Northeast Regionals (Boys Edition!)

Maryland shined in Greco Roman at the Phil Portuese Northeast Regional at the Kalahari Resorts in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania on May 9th through the 11th. Twelve reached finals with nine of them doing so in Greco Roman competition.

Claiming Greco crowns were Salah Tsarni (Junior 175), Corey Brown (16U 120), Evan Boblits (Junior 150), Weston Baumgartner (16U 132), and Lazaro Torralba (16U 157). Tsarni and Brown won titles in both disciplines. Boblits was second in Freestyle, Baumgartner was fifth, and Torralba fourth.

Finishing as Greco runners-up were Chad “CJ” Votta (16U 132), Tyler Verceles (16U 113), Mason Comegys (16U 138), and Jacob Naylor (16U 106). Liam McGettigan was a junior silver medalist in Freestyle at 113 pounds. Placing fourth in Greco Roman were Nathan Matthis (16U 120) and Austin Hayes (Junior 113). Eli Gabrielson took fourth in Freestyle in the junior 126-pound bracket.

Landing in fifth, all in Greco, were Connor Allison (16U 138), Zoya Wexler (16U 175), and Brandon Wunder (Junior 113). Asa Wexler was sixth in Greco Roman at 157 in the 16U Division and Damien DuChez came in sixth in 16U Freestyle at 100 pounds.

In Freestyle, Tsarni, who is ranked sixth in the country at 175 pounds by High School on SI, stepped on the mat five times and put five technical falls on the wall chart with four being of the 10-0 variety. New Jersey’s third place state finisher, Santino Rodriguez, almost went the distance with Tsarni before succumbing to a 13-2 tech at the 4:52 mark. Connecticut’s Joseph Bernardi met his 10-0 demise in 1:18 in the opening match for both.

Tsarni’s last three foes were all from Pennsylvania, and all fell in the first period. Tasrni’s finals opponent, Jackson Angelo lasted 2:28 before a 10-0 count was established. Angelo is a two-time AA state placer. Two-time National Prep All-American, Jack Chamberlain, met his ending in 1:31 in the semifinals. A quarterfinal meeting with Gabriel Johnson was over in 1:32.

Tsarni wrestled four matches to gain his supremacy in Greco Roman. Like Freestyle, Tarni’s final three matches came versus grapplers from Pennsylvania. In the finals, Cash Morrell was handed a 9-0 tech in 2:33. Jacob Bacon lasted until the second round in the semis, and had a few points earned, before bailing out at 3:42 to a 12-4 technical fall. It took 1:46 to gain the 8-0 tech of Caden Shearer in the quarters. Florida’s Jonathan Morrison was shutout, 10-0, in 48 seconds in the round of 16.

Brown, who holds a No. 15 ranking at 113 pounds by High School on SI, had a couple of close wins sprinkled amongst his five Freestyle victories, with his closest coming in the round of 16, 7-4, over Connecticut’s Bradley Ament. Another close bout occurred in the semis with Pennsylvania’s Izaya Schickley which resulted in a 4-0 Brown win. Pennsylvania’s Rocco Lombardo was discarded in 2:34 with a 10-0 count in the finals. Two 10-0 techs were mixed in as well with AJ Kane of Pennsylvania going down in 1:06 and New York’s Kieran Harrington receiving his ending in 59 seconds.

Three techs delivered Brown to the Greco finals where he decked national honorable mention Wyatt Spencer of Pennsylvania in 23 seconds. New York’s Anthony Valls was beaten with a 10-1 score 3:05 into their semifinal. Two 8-0 outcomes were given to Floridians prior to the semis with Riley Alcantar lasting 43 seconds and Wyatt Feltgen staying alive for just 27 seconds.

Boblits is ranked 26th in the nation at 150 pounds and used a pin in 1:08 to claim the Greco crown over Pennsylvania’s Luis Alberto-DeSilva. A pin in the semis over Fargo All-American Hudson Hohman was achieved in 1:24. Two 8-0 techs in under a minute were posted in Boblits’ first two matches, 46 seconds over Georgiy Arakelov (New York) and 26 seconds against Pennsylvania’s Brody Magorien.

Boblits quest for a second gold was squashed by Pennsylvania’s Jackson Butler, 6-3. Butler placed in the AA states as a sophomore for Bishop McCort, but their lineup is so deep there was no place for Butler to take the mats this year.

Butler put the first points up with a takedown and Boblits answered with about 30 seconds left with a front headlock for two exposure points to draw even and lead on criteria. In the second, Boblits attempted a throw that led to Butler gaining two and Boblits just one, for a 4-3 Butler advantage. The junior’s final two points came because Boblits was trying to make something happen more than Butler being aggressive as Boblits had him on his heels at the end of the bout.

Boblits path to the finals was filled with Pennsylvania wrestlers including another semifinal win over Hohman, 7-0, then a 10-0 tech of Raymond Fitzgerald in 1:31, Ezra Swisher lasted the duration of their quarterfinal meeting, falling 10-2. Boblits opened the Freestyle slate with a 10-0 tech fall of Magorien.

Baumgartner won his Greco title on an injury default from Votta. A default victory was also listed for Baumgartner’s semifinal with Landon Herdic (CT). Two close matches were sandwiched around a 9-0 tech versus Connecticut’s Coltyn Masse. Baumgartner kicked it off with a 3-1 decision against New Jersey’s Hayden Lauterback and in the quarters, got by Pennsylvania’s Jon Whitbred, 11-8.

Baumgartner’s fifth in Freestyle came with a 3-1 win over Joseph Pellicci (CT) in his placement match. A consolation semi loss to Pennsylvania’s Shai Sabag, 10-0, came after a semifinal loss by fall, 1:56, to Frank Leanza also from Pennsylvania. Four wins came before the loss in the semis, 10-0 over Masse, 3-1 over Lauterback, 4-1 over New York’s Quinton Warlikowski, and by tech, 10-0, versus Mark Zolotarevsky (CT).

Votta cruised to the finals on four tech falls. From the semis back, Votta downed Virginia’s Adrian Canales, 13-4, New Jersey’s River Hibler, 16-6, Virginia’s Danny Gatto, 10-0, and Pennsylvania’s Trey Neith, 9-0. Votta went 2-2 in Freestyle and did not advance past the consolation quarters with his losses being by fall to Pellicci, 3:09, and Pennsylvania’s national honorable mention, CJ Caines, 1:42.

Torralba collected his Greco Roman gold after throttling Pennsylvania’s Xyler Sallit, 11-1 in 2:49. Torralba posted another tech versus a Marylander in the semis, Asa Wexler, 8-0 in 1:07, and decked Pennsylvania’s Weston Emmons in 2:24 for his first win.

Torralba could not pull off another championship run in Freestyle but did reach the podium in the number four position after losing a tough one to Pennsylvania’s Gavin Ciampoli, 9-8. Three techs accounted for Torralba’s freestyle wins including a 10-0 blanking of Sallit. Torralba’s other loss came in the semis versus Pennsylvania’s Nolan Savage.

McGettigan is an honorable mention entry in High School on SI’s national rankings at 113 pounds as is Verceles. McGettigan faced New Jersey’s Eric Bocanegra in the finals and was surprised with a 6-4 loss. It appeared McGettigan had come through with a Hail Mary on a Portuguese Nutdrop with four seconds on the clock. The action occurred at the edge of the circle and after an appeal from Bocanegra’s people, a 7-6 McGettigan lead was changed to a 6-4 edge for his foe.

Verceles was pinned by Pennsylvania’s Chase Karenbauer (No. 6 at 106 nationally) in the finals, 1:48. One of Verceles wins on the way to the finals came by fall over No. 5 Braiden Lotier (PA), 1:43. Verceles went 3-2 in Freestyle, reaching the consolation quarters before bowing out.

Two other McDonogh teammates joined Baumgartner atop the 16U Greco Podium, Comegys and Naylor. Comegys fell to New York’s Jake Nieto, 8-0, in the finals. Naylor dropped his title bout to Pennsylvania’s Arav Pandey, 3-0. Naylor reached the blood round in Freestyle with a 3-2 record.

Matthis’ fourth place finish came with losses to two wrestlers beaten by Corey Brown, Valls, 6-2, in the consolation final, and Spencer in the semis, by fall in 19 seconds. Matthis went 3-2 and reached the blood round in Freestyle. Hayes’ fifth place voyage came with an 11-10 win over Wunder in the consolation semifinals. Hayes split his freestyle bouts and reached the blood round.

Gabrielson lost to Pennsylvania’s Mason Whitney, 4-2, in the third-place match. Gabrielson split matches with another Pennsylvania wrestler, Gavin Heverly, losing the first 19-9, and then winning 14-4. Gabrielson picked up a high profile win over Pennsylvania’s Easton Mull (No. 27 at 113 in the nation), 14-11.

Two other Marylanders reached the blood round, Zane Leitzel in Junior Freestyle at 144 and Tyler Stephens at 144 in Junior Greco.

Victor Marks-Jenkins chose to return to being the Traveling Gator by getting his regional action on in Rochester, Minnesota at the Northern Plains Regional. Marks-Jenkins, who is ranked 28th nationally, faced the same wrestler in the190-pound Junior Freestyle and Greco Roman finals, No. 7 John Murphy of Minnesota.

Marks-Jenkins handled Murphy impressively in Greco, posting an 11-3 technical fall. A 34 second pin of Florida’s Lucas Nance ad an 8-0 tech of Brayden Hilyar (MN) led to the finals. The Freestyle final went the other way with Murphy gaining that gold on an 8-6 decision.

Marks-Jenkins fell behind 4-0 in that match but evened it up near the end of the first and held the lead on criteria, 4-4. A snap down from Murphy would put two more on the board before the period ended for a 6-4 Murphy advantage. A shot from Marks-Jenkins in the second led to a spin behind for Murphy and an 8-4 edge. Marks-Jenkins would add two points with about 40 seconds left and that’s how it ended, 8-6.