A massive number of strong wrestling teams from five states will descend on Baltimore County Community College-Catonsville tomorrow for the two-day Mount Mat Madness tournament hosted by No. 3 Mount St. Joseph.

But the area’s No. 1 team, River Hill, won’t be there.

It is a circumstance that contributes to the view held in some places around the area that River Hill’s success is suspect. How strong are the Hawks? And who can tell given they do not wrestle the area’s top private schools or go to Mount Madness?

But it is hard to argue with success. River Hill is 22-1.

Out in Howard County, River Hill coach Brandon Lauer is not unaware of the questions. But the Hawks’ coach has a philosophy that has served his team well.

"Mount Mat Madness is an excellent tournament with some of the best teams in and out of the state," he said. "But dual meet tournaments guarantee you a certain number of matches. My highest level wrestlers – Scott Mantua and Nathan White – would benefit from MMM, but the rest of my guys who need more experience might only get two matches, maybe four."

Last weekend at the Fort Hill dual meet tournament, each of his competitors wrestled in nine matches over the weekend. When he takes the Hawks to the Arundel Duals – at which they will meet Archbishop Spalding and Loyola among others – his wrestlers will each wrestle eight times.

Lauer said his goal is to get his wrestlers as much experience as possible during the regular season so they can be at their best for the season-ending state tournament.

He said he usually does not schedule private schools because the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association treats those matches differently during the seeding process if MPSSAA teams finish the season with the same record.

"My philosophy is to wrestle the public schools and don’t worry about possible tie situations," Lauer said. "And we are wrestling the strongest public school teams in the counties that surround us. We’ve wrestled Old Mill. We’ll wrestle Hereford. We wrestle Sherwood, traditionally one of the top three teams in Montgomery. At the Rocket Duals, we wrestled Urbana, the fourth-ranked team in the state. At Fort Hill, we saw two tough Pennsylvania teams."

In the end, said Lauer, "I could care less what others have to say. My job is to prepare my team for the state championships, and I think going to the dual meet tournaments benefits all of my guys in terms of experience and match time."

Sandra McKee