A season ago, Huntingtown’s wrestling team left the Class 4A-3A South Region tournament with six wrestlers finishing atop the podium while all 14 of its wrestlers qualified for the state tournament.
There was no equaling that accomplishment at the regional tournament this time around, but the Hurricanes still left the gymnasium at DuVal High School in Lanham on a relatively triumphant note. Four Huntingtown wrestlers claimed individual glory, while nine qualified to compete at the state tournament, which is scheduled to be held this Friday and Saturday at The Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro.
“The Huntingtown wrestlers turned in a great performance this weekend at the regional tourney,” Huntingtown head coach Jeff Fowler said. “Huntingtown wrestlers walked into that gym and all 10 placed top-five, with nine punching their ticket to the state tourney and our 10th wrestler finished the tourney with a win and as the first alternate.”
Huntingtown’s state qualifying number of nine was tops among all Southern Maryland Athletic Conference programs. SMAC wrestlers won nine of the 14 weight classes at the 4A-3A South tournament and qualified a total of 28 wrestlers for the 4A-3A state tournament. Northern earned seven spots, while Chopticon and Great Mills each will take six.
In the 2A-1A South Region tournament at River Hill High School in Howard County on Saturday, La Plata and Lackey each qualified five, while Calvert and Patuxent both had one qualifier. And wrestling in the competitive 4A-3A East tournament at Severna Park High School in Anne Arundel County, the SMAC regular season and tournament champion Leonardtown Raiders had five wrestlers qualify for the season’s last week, while North Point had four.
For Huntingtown, Josh Stokes (152 pounds), Dakota Cram (182), Joe Murray (195) and Joe Bannister-Pesce (220) won regional championships. Also finishing within the top four of their respective weight classes to qualify for the state tournament were Jacob Antonielli (106), Jackson Cramer (126), Robbie Ireland (132), Justin Draper (170) and Jacob Munoz (285).
Northern left the regional tournament with three individual champions, with Fynn Yankanich (126), Kaleb Dolina (145) and Rex Fleming (170) doing the honors. Dylan Montgomery (106), Michael Bronk (113), Peter Ervin (120) and Gavin Whittington (160) also earned places in the 4A-3A state tournament field.
Also from the 4A-3A South tournament, Chopticon saw Trey Kratko (113), Mikey Bruce (132), Hunter Messick (138), Greg Griffith (160), Sam Black (195) and Garry Gorham (220) qualify, with Kratko and Griffith nabbing the titles in their respective brackets.
Great Mills equaled its St. Mary’s County rivals number with six of its own qualifying, with Wilfred Vergara (113), Lawson Glenn (138), Bailey Berg (145), Trevon Jordan (170), Dylan Nickless (182) and David Green (285) finishing within their respective top-fours.
“I feel that our team performed very well at the regional tournament this past weekend,” Great Mills coach Carl Van Dunk said of his squad’s showing. “Everyone at least had a victory and competed all the way to the end. The group that qualified for states performed very well. [Vergara] pinned [Armando] Bracero from Huntingtown to get to the finals, and Lawson lost a tough one to Hunter Messick in the semifinals, Bailey wrestled himself into a rematch with Kaleb Dolina in the finals, and Trevon Jordan and Dylan Nickless lost close ones in the semifinals and fought hard in their matches for [third] place. They are going to bring that hard-fought effort to the big dance this weekend.”
Three SMAC wrestlers emerged as champions from the 4A-3A East tournament in Anne Arundel County. Leonardtown, which captured six individual crowns a week earlier at the SMAC tournament, took home two regional titles and qualified five wrestlers for the 4A-3A state tournament, while North Point boasted one champ and had three others qualify.
Sean Vosburgh (120), who already has a state championship on his high school résumé, and Trevor Crowley (160) both won, while Garrett Lee (113), Brian Bieshelt (132) and John Podsednik (170) each earned a spot in the state gathering, as well. Podsednik is a defending state champion.
North Point’s Kielin Huff won the 106-pound championship, while the Eagles also will take Mark Rodgers (152), DeVon Muhammad (160) and Notah McCabe (285) to states.
In Howard County, La Plata’s Alex Blake (145) and Owen Butler (152) headlined the SMAC competitors, bringing home their respective bracket championships. Blake is a defending state champion. The Warriors also qualified Jason Mohler (170), Jakob Szalapski (182) and Quentin Dibble (195).
Patuxent and Calvert each qualified one wrestler for the state tournament, with Ashton Stuckey (132) qualifying for the Panthers and Matt Davis (138) making it for the Cavaliers, while Lackey equaled La Plata’s overall number of five qualifiers from the 2A-1A South tournament. Jeremy McBain (113), Jacob Ham (160), Cameron Stuart (170), Brandon Ream (220) and Jaxson Vayro (285) will form the Chargers’ contingent this weekend in Upper Marlboro.
“Overall, as a group, I was pleased with how the team performed at the regional tournament,” Lackey head coach Justin Lansley said of his team’s showing. “We had a couple of kids that I think were good enough to make it out and it didn’t pan out, but it wasn’t with how they wrestled or the effort they put in. Wrestling is a sport that sometimes works out that way, it’s why it’s the greatest sport. We had several fifth and sixth placers in David Miller (fifth at 120), Brandon Jordan (sixth at 145), Jordan Bryant (fifth at 152) and De’Tron Dancy (fifth at 182). I was proud that even when they lost that consolation semi match and were not making it to the state tournament they all battled in the fifth-place match.”
Twitter: @cfhphilly
