By Kyle Wannen
For DigitalSports.com
In last year’s 4A/3A West Regional Championships, Walt Whitman’s wrestling team only had one regional champion and finished three points behind Magruder for the team championship.
This year the Vikings returned a slew of wrestlers who qualified for states in last year’s tournament, and each of them finished at least one spot higher as Whitman took this year’s team championship by over 23 points. Three wrestlers won their respective weight classes and all eight Vikings wrestlers who participated in Saturday’s meet qualified for the state-wide tournament next weekend.
“Bringing eight guys here and having all eight of them qualify for states, it was a great job,” Vikings coach Derek Manon said. “We wrestled real well. We didn’t wrestle our best last weekend so we wanted to come here and have a good showing.”
“Everyone just came back with a chip on their shoulder,” senior co-captain Aaron Norris (189) said. “They all came here with something to prove and they all wrestled real tough.”
Co-captain Eric Beverly (145) remained undefeated this season for the Vikings with a victory on Saturday. In his first match without having to wear a protective face mask that he required all season, Beverly won the championship by major decision (15-5) with a dominant performance against Wootton’s Mike Barbaro. Last year Beverly finished in second place in the 140-lb weight class.
“It feels good. I can see. I can breathe,” Beverly said. “It’s just another stepping stone. I’m just going to try to keep on improving and work hard at states, I think things will take care of themselves.”
Norris won his title with a 4-1 decision over Paul Okeyo of Walter Johnson and junior Danny Lee (215) defeated Seneca Valley’s Bernard Wolley with a 2-1 decision. Last year Norris finished second in the 160-lb weight class while Lee finished third in the same weight class.
“Those guys who are winning those titles, I mean, they’ve really stepped up over the last year,” Manon said. “Our three captains, Beverly, Norris and [Steven] Fisher, they’ve done all the little things that a coach could have asked. To get these champs and the team title here is pretty special.”
“We’ve all been working very hard,” Lee said. “We graduated a few kids but not that many and we had a bunch of freshmen and sophomores that were just going to move up the next year and I knew they were just going to get betterand better and they proved it tonight.”
Fisher (160) and junior Taylor Leighton (171) each finished in second place for the Vikings. Sophomores Eric Harder (119) and Andrew Follmann (125) each finished in third place while junior Sawyer Symington (112) finished in fourth. Last year Leighton finished in third and Fisher and Harder each finished in fourth.
“It’s tough to lose that way in the semis but to wrestle back like that and qualify for states, it’s a huge help to the team,” Fisher said.
CHEN USES LATE REVERSE TO WIN
Late in the third round against Magruder’s Max Schneiderman, Churchill’s Mike Chen (119) pulled off a move he had been practicing all year which resulted in a match-winning reversal. Schneiderman had been predicted to win the weight class and had been dominant throughout the season including defeating Chen last week at the County tournament.
“I just hipped over,” Chen said. “It’s something I’ve been working on all year as defense. I was just trying to make it close.”
GALEANO WINS WITH FOUR SECONDS REMAINING
Springbrook’s Joe Galeano (130) scored a takedown with four second remaining in his title match against the favored Kekura Musa from Blair. Galeano won the match with a 4-3 decision and got revenge after losing the county title to Musa last weekend.
“There was a minute left and I was down by one and so I had to take a chance,” Galeano said. “Musa’s been a top contender and he’s beaten me three times. I had nothing to lose so I decided to go out and wrestle, you know, be smart.”
GAMBLE REPEATS AS REGIONAL CHAMPION
Last week Sherwood’s Steven Gamble became the only four-time county champion in Montgomery County history and he followed up that performance by winning his fourth consecutive regional title with a 6-0 decision against Fisher.
“It was a big statement to win counties and regionals,” Gamble said. “It’s been one of my biggest goals to win a state championship in wrestling ever since I started in high school. Losing three times in a row in the state finals, it’s kind of hard but I’ve been looking forward to this year.”
BADJE ATTAINS 100TH CAREER VICTORY
After he pinned Leighton in 1:49, Springbrook’s Nadjitade Badje (171) not only remained undefeated, but he also reached his 100th career win and won his weight-class title.
TEAM RESULTS
1 148.50 Walt Whitman
2 125.00 Springbrook
3 111.00 Sherwood
4 110.00 Thomas Wootton
5 105.50 Quince Orchard
6 100.50 Magruder
7 74.00 Northwest
8 66.50 Hubie Blake
9 55.00 Walter Johnson
10 39.00 Bethesda-CC
11 31.00 Albert Einstein
12 27.00 Paint Branch
13 25.00 Winston Churchill
14 21.00 Wheaton
15 19.50 Gaithersburg
16 19.00 Montgomery Blair
17 16.00 Seneca Valley
18 15.00 Watkins Mill
19 8.00 Damascus
20 0.00 John F. Kennedy
0.00 Richard Montgomery
PLACE WINNERS
Championship
103 Eli Bienstock, Quince Orchard
Fall Ravi Choxi, Magruder, 1:38
112 Rasheim Smith, Hubie Blake
Dec Jordan Tolbert, Magruder, 15-8
119 Mike Chen, Winston Churchill
Dec Max Schneiderman, Magruder, 4-3
125 Shane Bramble, Thomas Wootton
Dec Michael Henning, Northwest, 5-3
130 Joe Galeano, Springbrook Dec
Kekura Musa, Montgomery Blair, 4-3
135 Joey McKenna, Hubie Blake Dec
Tyler Tockman, Sherwood, 5-2
140 Arthur Holland, Quince
Orchard T-Fall Tyler Luckett, Northwest, 15-0; 3:51
145 Eric Beverly, Walt Whitman
M-Dec Mike Barbaro, Thomas Wootton, 15-5
152 Reed Neubaum, Quince Orchard
Dec Josh Lowy, Sherwood, 8-6
160 Steven Gamble, Sherwood Dec
Steven Fisher, Walt Whitman, 6-0
171 Nadjitade Badje, Springbrook
Fall Taylor Leighton, Walt Whitman, 1:48
189 Aaron Norris, Walt Whitman
Dec Paul Okeyo, Walter Johnson, 4-1
215 Danny Lee, Walt Whitman Dec
Bernard Wolley, Seneca Valley, 2-1
285 Dake Williams, Quince Orchard
Fall Gerrad Brown, Springbrook, 3:15
Consolation
103 Nitesh Donti, Northwest Dec
Jacob Weaver, Thomas Wootton, 1-0
112 Tommy Wilson, Albert Einstein
Dec Sawyer Symington, Walt Whitman, 6-0
119 Eric Harder, Walt Whitman Dec
Eddie Madden, Hubie Blake, 7-5; SV
125 Andrew Follmann, Walt Whitman
Fall Andy Tran, Springbrook, 4:17
130 Tony Scarnecchia, Walter
Johnson Frft Jeremy Rosenthal, Thomas Wootton
135 Sarantos Tripoulas, Wheaton
Dec Michael Roberts, Paint Branch, 9-2
140 Ricky Echeona, Albert
Einstein Dec Alex Abramson, Springbrook, 10-4
145 Miche Ulysse, Springbrook
Fall John Ramsey, Walter Johnson, 4:54
152 George Murphy, Watkins Mill
M-Dec Scott Oberst, Thomas Wootton, 14-2
160 Noah Joseph, Bethesda-CC Dec Chris
Ralli, Magruder, 10-3
171 Greg Hamilton, Northwest Fall
Tony Maroulis, Magruder, 4:37
189 John Rinaldi, Magruder Dec
Josh Hertz, Sherwood, 8-6; SV
215 Sam Hollman, Thomas Wootton
Fall Abel Dasilva, Springbrook, 1:49
285 Andrew Midgette, Sherwood Dec
Winterford Mensah, Paint Branch, 5-0
5th Place
103 Thomas Parsley, Gaithersburg
Fall Jake Sutton, Winston Churchill, 0:33
112 Vincent Galeano, Springbrook
Fall Oleg Loughner, Sherwood, 4:36
119 James Kerrick, Sherwood Dec
Adam Pereira, Bethesda-CC, 5-3
125 Anthony Steffes, Hubie Blake
Dflt Montgomery Barnsley, Sherwood, INJ
130 Sam Turow, Northwest Dec Ray
Mencia, Sherwood, 3-0
135 Tyler Warren, Gaithersburg
Dec Kyle Nisson, Thomas Wootton, 2-1
140 James Roach, Bethesda-CC Dec
Eric Mears, Thomas Wootton, 4-0
145 Jack Cunningham, Magruder Dec
Chris Byars, Albert Einstein, 6-4; OT
152 Don Cazeau, Springbrook Dec
Jacob White, Northwest, 10-5
160 Austin Williams, Quince
Orchard Dec Jack Corbett, Thomas Wootton, 6-1
171 Collins Nitcheu, Bethesda-CC
Fall Greg Potemken, Thomas Wootton, 4:37
189 Fred Stephenson, Damascus
M-Dec Casey Wolt, Quince Orchard, 16-6
215 Michael Perez, Wheaton Dec
Ian Banson, Paint Branch, 6-3
285 Patrick Teixeira, Walter Johnson Dec Mike Hill,
Bethesda-CC, 2-1
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