sophomore Pachince Gregory in their Maryland girls’ 100-pound state final match. Wheeler eventually departed with the crown courtesy of a 1-0 victory over Gregory in that title match last Saturday afternoon at the Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro.
TED BLACK/Southern Maryland News
Huntingtown High School junior Landon Vercoe gains complete control of Eastern Tech’s Chase Ullmann in the first period of their Maryland 2A/1A 144-pound state championship match last Saturday afternoon at the Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro. Vercoe earned the title courtesy of a 15-0 tech fall victory over Ullmann in that match.
While there were considerably fewer SMAC wrestlers to reach the state finals last Saturday afternoon than in previous seasons, a glimpse at the finals results perhaps revealed that the conference is poised to have a better showing next year with five of the six finalists returning, including four of the five state champions.
One year after SMAC wrestlers loaded the state finals landscape and posted seven state champions and seven runner-ups, last weekend the conference sent only six wrestlers to their respective state finals with five of them brandishing gold medals. In hindsight, five of the seven 2025 state champions graduated, so this year featured one repeat winner and four first-time champions, three of which return next season.
“I think this season there was a lot of quality among SMAC wrestlers,” Calvert coach Connor Sesso said. “There were a lot of freshmen wrestlers that looked really good all year and one of them won a state title. I know most of the kids that won SMAC titles this year will be back next year, so the league is only going to get tougher.”
Calvert junior Ethan Valdisera, who spent his freshman season at St. Mary’s Ryken, notched his second straight state title at 113 pounds on Saturday, upending Sparrow’s Point’s Wyatt Rossi 13-3 in the title match. Valdisera had often wrestled in heavier weight classes, 120 and 126, in tournaments this season to prepare for states.
“There were a lot of matches this year where I wrestled up just to get stronger,” Valdisera said. “I could tell that it made a difference at states. I had been used to having guys 10-12 pounds heavier leaning on me for three rounds. So, once I got to states and wrestled every match at 113 I felt confident and a lot stronger.”
Lackey coach Brandon Paulin saw two of his wrestlers, one male and one female, reach the state finals on Saturday and one of them departed with a title. Junior Jariah Washington won the girls’ 170-pound title, while Chargers junior Ethan Vayro suffered a 7-0 setback to Rising Sun senior Zach Garvin in the 2A/1A 175-pound title match.
“I really think both of them will come back stronger next year,” Paulin said. “Jariah was dominant throughout the whole tournament. Ethan is one of the hardest working kids, if not the hardest working kid in the room each week. I know he’ll be motivated to come back next year and regain his title.”
Northern freshman Jake Kurtz narrowly captured the 2A/1A 106-pound state title last Saturday with a 9-7 victory over Century sophomore Eli Stein.
Huntingtown junior Landon Vercoe made quick work of Eastern Tech senior Chase Ullman with a 15-0 tech fall victory for the 2A/1A 144-pound title.
“There are a lot of really good wrestlers in SMAC,” Kurtz said. “Every match the competition was tough. Then it got tougher as we went through the rounds here. I think it will be even tougher next year.”
Lackey High School junior Jariah Washington handled Charles H. Flowers High School junior Mabel Alafiatayo 14-0 to garner the 170-pound girls title.
Likewise, North Point senior Saniya Wheeler prevailed 1-0 in the girls 100-pound title match against Glen Burnie’s Pashince Gregory in her final wrestling match. Wheeler was among the growing number of SMAC schools that actually field entire girls’ teams and the added experience this year enabled her to peak at the right time last weekend.
“The girls competition in SMAC is really tough,” said Wheeler, who plans to enlist in the Army not long after graduation. “We had a lot of tough matches all season. I was a little nervous going into finals, but I gained more confidence during the match. I just needed to keep her from scoring.”
