Meade wrestling coach Chad Vosburg wants to remind any wrestler (ages 8 to 18) who wants to get sound coaching this summer about the Workhorse Wrestling Commuter Camp, which runs July 18-21 from 8:30 a.m. -- 4 p.m. Meade is hosting the camp at Arundel High. The cost of the camp is $150 per wrestler, with a limit of 100 total wrestlers.

The camp will be run similarly to the Granby School of Wrestling Camps in Virginia. This camp is geared toward increasing wrestling knowledge, both technically and mentally. The camp will focus on a system of moves that will be developed through thorough drilling and repetition.

Takedowns will include Sweep Singles, Inside Step and Russian Arm Series. Bottom work will focus on 5-point holds that include Granby Rolls, Shrugs and the Forced Roll Series. Top work will include Bars, Tilts, Turks and Cradles. Diet plans, weight training, conditioning, work ethic, and mental toughness will all be discussed in the last 15 minutes of each day.

Jon Soiredas, current Old Dominion assistant coach and head clinician at the Granby School of Wrestling, will be conducting the camp. Soiredas will be assisted by current and past Old Dominion All-Americans and wrestlers.

To register for the Workhorse Wrestling Camp, visit premiersportsacad.com.

Posted by Sandra McKee at 4:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Wrestling
        

There was a lot of happiness at the Maryland State Wrestling Tournament on Saturday night, but while happiness was plentiful, no one was more surprised by the final team standings than Perry Hall coach Jake Roche and his team.

The Gators finished third in Class 4A-3A behind La Plata and Reservoir.

"Unbelievable," Roche said. "We expected our guys to persevere. But to finish third? We thought maybe top 20 or, at best, top 10."

It was quite a performance given Perry Hall put no one in the finals. The Gators' Zeke Salvo, a freshman who went 30-3 this season, was the team's top finisher, earning third in the 103-pound class.

"We had a young team this year," Roche said. "We only lose two seniors, and we'll have guys coming in from our county junior varsity championship team."

Perry Hall lost just three times in 13 matches, to Dulaney, Towson and No. 5 Owings Mills. Roche said he and his team are making big plans for the offseason -- and next year.

"We're starting a mat club here at Perry Hall to get these kids year-round experience," Roche said. "We're hoping to see good results from that."

Owings Mills, who finished second in the 2A-1A competition, has dominated the Baltimore County scene for decades. It will be fun next year to see whether Perry Hall can challenge the Eagles.

Owings Mills' Demetrius Johnson (130) and Taran Carr (145) brought individual championships home.

While Winters Mill won its first state title and broke a 26-year drought for Carroll County teams, several other county wrestlers joined Winters Mills' Justin Kozera (285) at the top of their weight classes.

Chris Wampler (125) won for South Carroll, and Dan Markosky (135) won for Liberty,

Harford County got a champion in Patterson Mill's Zach Cullison (119), the Huskies' first state titlist. And Aberdeen's Shayduan Velez (112) got his school's first individual title since 1999.

Howard County got two exceptional winners in Centennial's Nathan Kraisser (125) and Oakland Mills' Tony Farace (119), who each won for the third time as juniors and will pursue the rare opportunity to become a four-time titlist next season.

Reservoir's Mark Colabucci (171) went 37-1 this season and celebrated his second title, while Wilde Lake's Zathy Ndiang (189), a senior, rolled up a 29-1 record and earned his first state title. Glenelg's Charles Walls (160) got to celebrate as a senior as well.

Anne Arundel County got to celebrate three times with Tyler Goodwin (130), Salaman Riddell (140) and Ron Vaughters (145). Vaughters won his third crown.

And then there was Carver, the city school that put two wrestlers in the championship round -- a first for a city school. It got the ultimate prize when Tyler Hinton (140) became only the fourth wrestler in the history of city schools' participation to win a state title.

All in all, it was a wonderful night for all the wrestlers who put in the work and showed the strength of character be part of the state tournament.

Posted by Sandra McKee at 5:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Wrestling
        

Severna Park varsity wrestling coach Paul Joyce is sending out a call for applications from anyone interested in the junior varsity wrestling coach position which has become available at the Anne Arundel county school.

"Often at this time of year qualified coaches are looking for a spot, but there aren't any," said Joyce, who was originally hired for this same position by then head coach Ralph Toomey in 1995.

Anyone interested in applying should contact Joyce via e-mail, pfjoyce2002@yahoo.com, or by phone, 410-703-6308.

Posted by Sandra McKee at 4:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Wrestling
        

North County junior Patrick Downey, a two-time state champion, finished fourth at the Junior National Wrestling Tournament last week, earning him All-America honors, according to Knights coach Don Foderaro.

Posted by Steve Gould at 12:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Wrestling
        

What a week of outstanding achievement in high school athletics among boy athletes.

When it came time to pick The Sun's boys Athlete of the Week, there were more possible winners than we sometimes have in a month.

Donya Jackson, a Calvert Hall basketball player and two-time Baltimore Catholic League defensive player of the year, had a breakout offensive week, scoring 27 points against Archbishop Spalding in the BCL quarterfinals and 29 points against then-No. 1 St. Frances in the semifinals.

When fellow Sun sportswriter Ken Murray heard those numbers he said, "And you have options better than that?"

This week we had a real competition.

Robbie Creese, a junior at Glenelg, won the 1,600 (4:22), 3,200 (9:56) and 800-meter races (1:58.11) at the 2A indoor state track meet. He won the 800 with the best time in the Baltimore area this year and broke a 26-year-old record in the process.

Mark Colabucci, a Reservoir junior, won the 145-pound East regional wrestling championship to lead his team to the regional title and improve his own record to 40-0.

Charlie Melesh, a senior at Annapolis, set state swim meet records in the 100 butterfly (53.03) and the 200 individual medley (1:57.41). He also swam on the team's first place 200 medley relay team (1:46.08.)

Three other nominees, Sam Pellerito of Carver A&T and Adikola Oliganju and Elton Joe, both of Digital Harbor, each won 2A North regional wrestling titles. In each case, the regional titles were the first in their respective schools' history.

So who took the honor?

Bobby Bowman, a senior wrestler at Mount St. Joseph.

He went into the National Prep Wrestling Tournament at Lehigh University last weekend as the No. 6 seed. Over two days of competition, he beat the No. 3 seed, Scott Patrick of McDonogh, the Maryland Independent Schools champion, and the No. 2 seed, James Wieller of Wyoming Seminary (Pa.).

Bowman lost 5-4 in the championship match to No. 1 seed Tanner Eitel of Bishop Lynch (Texas), who was at one point warned for stalling after Bowman had escaped to close within 5-4 and aggressively sought to get a take down. The Gael senior got it, but the match official judged Bowman's take down at the edge of the mat that came as the buzzer sounded, coming an instant too late.

"We watched the film four or five times," said Mount St. Joseph coach Paul Triplett. "It was a pretty dramatic finish and it could have gone either way. As the referee conferred with the assistant referee everyone in the building was chanting 'Two! Two!'

"It was a very, very close call. But I guess we needed an extra half second. Bobby wrestled really well."

Bowman's second-place finish allowed his team to finish fifth in the tournament in which 114 teams competed. He was also the highest finishing competitor from Maryland.

Any one of the aforementioned boys could have been Athlete of the Week. For those who wonder, the final choice was determined based on the fact that Bowman performed on the national stage against the best in the country.

Posted by Sandra McKee at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Boys basketball, Track and field, Wrestling
        

The U.S. Army Baltimore Recruiting Battalion has announced the finalists for the inaugural Army STRONG Wrestler of the Year, honoring Maryland’s best high school wrestlers.

Fans can vote online at TheSportsFlash.com, beginning Monday, March 8. The voting will end at midnight Sunday, Mar. 21. The winner will be announced Monday, Mar. 22.

Army STRONG Wrestler of the Year - Maryland nominees:

Daniel Brannon – La Plata
Pat Carey – North County
Patrick Downey – North County
Tony Gardner – Calvert Hall
Taylor Gload – Hereford
Nathan Kraisser - Centennial
Matthew Miller – John Carroll
Joseph Ramsel – Hereford
Matt Swiger - Hereford
Chris Williamson – Clarksburg

Posted by Sandra McKee at 4:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Wrestling
        

Some of the dual meet region wrestling tournaments slated for today will go as scheduled while others are postponed until Wednesday.

Teams are vying for a position in the state semifinals and finals next Feb. 23 at North County in Anne Arundel County.

(Semifinal bouts begin at 5:30 p.m. with the winners
moving onto the finals at 7:30 p.m., unless otherwise noted)

Class 4A/3A West -- at Clarksburg, today

No. 4 Magruder vs. No. 1 Walt Whitman
No. 3 Quince Orchard vs. No. 2 Clarksburg

Class 4A/3A North -- at Urbana, Wednesday

No. 4 Parkville vs. No. 1 Patterson
No. 3 Hereford vs. No. 2 Urbana

Class 4A/3A South -- at LaPlata, today

No. 4 DuVal vs. No. 1 LaPlata
No. 3 Leonardtown vs. No. 2 C.H. Flowers

Class 4A/3A East -- at South River, Wednesday

No. 4 Old Mill vs. No. 1 South River
No. 3 Stephen Decatur vs. No. 2 Reservoir

Class 2A/1A West -- at Southern-Garrett, today

No. 4 Smithsburg vs. No. 1 Southern-Garrett
No. 3 Liberty vs. No. 2 South Carroll

Class 2A/1A North -- at Owings Mills, Wednesday

No. 4 City vs. No. 1 Owings Mills
No. 3 Dundalk vs. No. 2 Sparrows Point

Class 2A/1A South -- at Glenelg, today

No. 4 Poolesville vs. No. 1 Glenelg
No. 3 Hammond vs. No. 2 Oakland Mill

Class 2A/1A East -- at Bohemia Manor, Wednesday

No. 4 Parkside vs. No. 1 Bohemia Manor
No. 3 Bel Air vs. No. 2 Queen Anne's

-- Sandra McKee

Posted by baltimoresun.com at 1:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Wrestling
        

The Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association wrestling tournament, originally set for Saturday, will now take place Monday at Mount St. Joseph. Weigh-ins begin at 7 a.m. with matches to follow at 9.

The MIAA swimming championships have been postponed until Saturday, Feb. 20 at Loyola. Time is to be announced.

Posted by Glenn Graham at 2:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Wrestling
        

Wyoming Seminary coach John Gordon knows all about leading and how to turn his team into a winning machine -- but he isn't exactly the perfect guest.

He and his team are not the retiring types. They don't sit quietly in the living room waiting for their host to direct them to dinner. Instead, Wyoming acts as if it is starving -- devouring its host and other guests and smacking their lips along the way.

Gordon brought his Knights here to defend their 2009 title and they are doing it with passion. On Friday, all 12 of his wrestlers feasted on the competition to advance to Saturday's quarterfinals.

"First, we're glad to be back," Gordon said. "It's a great opportunity for us to see schools from DC, Maryland and Delaware that we don't get to see."

But that's not to say Wyoming doesn't get around. Over the past month the team has traveled to Ohio, Delaware, Wisconsin and Virginia for meets.

"Our kids are battle-tested," Gordon said. "Our kids are ready to compete. Of course, there is a risk of some fatigue and we are a little beaten up. But we hope to win this championship."

The odds are with him, but St. Mark's coach Jay Bastianelli said he believes his team, which is ranked 10th nationally, is perfectly positioned to upset Wyoming, ranked fifth nationally, for the Mount Mat Madness team title.

He added that his team is really disappointed Wyoming's heavyweight Mike McMullan, No. 1 nationally, is out after surgery.

"He beat our heavyweight Bobby Telford by one point in the final of the Beast of the East Tournament," Bastianelli said. "We really wanted that rematch."

Wyoming coach John Gordan smiled when he heard, but said McMullan, who has signed with Northwestern, and Telford, who is going to Iowa, will have "plenty more meetings" in their Big Ten careers.

Meanwhile, Mount St. Joseph heavyweight Karl Green said he is wrestling not just to win, but to have fun.

"I enjoy it no matter what happens in a match," said Green, after smiling his way through his last match of the night, pinning Hopewell's Jacob Roark in 49 seconds.

Green, who is No. 5 in the country, said he is looking forward to meeting Telford, who beat him at the War on the Shore tournament earlier this season.

McDonogh had a pleasant surprise when unseeded sophomore Roman Braglio pinned No. 6 seeded senior James Yohe of Spring Grove in 1:56. That win and others helped the Eagles move up the team chart to No. 12 going into Saturday's quarterfinals.

John Carroll's team also had a good outing, ending the day ninth over all.

Posted by Sandra McKee at 10:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Wrestling
        

While 30 teams will be wrestling at Mount Mat Madness this weekend, more than a dozen will be competing at the Archbishop Spalding dual meet and 17 more will be at the Franklin Invitational.

"Two years ago we weren't invited to Mount Mat Madness," said Spalding coach Mike Laidley, whose team is currently ranked No. 5 in The Sun's poll. "We thought that while a lot of teams with exceptional wrestlers really like the individual-style tournaments, a lot of others enjoy the dual-meet format because it means all of their wrestlers get more matches, more experience."

Among the teams competing at Spalding are No. 3 Glenelg, No. 6 Arundel, No. 11 Old Mill and River Hill. The matches begin Friday at 3:30 p.m. and will start again Saturday at 9 a.m.

Meanwhile at Franklin High, No. 8 Owings Mills and No. 10 Hereford will be among the teams competing in the Indians' individual tournament.

"I actually enjoy running the tournament," said Franklin coach Michael Slaughter. "It should be very competitive and it raises a lot of money for our wrestling program that we use for everything from uniforms to equipment."

The Franklin tournament begins at 4 p.m. Friday and resumes at 9:30 a.m. Saturday. The finals are tentatively scheduled to begin at approximately 3 p.m.

Posted by Sandra McKee at 5:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Wrestling
        

The holidays are over, and one of the biggest high school wrestling tournaments in the area gets under way Friday at CCBC-Catonsville. The seventh annual Mount Mat Madness hits the floor at 2:30 p.m. with 400 wrestlers from a record 30 teams representing five states.

“It’s a little bit stronger field this year than it was last year,” Mount St. Joseph coach and athletic director Paul Triplett said. “From that standpoint the competition will be tougher, and we’re looking forward to it.”

The tournament continues Saturday at 8:30 a.m. and culminates with the championship round at 7:30 p.m.

Among the competitors are eight returning tournament champions, including: Dominick Malone, 103 pounds, Wyoming Seminary; Sean Boylan, 112, St. Mark’s; Nick Schenk, 119, McDonogh; Frank Cagnina, 125, Queen of Peace; Codey Combs, 140, Sussex Central; Bubba Scheffel, 145, Southern-Garrett; Chris Moon, 152, Fauquier; and Karl Green, 285, Mount St. Joseph.

Schenk has won titles twice in the past three years at 103 and 119, and is now wrestling at 135. Moon is now at Wyoming Seminary and competing at 160. Overall, seven of the eight returning champs are competing in different weight classes this year.

The only one who isn’t is the Gaels’ Green, who will try to defend his 285-pound title. It won’t be easy. Green finished second in the National Prep Tournament last year and was a double Junior All-American in Fargo, N.D., but there are two other nationally ranked wrestlers in his weight class: Wyoming Seminary’s Mike McMullan, who was the 2009 National Prep champion, and St. Mark’s Bobby Telford, who went 38-0 last year.

“There are a number of highly ranked individuals in this tournament,” Triplett said. “And we’ve got a nice mix of public and private schools. We try not to invite all of the MIAA schools because we see them so often during the season, and we try to invite some top schools outside of our area.”

Among the teams competing are five ranked among the Top 15 by The Baltimore Sun: No. 1 Mount St. Joseph, No. 4 Archbishop Curley, No. 7 McDonogh, No. 13 Loyola and No. 14 John Carroll.

Even with the largest number of schools competing in the tournament’s seven-year history, Triplett said tournament director Neil Adleberg still had to turn 15 to 20 teams away.

“There were some good teams who didn’t get in,” said Triplett, who will be coaching in the tournament for the first time.

The last time Triplett coached the Gaels, the tournament didn’t exist. Over the past six years as athletic director, he has been working behind the scenes to make sure everything runs smoothly. On Tuesday, he said he’s “excited” to be on the floor coaching.

“Personally, I want us to finish as high as we can,” he said. “Ideally, we want to finish in the top five. We were fifth last year, and our goal is to always try to do better.”

Posted by Sandra McKee at 9:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Wrestling
        

Hereford senior wrestler Taylor Gload was named the Army STRONG Wrestler of the Week after posting a 7-0 mark in leading the Bulls to a first-place finish at Richard Montgomery's Rocket Launch Duals in late December.

Gload, who usually wrestles at 215 pounds, claimed a 2-1 decision over River Hill heavyweight Brandon Barnes in the final. He is now 13-1 on the season and has 83 career wins.

Gload is the defending Baltimore County champ at 215 and went 40-5 last season, placing fourth at the state tournament.

Fans from across the state can vote on a weekly winner online at www.TheSportsFlash.com. Nominations must be received by noon on Monday by e-mail: ArmyStrong.Maryland@TheSportsFlash.com.

Posted by Glenn Graham at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Wrestling
        

Andrew Wall, a former Annapolis High School wrestler who graduated in 2005, died this week. A funeral service will be held Saturday at St. Mary's Church, 113 Duke of Gloucester St., Annapolis, at 9 a.m.

His life's story was short -- he just turned 23 last Saturday -- but over those limited years he seemed to have made lasting impressions on everyone he met. More than 22,000 messages from family and friends at his Caringbridge.org website attest to that.

Wall had been an active, healthy young man until one day about six months ago when he collapsed while working in a field at an organic farm in Makawao, Hawaii. He was rushed to the hospital and found to have a brain tumor. He was returned to Maryland and had been in the care of his family in Annapolis since.

"I heard and his former teammates, who were some of his best friends, heard when it happened," said Tom Sfakiyanudis, who coached wrestling for 10 years at Annapolis High, including those years when Wall competed. "It has hit everyone around here pretty hard. He had a lot of close friends on the team and they were all keeping in touch through the entire ordeal."

Sfakiyanudis described Wall as "a wonderful kid", who didn't start wrestling until high school but worked hard in practice to excel.

"Andrew worked his way up quickly," Sfakiyanudis said. "I remember he won us a big match his junior year when he was wrestling at 171 pounds. We were competing against Broadneck and it came down to his match. He pinned the guy to win us the whole match."

Messages at Caringbridge.org come from friends he had made at age 7, from ICU nurses who took care of him in Hawaii after he collapsed, from the Severn women's rugby organization, from Mount St. Mary's rugby captain and a classmate, from friends in California, Texas and Utah, from friends he made three years ago on a United Kingdom study trip. They come from his former teachers at the Mount, from families of his former wrestling teammates and from the family whose farm he lived and worked on in Hawaii, who say he made such an impression on them they are building a memorial on the farm to him.

All of those messengers, first expressing support for his recovery and then sympathy and compassion at his loss, all talk about a young man who was kind and caring, patient, thoughtful, genuine, and a "lover of all things food."

They talk about his huge smile, his king-sized hugs and his gentleness.

And all of them talk about the impression he made on their lives and how much they'll miss him.

A wonderful legacy for his family, now saddened by his loss, to remember.

Posted by Sandra McKee at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Wrestling
        

Sometimes when students return to the classroom after the summer, a teacher will ask for an essay on "What I did on my summer vacation." Calvert Hall students are just returning this week, but when Calvert Hall's assistant principal Chuck Stembler heard about the wrestling team's summer service project, he didn't wait for school to start to ask for a story.

Varsity wrestling coach Roy Lobdell, who saw 17 wrestlers -- a little more than half of his roster -- take part in the program, he knew exactly who to put to work on the assignment.

Junior Forrest Rutledge, who received a letter Friday saying he had made the National Honor Society and is the expected starter at the 160-pound weight class, got the call and wrote about the experience.

"I thought it was a cool project," Rutledge said. "And I was sort of surprised that so many of my teammates took part. You'd have thought there would have only been five or six of us given it was summer vacation time."

Doug Heidrick, director of communications/coordinator of alumni reunions at Calvert Hall passed Rutledge's composition along to The Sun:

Continue reading "Calvert Hall wrestlers do meaningful summer service" »

Posted by Sandra McKee at 11:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Wrestling
        

Two of Mount St. Joseph's Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association and Maryland Independent Schools wrestling champions, Frankie and Tyler Goodwin, will be moving to Arundel High this fall.

Their Gaels teammate, Alex Rice, who was a runner-up in the MIAA and private schools state tournaments as a freshman in 2007 but sat out most of last season with a knee injury, is also leaving. He is expected to attend Chesapeake High, another Anne Arundel County public school.

"We've lost a couple studs," said Mount St. Joseph coach Kirk Salvo, who said he is also stepping down from MSJ's head coaching position. "It will bring us back to the pack a little. I think we would have been unstoppable this coming year if everyone had come back."

Salvo, who coached the Gaels to the MIAA championship last season, said his decision to step out of the head coaching job was based partly on economics and partly on family issues. He has children in high, middle and elementary schools, "and 17 weekends away from home is a little too much to put entirely on my wife," he said. "And financially on my end, again, it is a sign of the times. Economically, $5,000 for what is basically a full-time job for four months is asking a lot.

"I feel I've given to the program. The team, a large part of the team, will be seniors. I've coached them for three years, and they've heard my message. Now Paul [Triplett, former wrestling coach and current Mount St. Joseph athletic director] will step back in, and I think it is a good thing. They can't do better than having Paul Triplett."

Triplett led the Gaels to the Maryland Independent Schools Championship in 1995 and the MIAA title in each of his 11 years as head coach.

Meanwhile, at Arundel, Jim Rubush, who will be in his second year as the Wildcats' coach, said his timetable for winning a state public school title just got "bumped up."

"It's exciting news," Rubush said. "Two kids aren't going to win you a state championship. We need a few more of our kids to step up. But there is no question they'll put you up there in contention.

Senior Frankie Goodwin won the 119-pound MIAA and MIS state titles last season and was second in the National Preps competition. He finished with a 34-5 record and was a first-team Baltimore Sun All-Metro selection.

Tyler Goodwin will be a sophomore. Last season he placed first in the MIAA 112-pound class, compiling a 39-8 record. He was second-team All-Metro.

Rice recovered from his knee injury and this summer finished fifth at 130 pounds in the National Preps competition and sixth at 125 pounds in the world tournament in Reno, Nev.

"They're going to make us more competitive on more than one level," Rubush said. "Just as important as their winning matches will be the fact that they will bring our practice level up. I can assure you, everyone is ecstatic about the prospects."

Posted by Sandra McKee at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Wrestling
        

A group of 54 Maryland high school wrestlers from 30 schools brought home 15 individual All-American awards from the Cadet and Junior National competition at USA Wrestling's National Championships in Fargo, N.D.

It is the highest number of All-Americans in state history, with the previous mark being 12.

Maryland's attack was led by double All-Americans Tyler Goodwin (119) and Frank Goodwin (125), who both attended Mt. St. Joseph last season, Bubba Scheffel (152) of Southern-Garrett, and Karl Green (285) of Mt. St. Joseph.

Also earning All-American honors were: David Mohler (84), Loyola; Cole Gallagher (98), Archbishop Spalding; Nathan Kraisser (112), Centennial; Eric Friedman (112), St. Paul's; Pat Prada (119), DeMatha; Eric Hoffman (135), Northern-Calvert; and Brady Massaro (140), Severna Park.

Maryland wrestlers won a total of 196 matches with 34 pins during the week-long event at North Dakota State University in mid-July. The competition, which drew more than 3,000 competitors from across the country, is considered the toughest tournament in the world for its age group, according to team leader Neil Adleberg and head coach Cary Kolat, a two-time NCAA champion and former Olympian and world silver medalist.

Posted by Sandra McKee at 9:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Wrestling