Hereford wins Baltimore County Title

Hereford’s 20th-ranked senior Andy Burton was in danger of being a runner-up for the second consecutive year as he trailed by three points in the second-period of Saturday’s 150-pound Baltimore County title match at CCBC-Essex.

But Burton changed the momentum for good with a two-point reversal, four nearfall points and a one-point escape in the third-period of his come-from-behind, 7-4 decision over Sparrows Point’s 21st-ranked junior Ryan Whisner for his third county championship.

Burton’s record on the year is 30-5 following a 7-0 decision, a fall in 5:15 of his semifinal bout, and after overcoming the 4-1 second-period deficit against Whisner, whose record slipped to 35-2.

Whisner was a county runner-up for the second straight year after placing third as a freshman and finishing third and fifth at regions in two previous seasons.

“I think he [let me up] in the third period because I reversed him and took the lead in the second period,” Burton said. “Toward the end, I wasn’t letting him take the best shots. I was sort of circling around him and not letting him get to my legs.”

Burton was among five finalists and eight teammates who finished within the top three of their weight classes as the 25th-ranked Bulls (226.5 points) dethroned 29th-ranked Sparrows Point (173.5) as county champions.

Runners-up for the Bulls were ninth-ranked senior Adam Keever (215), 18th-ranked junior Connor Cline (120), sophomore Wyatt Ulshafer (144) and senior Ja’Quon Burton (175), with third-place efforts from junior Thomas Mallon (132), senior Griff Walter (157), senior Owen Roberts (165)

This year, Burton owns an 11-5 decision victory, which is the only loss for Eastern Tech’s 14th-ranked Chase Ullmann, a 144-pound senior who improved to 31-1 by winning his second straight county title on Saturday after placing third as a sophomore.

Burton was a runner-up last year following a 5-1 decision loss to Perry Hall’s Justin Kavanagh, an 11th-ranked, 157-pound senior who earned his second consecutive county title on Saturday.

“Being a three-timer feels great, man,” Burton said. “Last year I lost in the finals to Justin Kavanagh and was thinking about that.”

The Bulls are coached by two of their program’s most decorated alumni in third-year head coach Josh Asper and Rob Hough, who is among Asper’s five assistants including Brett Baier, Alex Usztics, Adam Bell and John Walter.

Before graduating in 2008, Asper earned three Baltimore County Tournament Titles and finished third once, three regional crowns in four title-match berths, and became only the third of Maryland’s current nine four-time state champions. Asper finished his high school career with a record of 152-7.

Asper graduated from the University of Maryland in 2013 as a two-time ACC champion in four title match appearances, earning All-American status for placing sixth twice in the NCAA tournament, and was named ACC Wrestler of the Year in 2011.

In addition, Asper ranked second all-time for the Terps in career victories with a record of 152-28 behind Hudson Taylor (165-28), a 2010 graduate and two-time ACC champion who twice placed third in the NCAA Tournament.

Hough graduated from Hereford in 1990 after having become the county tournament’s first four-time champion and the Bulls’ first grappler to earn 100 wins with a career record of 108-5-1.

Hough, 54, also has 32 years of decorated service in the military, including those as member of the Maryland Army National Guard, former Infantry Dragon Gunner and a deployment as a First Sergeant on a combat tour to Afghanistan in 2019.

The runner-up Pointers crowned a pair of repeat champions in fifth-ranked junior Wyatt Rossi (113) and 16th-ranked sophomore Chase Carnahan (132).

Rossi has a record of 26-3 following pins in 37 seconds and 1:47 as well as a 20-4 technical fall in his title-match with 20th-ranked sophomore Gavin Young of Perry Hall, whose record slipped to 24-2.

“I felt good. I felt strong,” said Rossi, whose record was 39-1 last year. “I just went out there and tried to wrestle my match.”

Rossi earned his third straight county title, and will attempt to earn his third straight regional crown next week, and can become only the third Pointers' wrestler to repeat as a Class 2A-1A state champion after having placed third as a freshman.

Carnahan ran his record to 14-0 thanks to pins in 20 and 77 seconds along with a third in 1:58 before winning his title match by 13-9 decision over 17th-ranked senior Chrisian Wright of Milford Mill, whose record is 19-2 after being third at counties last year.

“I wasn’t able to wrestle the first half of the season because I had some mental issues and some health problems, so I came back a little late in the season and wasn’t able to get properly conditioned,” said Carnahan, a two-time county champion who was third at regions last year.

“I knew that was going to be a tough match with Christian. I’ve known him and I’ve been wrestling with him for a long time. We were always on different teams, but we’ve always been close friends.”

The third-place Gators (167 points) crowned Kavanagh, 25th-ranked junior Clayton Hosier (165) and top-ranked, four-time county champion senior Victor Marks-Jenkins (190).

Marks-Jenkins will pursue his fourth straight Class 4A-3A North Region crown next week and his third consecutive Class 4A-3A state title two weeks from now after having placed third at states as a 145-pound freshman.

Ranked 19th nationally by High School on SI, Marks-Jenkins’ record improved to 47-0 with 36 pins and a technical fall following a 32-second pin, a 6-0 semifinal decision over Catonsville’s 17th-ranked junior Josh Agen-Davis, and a fall in 1:53 of his title match with 18th-ranked junior Daron King of Milford Mill, whom he decked with a double-bar-arm pinning maneuver.

With a career mark of 192-1 with 152 pins and 13 technical falls, Marks-Jenkins is on pace to eclipse the state’s all-time career victories mark for public school wrestlers of 195-5 held by South Carroll’s Joey Thomas, winner of three state titles over the course of 2015, 2016 and 2017.

A returning regional champion, Kavanagh improved his record to 23-1 on a 46-second fall, an 18-1 technical fall and a pin in 1:53 of title bout with Towson senior Korben Suskin.

Hosier improved his record on the year to 37-2 following pins in 17 and 63 seconds to go with a 14-9 title match victory over Franklin senior Christian Levelle.

“[Levelle] beat me last year at counties by a point, but we had an amazing match at regions where I won by a major, 17-6. Last year, when I wrestled, I placed fifth at counties. I wasn’t sure I was going to place this year,” said Hosier, who was fifth at counties and second at regions last season.

“I didn’t think I was going to be able to wrestle at all because of my grades. My grades were terrible, and I was able to get them up and continue this season. I just want to thank all of my teammates, my family, Justin [Kavanagh,] Victor [Marks-Jenkins,] my mom, my dad. This feels amazing.”

Catonsville crowned a pair of sophomores in 11th-ranked Owen Shelley (120) and 14th-ranked Drew Eveleth (120), each of whom is a returning Class 4A-3A North Region title-winner and improved on last year’s county runner-up finishes.

Shelley has a record of 35-0 following a pin in 1:46, a 17-0 technical fall and a 4-1 championship victory over Cline, whose record is 30-3 after being a runner-up for the second consecutive season.

“I could have wrestled better than I did during that match. I got a little frustrated. I had wrestled him in our dual meet and beat him by 11 points,” said Shelley, owner of an earlier, 1-0, decision against Rossi. “I didn’t push my pace as much this time, but I’m excited. I’m feeling good. I’ve got to get right back into the room and get to work getting ready for next week and the regionals and states.”

Eveleth is 33-2 after a fall in 2:46, a 12-0 major decision and his come-from-behind, 5-4 decision over Sparrows Point’s 15th-ranked junior Brandon Wunder, whose record slipped to 35-2.

Eveleth trailed, 4-2, after choosing neutral and allowing a point to Wunder before scoring the decisive three-point takedown that avenged an earlier, 6-5 decision loss to Wunder, who blanked Shelley, 12-0, for last year’s county title. Wunder has placed first once and second twice at counties, second and sixth at regionals, and third at states.

“[Wunder] is very good on bottom, so I felt I wasn’t going to be able to turn him on top. I put him up in neutral because I knew he was tired and that I could take him down,” Eveleth said. “The takedown was a high-crotch. I faked the snap-down, passed the elbow and went into the high-crotch. It was a fake-snap, grab and a single-leg. It was just a bunch of good set-ups.”

Eveleth’s coach and father, Brian, was a state champion for Chesapeake-Anne Arundel County in 1991.

“We knew that we were looking at a dogfight [against Wunder,] and that’s exactly what it was,” Brian Eveleth said. “We knew that he was good at scrambling down on the mat, so the strategy was to try and finish the takedowns.”

Lansdowne crowned a pair of seniors in ninth-ranked senior Chase Swiger (175) and Glenn Lail (106).

After finishing second, first and fifth at counties, regions and states last year, Swiger’s record is 30-1 following pins in 10 seconds and 1:58 to go with a 15-0 technical fall and another of 17-2 in his title match with the Bulls’ Ja’Quon Burton.

“I had never wrestled [Burton] before, but the match went completely my way,” said Swiger, who was fourth at counties as a sophomore. “He was walking into every fireman’s carry that I shot, and I was able to put him on his back a couple of times. Next up, we have regionals, and I’m looking forward to them.”

Lail improved his record on the year to 24-2 as well as on last year’s sixth place finish with consecutive pins in 40 and 51 seconds to go with a third at 2:14 of his title match with Kenwood freshman Hunter Polly.

“That was my first time wrestling [Polly,] and I had never seen him wrestle, but he’s pretty good. He had gone in for a shot, and I was able to use a cow-catcher and I pinned him with it,” Lail said. “This is my senior year, and I’ve always been wrestling at 106, so this has been the best shot that I’ve had to win it. This has been my best year, and I’ve done really well.”

Lail and Swiger are coached by Lansdowne alumnus Shawn Sims, who earned 122 career victories for the Vikings before graduating in 2002. Sims earned first, second, third and fourth placements at counties, captured three regional crowns after finishing fourth as a freshman, and placed second and third at Class 2A-1A states.

Other champions were Ullmann, New Town’s eighth-ranked senior Olasubomi Atanlogun (215), Dundalk’s 16th-ranked senior Dylan Holt (285), and Kenwood senior Luca Blythe (138).

As a sophomore, Ullmann placed second and sixth regionals and Class 2A-1A states, and as a junior, he won regionals and placed third at states.

Ullmann decked all four opponents comprising pins in 48, 50 and 74 seconds to go with a championship bout fall in 2:53 over Ulshafer.

“I feel like I’m wrestling pretty good, but obviously I still have a lot of work to do,” Ullmann said. “My main goal is to go out there and to have as much fun as possible. I’ll be working on all of that over the next two weeks for regions and states.”

Atanlogun used pins in 32 seconds and 1:54 as well as a 7-0 decision to reach his title bout, where his blast double-leg takedown with 30 seconds remaining secured a 4-3 decision and avenged an earlier overtime loss to Keever.

Armed with a record of 30-4, Atanlogun is a repeat county champion who will attempt to win his second straight regional crown and improve on last year’s fourth-place finish at states.

“The first time I wrestled him, I ended with two blast doubles, so I came into the match knowing that I could get to his legs with the blast double, so that was my focus. Last time, [Keever] took me down with two ankle picks,” Atanlogun said. “This time, I wanted to keep my feet moving and my legs away. When I got called for stalling, I was trying to circle and he kept pushing into me, so I couldn’t find my way back into the middle. It feels good.”

A third-year wrestler, Holt ran his record to 32-0 with a fall in 4:12, a 4-1 decision and a title-match, 7-0 decision over Perry Hall’s 17th-ranked senior Ayden McCain, whose record slips to 13-2.

“This was my first time wrestling him, but my mindset was to stay in a good position. I started from nothing. I started this sport of wrestling as a sophomore, and I’ve been working hard for this for two years,” said Holt, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 287 pounds.

“I went to JV counties and I took second as a sophomore. I cut about 100 pounds last year and took sixth at the county wrestling at 215. When you’ve been working so hard and so long for this like I have, this feels phenomenal. My goal is to stay undefeated and become a triple crown champion.”

A repeat county champion who was third at regions last year, Blythe earned pins in 65 and 97 seconds to go with a third in 1:58 before winning his title match by 7-1 decision over Chesapeake senior Jurius Lastimosa, whose record is 26-4.

“I wanted to do more throws in this match, but he was strong, so I tried to tire him out,” Blythe said. “Last year, I ended up winning counties by winning by a technical fall against a kid that had beaten me, 13-3, earlier in the season. I also got third at regions last year, and I want to do better.”

Baltimore County Tournament Team Scores

1 Hereford 226.5

2 Sparrows Point 173.5

3 Perry Hall 167.0

4 Franklin 95.0

5 Towson 94.5

6 Lansdowne 92.0

7 Eastern Technical 89.5

7 Kenwood 89.5

9 Dulaney 88.0

10 Catonsville 82.5

10 Dundalk 82.5

12 Parkville 69.0

13 Milford Mill 62.0

14 Chesapeake 59.5

15 Randallstown 45.0

16 Carver A&T 41.0

17 New Town 26.0

17 Owings Mills 26.0

19 Overlea 24.5

20 Pikesville 22.0

21 Loch Raven 19.0

22 Patapsco 16.5

23 Western School 11.0

24 Woodlawn 0.0

Tournament Results

106

1st Place Match

Glenn Lail (Lansdowne) 25-2, Sr. over Hunter Polly (Kenwood) 32-6, Fr. (Fall 2:14)

3rd Place Match

Lance Messercola (Sparrows Point) 27-10, Fr. over Bennett Hess (Dulaney) 24-17, Fr. (Fall 3:35)

5th Place Match

Landon Wilt (Hereford) 16-17, Fr. over Ben Burk (Western School of Technology) 11-11, Fr. (Fall 2:37)

113

1st Place Match

Wyatt Rossi (Sparrows Point) 27-3, Jr. over Gavin Young (Perry Hall) 24-3, So. (TF-1.5 4:15 (20-4))

3rd Place Match

Joel Verdier (Dundalk) 22-12, Jr. over Baylee Wagner (Kenwood) 22-13, So. (Fall 3:35)

5th Place Match

Chase Utz (Hereford) 25-13, Fr. over Braylon Lawson (Towson) 26-12, Fr. (Fall 1:36)

120

1st Place Match

Owen Shelley (Catonsville) 35-0, So. over Connor Cline (Hereford) 30-4, Jr. (Dec 4-1)

3rd Place Match

Donovan Austin (Overlea) 19-4, Sr. over Jackson Duker (Sparrows Point) 16-4, So. (Inj. 4:24)

5th Place Match

Cameron Mitchell (Chesapeake BC) 22-6, Jr. over Jonas Ritz (Eastern Technical) 19-9, Jr. (Fall 4:47)

126

1st Place Match

Drew Eveleth (Catonsville) 34-2, So. over Brandon Wunder (Sparrows Point) 35-2, Jr. (Dec 5-4)

3rd Place Match

Jayden Kautz (Parkville) 30-4, Jr. over Sterling Addison (Carver A&T) 23-6, Sr. (Dec 10-4)

5th Place Match

Carter Bjerkness (Randallstown) 16-7, Sr. over Olamiposi Kalejaiye (Milford Mill) 11-12, So. (Dec 2-0)

132

1st Place Match

Chase Carnahan (Sparrows Point) 15-0, So. over Christian Wright (Milford Mill) 19-3, Sr. (Dec 13-9)

3rd Place Match

Thomas Mallon (Hereford) 19-7, Jr. over Adam Ferrante (Perry Hall) 38-11, Jr. (Fall 0:52)

5th Place Match

Charles McDonaldson (Kenwood) 32-9, Sr. over Bishop Wilson (Franklin) 24-13, Sr. (Dec 7-6)

138

1st Place Match

Luca Blythe (Kenwood) 37-3, Sr. over Jurius Lastimosa (Chesapeake BC) 26-4, Sr. (Dec 7-1)

3rd Place Match

Clayton Fraser (Dundalk) 22-2, Sr. over Ethan Grace (Towson) 27-8, Jr. (Fall 1:54)

5th Place Match

Jaserbek Abrorov (Owings Mills) 29-5, Sr. over Bowen Nock (Hereford) 12-7, Jr. (TF-1.5 3:48 (20-4))

144

1st Place Match

Chase Ullmann (Eastern Technical) 32-1, Sr. over Wyatt Ulshafer (Hereford) 26-9, So. (Fall 2:53)

3rd Place Match

Jacob Fufezan Seck (Carver A&T) 19-7, So. over Will Schoo (Sparrows Point) 19-14, Sr. (Fall 1:31)

5th Place Match

Israel Bile (Chesapeake BC) 19-9, Jr. over Cole Polly (Kenwood) 24-6, Jr. (Dec 6-2)

150

1st Place Match

Andy Burton (Hereford) 31-5, Sr. over Ryan Whisner (Sparrows Point) 35-2, Jr. (Dec 7-4)

3rd Place Match

Josh Gray (Franklin) 34-3, Sr. over Ashton Finch (Dulaney) 20-6, Jr. (Fall 2:00)

5th Place Match

Nicolas Toung (Towson) 30-8, Jr. over Trevor Scott (Perry Hall) 27-14, Jr. (Fall 2:15)

157

1st Place Match

Justin Kavanagh (Perry Hall) 24-1, Sr. over Korben Suskin (Towson) 29-9, Sr. (Fall 1:53)

3rd Place Match

Griff Walter (Hereford) 11-3, Sr. over Allan Garcia-Trujillo (Franklin) 22-13, So. (Dec 7-1)

5th Place Match

Devin Creitz (Loch Raven) 31-5, Jr. over Joshua Martinez (Chesapeake BC) 19-11, Jr. (Fall 2:06)

165

1st Place Match

Clayton Hosier (Perry Hall) 38-2, Jr. over Christian Leveille (Franklin) 23-9, Sr. (Dec 14-9)

3rd Place Match

Owen Roberts (Hereford) 26-10, Sr. over Nick Whisner (Sparrows Point) 23-15, So. (MD 15-5)

5th Place Match

Ryan Toung (Towson) 7-4, Sr. over Nathan Dickerson (Pikesville) 8-10, Jr. (Fall 2:51)

175

1st Place Match

Chase Swiger (Lansdowne) 30-1, Sr. over Ja`Quan Burton (Hereford) 12-4, Sr. (TF-1.5 2:00 (17-2))

3rd Place Match

Breon Johnson (Parkville) 27-7, So. over Jordan Young (Perry Hall) 18-5, Sr. (Fall 3:42)

5th Place Match

Samuel David-Adesua (Eastern Technical) 25-10, Jr. over Elijah Dunn (Pikesville) 19-6, Sr. (MD 16-4)

190

1st Place Match

Victor Marks-Jenkins (Perry Hall) 47-0, Sr. over Daron King (Milford Mill) 20-7, Jr. (Fall 1:53)

3rd Place Match

Josh Agen-Davis (Catonsville) 23-3, Jr. over Jackson Zearfoss (Dulaney) 33-7, Sr. (TF-1.5 4:46 (18-1))

5th Place Match

Jakai Corsnitz (Parkville) 22-8, Sr. over Max Kramer (Hereford) 21-15, Sr. (Dec 11-4)

215

1st Place Match

Olasubomi Atalogun (New Town) 30-4, Sr. over Adam Keever (Hereford) 32-4, Sr. (Dec 4-3)

3rd Place Match

Mason Chesnavage (Eastern Technical) 27-14, Sr. over Latdior Ceesay (Dulaney) 29-13, Jr. (MD 13-0)

5th Place Match

Darrius Simms (Lansdowne) 22-5, Sr. over Franklin Tracey IV (Dundalk) 18-6, Sr. (Fall 1:28)

285

1st Place Match

Dylan Holt (Dundalk) 30-0, Sr. over Ayden McCain (Perry Hall) 13-2, Sr. (Dec 7-0)

3rd Place Match

Jordan Adams (Franklin) 33-7, Sr. over Brendan Taylor (Dulaney) 27-17, Sr. (SV-1 4-1)

5th Place Match

Alex Soria-Espinoza (Lansdowne) 26-7, Sr. over Keon Stewart (Randallstown) 18-6, Sr. (For.)