Legacy Wrestling rarely use what happens at the National Prep Tournament for the team rankings, as this gauntlet is more about who has the most top talent than the depth that makes for strong teams. This year’s edition at the Lehigh University’s Stabler Arena would break that trend.
Our co-number ones, Archbishop Spalding and Gilman, tied in the MIS team race. Gilman won the dual, Spalding won the MIAA Tournament. Yea, we could have arbitrarily weighed those outcomes and arrived at a bureaucratic number one, but it made more sense to allow them to settle it on the mat.
So, last weekend the number one spot in the state was claimed by the Greyhounds with their 10th place finish and 87.5 points to the Cavaliers 70.5 points, good for 17th place.
No. 1 in Maryland and No. 3 in the nation by Sports Illustrated, Emmitt Sherlock’s run to the finals was the big difference maker in the race for number one in Maryland as the Greyhounds had two earn All-American status to three for the Cavs.
Sherlock pinned his first three opponents before surviving a 1-0 fight with third-seeded Reese Spiro (Northfield Mount Hermon, MA). Spiro pinned No. 7 nationally, Robert Kucharczk (Lake Highland Prep, FL), in the quarters.
Sherlock was seeded second to No. 4 Lane Foard (Benedictine Prep, VA) despite holding a 4-0 record over his rival the last two years. The result of the final says the seeding folks got it right as Foard won this encounter, 6-0. Foard rode Sherlock out in the second and put all his points up in the third. The brackets incorrectly list the score as 8-0.
Sherlock made history on his final trip to the National Prep stage as the two-time runner-up has joined the five-time All-American club. It’s such a rare happening that Sherlock is just the ninth member. The Virginia commit was third as an eighth grader, fifth as a freshman, and sixth as a sophomore. There is another Marylander in that club, Michael Bressler (Grace Brethren/Progressive Christian), (2003-2007).
The Greyhound’s other All-American is a repeat placer now following last year’s third place finish with a fourth-place one this year. McGettigan fell to SI’s No. 6 Juian Rios (Phillips Andover, MA) in the consolation final, 6-1. The sophomore defeated national honorable mention, Wyatt Spencer (Wyoming Seminary, PA), 2-1, in the consolation semis.
McGettigan’s second loss came to the eventual champ, honorable mention Liam Davis (Lake Highland), 9-3, in the quarters. McGettigan, top rated in Maryland, stuck number three in Maryland, Eli Chesla (Spalding), 1:54, in the consolation rounds.
Spalding’s time at Lehigh was highlighted by No. 1 Sean Garretson becoming a four-time All-American with his fifth place showing at 126lbs. The senior reached the semis before tasting defeat to SI’s No. 12 Vince Anello (Blair Academy, NJ) and once more in the consolation semis to Jackson Heslin (Greens Farms Academy, CT). Garretson ended on a high note with an 8-1 decision of Wyoming Seminary’s Nikos Filipos in his placement match. In order from freshman to junior, Garretson’s previous placings were 4th, 7th, and 5th.
Zane Leitzel, Maryland’s top 138lber, earned his second prep All-American credential with a win in his fifth-place bout with Jason Torres (Malvern Prep, PA). Leitzel improved upon his seventh position a year ago. Leitzel lost to Torres, 7-2, in the quarters. The junior’s other hiccup came versus honorable mention Weston Borgers of Blair.
Chesla reached the prep podium for the first time, landing in the number eight spot. The sophomore was defeated by Malvern Prep’s Brendan Kelly in that match. In addition to his scrum with McGettigan, Chesla was also tripped up by Rios. Seeded eighth, Chesla teched ninth seeded Liam McConaughy (Charlotte Latin School, NC), 19-2.
No. 15 Saint Frances Academy put forth the first National Prep All-American in program history when Elijah Josey (No. 3 in MD) worked through the brackets to place sixth. In the consolation rounds, Josey took out No. 22 in the country Isael Perez (New York Military Academy), 5-4.
The Panther met Bullis’ No. 2 Sepanta Ahanj-Elias, national honorable mention, for the third time this year in the placement match. As he did before, Ahanj-Elias prevailed. Josey was seeded eighth, in the quarters, he lost to Foard, and then dropped a consi-semi to Spiro, 5-4. The senior beat the nine seed, Anthony Bruscino (Wyoming Seminary), 7-3. Bruscino placed seventh.
No. 14 Bullis had three All-Americans, No. 1 Salah Tsarni (165), No. 3 Noah Tucker (157), and Ahanj-Elias. Tsarni was seventh last year as a freshman, for the others, it is their first prep placements.
Tsarni, who is ranked 11th in the country by SI, had a pin and two techs before winning an 8-2 match with NMH’s post-grad Seth Digby and a 6-1 count over Blair’s Barry Norman in the semis. Norman would go on to take fourth and Digby seventh.
Tsarni’s final foe would be a familiar one since they encountered each other in the Beast of the East finals with No. 8 Claudio Torres winning that bout, 4-3. Tsarni took an early lead with a blast double before the tide changed in favor of Torres, who used an early third period takedown to the back to go up 7-4. Torres would end up winning 10-7.
We mentioned Ahanj-Elias’ third win over Josey securing fifth place for him. The senior also took out NMH’s Perez, 10-2, in the quarters before getting pinned by Foard. Kucharczk avenged a pre-season loss from the Journeymen Fall Classic to Ahanj-Elias with a 10-3 win in the consolation semis. Maryland had three All-Americans at 190lbs.
Noah Tucker came into the preps ranked third in Maryland’s pecking order and left as the top-dog after taking out the two guys ahead of him. Previous No. 1 Cameron Cannaday was losing the blood-round match with Tucker when some shady things happened, resulting in the disqualification of Cannaday.
Tucker, the 10th seed, then proceeded to beat the six seed, Stephen Smith (Malvern Prep), 8-0, and then dropped the five seed, Nate Consigli (NMH), 5-2, before fourth-seeded Arment Waltenbaugh (Hill School, PA) halted his winning ways, 4-0. The catalyst for this run was a round of 16 win over Gilman’s No. 2 John Jurkovic, 11-8. Consigli got the best of Tucker in their quarter-final encounter, 6-3 sudden victory.
No. 16 St. Mary’s Ryken’s No. 1 Evan Boblits is an honorable mention entry in the 150lb national rankings and backed that up here with a third place run that was only marred by a 13-7 loss to the champion, No. 7 Zeno Moore of Lake Highland, in the semis.
Boblits was seeded fifth and beat the fourth seed from Malvern Prep Declan O’Byrne twice, in the bronze bout, 6-2, and quarters, by fall, 1:26. O’Byrne had beaten Mt. St. Joseph’s Brooklyn Pickett in the East Coast Catholic Classic, and since Boblits lost to Pickett, O’Byrne was given the higher seed.
The Naval Academy recruit destroyed sixth seeded Cole Albert (Hill School), 17-0, in the consolation semis. The third-place finish is Boblits highest beating a fourth as a freshman and fifth last year.
No. 5 Loyola-Blakefield made the ride home with two All-Americans, both number ones in their weights, Tyler Verceles (106) and Luke Randazzo (285).
Verceles is ranked 28th in the nation and landed in fifth during his first trip to Lehigh, posting 4-1 decision over Benedictine Prep’s honorable mention Royce Wetzler. Verceles beat Wetzler, 5-4, in the Ray Oliver finals.
The seeding at preps uses in season results over out of season outcomes. This quirk resulted in Verceles being seeded ahead of No. 17 Wyatt Stauffer (Wyoming Seminary). Verceles beat New Jersey’s JoJo Burke at the Beast and Stauffer lost to Burke at PowerAde. At Journeymen and Super 32, Stauffer beat Verceles.
That pattern held true here as Stauffer authored a 4-1 quarter-final win over Verceles. The Don lost to No. 20 nationally Tyler Tran (Father Ryan, TN), 5-3, in the consolations to land in the fifth-place match.
Randazzo was fourth at preps a year ago, and while he did not improve on that number, the senior did earn his second All-American status by placing sixth. The third-seeded Don made it to the semis where he fell to No. 13 in the country, James Bechter (Northfield Mount Hermon), 2:12.
Two more losses greeted him as he fell to six, dropping matches to fifth-seeded Walker Walls (Bishop Lynch, TX) and the number four seed, Greens Farms Academy’s Dom Iaquinto.
At 144, No. 5 Nicky Melfi secured his second straight All-American status with another eighth-place ending. Pickett, No. 3 in MD, was in the bracket and did not place but Melfi lost to the same two guys as Pickett. The Gael lost to Andrew McCarthy (New York Military), 8-3, and Colby Houle (NMH), 2-1.
McCarthy pinned Melfi in the seventh-place match. Houle handed Melfi the same defeat he gave Pickett, 2-1. Melfi also lost to Malvern Prep’s Raymond Fitzgerald, who beat McCarthy and placed sixth. Melfi got by Blair’s Vedwin Nivas, 10-1, in the blood round. Nivas, who was seeded 10th to Melfi’s nine, beat 7th seeded Gavriel Sabag (Germantown Academy, PA) in the round of 16.
Mt. St. Joe’s No. 3 Jake Tamia earned his second placing to go along with his seventh as a freshman. This one is another seventh as he pinned Jaxon Lane (McCallie School, TN) in the placement round. Tamai was seeded ninth, Lane was fifth. Tamia beat the eight seed, Filipos, 4-0, to reach the quarters where he was pinned by No. 7 Matt O’Neill (Malvern Prep), 2:35. O’Neill previously majored Tamai in the East Coast Catholic Classic finals, 10-1. In the consis, Tamai lost to Heslin, by fall in 52 seconds.
Maryland native, Ben Smith, who spent a year at St. Joe before moving onto the New York Military Academy is ranked 23rd in the nation. Smith became a two-time prep placer with his fifth-place finish at 175lbs this year.
Team Scores (Top 20)
1-Lake Highland Prep, FL 332
2-Blair Academy, NJ 277.5
3-Wyoming Seminary, PA 267
4-Malvern Prep, PA 220.5
5-Greens Farms Academy, CT 186
6-Northfield Mount Hermon, MA 178.5
7-New York Military Academy, NY 118.5
8-Baylor School, TN 110
9-St. Christopher’s, VA 104.5
10-Gilman School, MD 87.5
11-Hill School, PA 83
12-Belmont Hill, MA 80.5
13-Germantown Academy, PA 77.5
14-Father Ryan, TN 75.5
15-Benedictine Prep, VA 73.5
16-Bullis School, MD 73
17-Archbishop Spalding, MD 70.5
18-McCallie, TN 61
19-Loyola-Blakefield, MD 48
20-Lakeway Christian Academy, TN 46.5
106 lbs
1st Ariah Mills (Athens Christian School) MD Justin Farnsworth (Malvern), 11-2
3rd Tanner Tran (Father Ryan) DEC Wyatt Stauffer (Wyoming Seminary), 6-0
5th Tyler Verceles (Loyola Blakefield) DEC Royce Wetzler (Benedictine Prep), 4-1
7th Eddie George (Blair Academy) TF Triston Mouton (Baylor School), 19-4 2:44
113 lbs
1st Liam Davis (Lake Highland Prep) DEC Michael Batista (Blair Academy), 7-3
3rd Julian Rios (Phillips Academy) DEC Liam Mcgettigan (Gilman), 6-1
5th Wyatt Spencer (Wyoming Seminary) DEC Brighton Karvoski (Greens Farms Academy), 3-2
7th Brendan Kelly (Malvern) F Eli Chesla (Archbishop Spalding), 4:27
120 lbs
1st Leo Deluca (Blair Academy) TF Isaac Novod (Belmont Hill), 18-1 2:49
3rd Oumar Tounkara (New York Military Academy) MD Jack Baron (Germantown Academy), 11-2
5th Gabe Swann (Baylor School) TF Chase Kastner (Greens Farms Academy), 17-2 4:58
7th Marlo Clark (Lake Highland Prep) DEC Caleb Haney (St. Christopher's), 1-0
126 lbs
1st Matt Oniell (Malvern) DEC Vincenzo Anello (Blair Academy), 4-0
3rd Adaias Ortiz (Lake Highland Prep) DEC Jackson Heslin (Greens Farms Academy), 4-0
5th Sean Garretson (Archbishop Spalding) DEC Nikos Filipos (Wyoming Seminary), 8-1
7th Jaxon Lane (McCallie School) F Jake Tamai (Mount Saint Joseph), 2:46
132 lbs
1st Mathew Botello (Wyoming Seminary) DEC Tyler Conroy (Malvern), 4-1
3rd Musa Tamaradze (New York Military Academy) MD Ellis Kirsch (Blair Academy), 10-2
5th Brody Gobbell (Father Ryan) DEC Jack Dragoumanos (Belmont Hill), 7-1
7th Brady Kaupp (Greens Farms Academy) DEC Clint Plotner (Lake Highland Prep), 6-1
138 lbs
1st Jayce Paridon (Lake Highland Prep) DEC Dale Corbin (Wyoming Seminary), 4-3
3rd Casen Roark (Father Ryan) DEC Weston Borgers (Blair Academy), 6-5
5th Zane Leitzel (Archbishop Spalding) DEC Jason Torres (Malvern), 8-2
7th Hunter Avalos (All Saints Episcopal) DEC Spear Gorelick (Charlotte Latin School), 8-1
144 lbs
1st Charlie Desena (Lake Highland Prep) MD Mathew Dimen (Wyoming Seminary), 12-4
3rd Walker Turley (St. Christopher's) DEC Colby Houle (Northfield Mt Hermon), 4-0
5th Ben Zuckerman (Greens Farms Academy) DEC Ray Fitzgerald (Malvern), 7-5
7th Andrew Mccarthy (New York Military Academy) F Nicky Melfi (Severn School), 1:52
150 lbs
1st Zeno Moore (Lake Highland Prep) TF Tyler Hood (St. Christopher's), 17-2 6:00
3rd Evan Boblits (St. Mary's Ryken) DEC Declan Obyrne (Malvern), 6-2
5th Cole Albert (The Hill School) M FOR Anthony Evanitsky (Wyoming Seminary)
7th Myles Burroughs (Northfield Mt Hermon) DEC Oliver Phillips (Baylor School), 4-3
157 lbs
1st Lucas Boe (Lake Highland Prep) DEC Nadav Nafshi (Germantown Academy), 7-0
3rd Arment Waltenbaugh (The Hill School) DEC Noah Tucker (Bullis School), 4-0
5th Joseph Schinder (Blair Academy) M FOR Nate Consigli (Northfield Mt Hermon), 0-0 0:00
7th Wyatt Fry (Wyoming Seminary) DEC Stephen Smith (Malvern), 4-2
165 lbs
1st Claudio Torres (Lake Highland Prep) DEC Salah Tsarni (Bullis School), 10-7
3rd Liam Carlin (Greens Farms Academy) DEC Barry Norman (Blair Academy), 4-2
5th Jack Chamberlain (Wyoming Seminary) DEF Chancery Deane (Father Ryan), 0-0 0:50
7th Seth Digby (Northfield Mt Hermon) MD Luke Murray (Peninsula Catholic), 10-2
175 lbs
1st William Henckel (Blair Academy) F Maximus Norman (Baylor School), 3:38
3rd Elliott Humphries (Northfield Mt Hermon) F Brian Chamberlain (Wyoming Seminary), 4:43
5th Benjamin Smith (New York Military Academy) DEC Tyler Neiva (Greens Farms Academy), 7-1
7th Miguel Rojas (Lake Highland Prep) F Greyson Catlow-sidler (William Penn Charter), 2:47
190 lbs
1st Lane Foard (Benedictine Prep) MD Emmitt Sherlock (Gilman), 8-0
3rd Robert Kucharczk (Lake Highland Prep) DEC Reese Spiro (Northfield Mt Hermon), 4-0
5th Sepanta Ahanj-elias (Bullis School) DEC Elijah Josey (Saint Frances Academy), 5-4
7th Anthony Bruscino (Wyoming Seminary) DEC Isael Perez (New York Military Academy), 8-3
215 lbs
1st Jude Correa (Wyoming Seminary) DEC Cash Colbert (Paul VI Catholic High School), 5-4
3rd Kingston Daniels silva (Greens Farms Academy) DEC Alex Smith (Lake Highland Prep), 8-6
5th Dylan Greenstein (Northfield Mt Hermon) DEC Ryder Smith (Chattanooga Christian), 8-2
7th Tj Kellas (Blair Academy) DEC Zak Zindle (The Hill School), 9-7
285 lbs
1st Jacob Levy (Lake Highland Prep) DEC James Bechter (Northfield Mt Hermon), 4-1
3rd Jackson Schwab (Blair Academy) F Walker Walls (Bishop Lynch High School), 2:51
5th Dominic Iaquinto (Greens Farms Academy) F Luke Randazzo (Loyola Blakefield), 4:16
7th Isaiah Taylor (AIM Academy) DEC Dante Donaldson (The Hill School), 5-3
Comments