WRESTLING
Righter wins National crown
Mount Saint Joseph junior takes heavyweight title; Atholton sends 10 to states
Mount Saint Joseph junior heavyweight Isaac Righter won a National Preps title Saturday afternoon at Lehigh University.
Righter, who was the No. 1 seed, pinned his first four opponents to reach the final, where he defeated Covenant School’s Rick Weaver via a 16-6 major decision. He’s the first Gael to win National Preps since Dan Hawkins won the 195-pound title in 2014 and the first Baltimore-area wrestler since McDonogh’s Myles Martin (182), Archbishop Curley’s Tyshawn Williams (145) and John Carroll’s Hunter Ritter (195) each won championships in 2015.
Ritter victory, along with nine other placers, helped Mount Saint Joseph finish third in the team race with 168 points behind New Jersey’s Blair Academy (354 points) and Pennsylvania’s Wyoming Seminary (325). It’s the first time the Gaels finished in the top three since 2005 and are the first Baltimore-area team since McDonogh came in third in 2015.
McDonogh (96.5 points) had five place-winners and finished seventh, Archbishop Spalding (85) had five and came in ninth, and St. Paul’s (78.5) had four to finish 11th. Loyola Blakefield (33.5) came in 25th with one placer.
St. Paul’s senior Jack Parr (195) reached the finals as the No. 2 seed but dropped a 3-0 decision to Wyoming Seminary’s Austin Cooley in the championship match.
Four other local wrestlers won the consolation finals and placed third: McDonogh’s Cooper Flynn (113) and Garrett Kappes (220), Archbishop Spalding’s Garrett Fisk (152), and Mount Saint Joseph’s Chris Barnabae (120).
Flynn, who was a runner-up a year ago as a freshman, lost a one-point decision to the No. 1 seed in the semifinals before upending the No. 2 seed in the third-place match. Kappes, a fifth-place finisher last season, made the semifinal round but lost a four-point decision to the eventual champion. He shut out his next two opponents.
Fisk reached the semifinals as a No. 6 seed but dropped a 5-0 decision there. He bounced back to win a pair of two-point matches to improve on his fourth-place finish last season.
Barnabae earned the No. 1 seed but couldn’t get past No. 4 seed Lachlan McNeil of Wyoming Seminary and lost, 9-7, in the semifinals. Like Kappes, Barnabae shut out his next two opponents — 6-0 and 3-0 — to place third for the second consecutive year.
Mount Saint Joseph’s other placers were: Justin Henry (182, fourth), Connor Strong (145, fifth), Joe Couch (113, fifth), Ethan Stern (195, fifth), Nathan Porter (126, sixth), Zach Phillips (160, sixth), Parker Warner (220, eighth) and Jonathan Short (170, eighth).
In addition to Flynn and Kappes, Ray Kable (132, fourth), Dominic Solis (170, fifth) and Cody Williams (285, sixth) placed for McDonogh, while Joe Fisk (132, fifth), Dustin Radford (195, sixth), Brady Pruett (106, seventh) and Rick Couch (138, eighth) finished in the top eight for the Cavaliers.
St. Paul’s Nasir Wilkinson placed fourth after reaching the semifinals, and Dylan Blau (160, seventh) and Wil Guida (113, seventh) also reached the podium.
Loyola Blakefield’s Shawn Strand (120) finished sixth.
4A-3A East region
If coach Bruce Lindblad can instill anything in his wrestlers before then, he hopes it’s a sense of courage.
“No fear. That’s what it comes down to. I’ve been to many state tournaments in my long tenure,” the 29-year coach said. “Who gets that first takedown and who can hit the doubles, that’s what it comes down to. You wrestle right to the end. Sean [Billups] found that out last year in the semifinal match, lost to that kid from Liganore in the last five seconds. The lead is never safe.”
Atholton junior David Panda took that message to heart. Down in the final seconds of his semifinal match, Panda scored, earning a ticket to the finals — and, eventually, his regional victory.
Panda outlasted rival Jagger Clapsadle of Stephen Decatur in an even-scoring battle for the 113 title, 10-8. Clapsadle had previously dished Panda’s only loss of the year.
Centennial senior Jason Kraisser — also undefeated this winter — completed his four-year regional sweep with the only pin of the finals over Broadneck’s Kyle Keller in the 152.
Broadneck’s Vinny Facciponti brushed off surrendering his county throne to Severna Park’s Ty Broadway by defeating the Falcon. The 195-pounder is one of four Bruins regional champions and one of four bound for states in Upper Marlboro this weekend.
Those are the ingredients for a pretty good day in Broadneck coach Reid Bloomfield’s book.
“They’ve been talented. They’ve been dedicated. Now they’re finally starting to wrestle smart,” Bloomfield said.
Nick Schardt, who took fifth at states last March, had to abide by Bloomfield’s wrestling smart manta. The 132-pounder’s body contorted so much it’d make a Cirque du Soleil performer envious as Annapolis’ Nate Ditmars’ glue-like grip kept the Bruin from cruising to an easy win. Even as Schardt managed a 5-1 lead, Ditmars closed the gap to one point.
2A-1A South region
Glenelg had a tournament-high five winners in Sam Alsheimer (195 pounds), Jared Thomas (138), Kevin Hansberger (126), Drew Sotka (170) and Jake Arnone (182), while Oakland Mills had three: Jalen Cornelius (120), Anthony Morales (160) and Ernie Smith (285).
Also earning regional title were Hammond’s Shehzan Dahya (106) and Loic Tueguo (220), Southern’s Andrew Ruel (113), River Hill’s Will Henrickson (132) and La Plata’s Alex Blake (145) and Owen Butler (152).
Alsheimer, a senior and returning state finalist, won his third straight regional title and pinned his way to the championship. In the final, he needed just 44 seconds to stick Southern’s JoJo Herring in a cradle, and he wrestled a total of 1 minute, 50 seconds in his three matches combined.
2A-1A West region
Along with Kirby, Carroll County crowned three regional champs on Saturday evening.
South Carroll’s Ryan Athey (106) and Antonio Bradford (160) took home first-place hardware in their respective weight classes.
2A-1A East region
Havre de Grace boasted two champions with sophomores Gavin Lloyd and Michael Sweigart both winning region titles for the first time.
North Harford junior Josh Mitchell stunned the entire crowd with his win at 132. Mitchell fell behind unbeaten Ryan Bauer of North Caroline 7-0 rather quickly. It was 9-0 in the second period before Mitchell scored his first point with an escape. The Bauer lead was 15-4 over Mitchell midway through the final quarter, when the unexpected happened. Mitchell come from the bottom and put Bauer flat on his back. Seconds later, Mitchell scored the pin in 5:03.
Joppatowne junior Chris Kalambihis added the fourth title at 220. A quick takedown and a set of near fall points set the tone early for Kalambihis. Another takedown in period two and an escape in period three gave Kalambihis a 7-2 win over Kent Island’s Haydn Blanchard.
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