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