Private School Upper Weight Wrestler of the Year... Congrats to Salah Tsarni!

That's right - we have two! Bullis sophomore Salah Tsarni “is a bad dude” says Billy Buckheit of Legacy Wrestling.

“[Salah Tsarni] has improved dramatically,” says Gilman’s Emmitt Sherlock, a five-time National Prep All-American who is ranked fourth nationally at 190 pounds and managed a 1-0 victory over Tsarni at 175 pounds. “His body is only just maturing, and you can see that with the success he’s having.”

The top-ranked 165-pounder “will not have too many folks excited to share a bracket with him over the next two years of his high school career,” according to his coach, Drew Robinson.

Tsarni embraces competition like few in the sport of wrestling, a trait that has him ranked 10th nationally and has earned the utmost respect from those who have witnessed his skills.

Robertson knows greatness when he sees it, being a four-time Washington Catholic Athletic Conference champion, winner of three state titles in four final appearances, and two National Preps crowns after having placed fifth and third.

“I think Salah has the talent to not only become one of the best in the country, but I believe he will also be relevant on the international scene,” said Robertson, a 1999 DeMatha graduate. “Salah is relentless on the mat, an impressive specimen, and probably one of the most dominant wrestlers I have had the privilege to coach.”

That was for sure the case regarding Tsarni earlier this month, when he scored several technical fall victories before defeating Steel Meyers of Texas, 5-1, in the championship bout of the National High School Coaches’ Association Tournament in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Tsarni’s performance at NHSCAs is part of an exemplary season that has earned honors as a middleweight Wrestler Of The Year by Legacy Wrestling.

“I am honored to be named Wrestler Of The Year,” said Tsarni, a runner-up in last year’s NHSCAs. “Winning NHSCAs was another step in developing my wrestling skills.”

Tsarni’s two-year high school record of 78-8 includes 39 pins and 28 technical falls, meaning that only 11 of those he has defeated have gone the distance. During that time Tsarni earned a pair of Interstate Athletic Conference and Maryland Independent Schools State Tournament crowns.

In addition, all but one of Tsarni’s career losses have come by decision, the lone exception being a fall as a freshman against junior Mitchell Faglioni, a champion in the Virginia Prep State and War On The Shore tournaments who placed fourth at National Preps.

Tsarni went 37-3 this year with 20 pins and 13 technical falls, improving on every finish at each of his freshman year tournament placements. Tsarni was a runner-up at McDonogh’s Ray Oliver Tournament in December after having placed third as a freshman, finished second at The Beast Of the East after failing to place as a ninth grader, was also a National Preps runner-up after finishing seventh a season earlier.

“A story about how much he’s improved: He went 1-2 at my World Team Team Trials Bracket,” said Sherlock, Legacy Wrestling’s Upper Weight Wrestler of the Year. “And now the success he’s having, the growth he’s made is pretty amazing.”

Salah was a runner-up at the Journeyman World Classic on the weekend of April 11, falling by a 7-1 decision to Manuel Wagin of Germany, an under-17 World Silver Medalist in 2024.

“Salah wants to compete against the best all the time,” Robertson said. “Only a sophomore, he will not have too many folks excited to share a bracket with him over the next two years of his high school career.”

Among Tsarni’s setbacks this year was a 1-0 loss to Sherlock in the Ray Oliver finals, when the 5-foot-8 wrestler bumped up to challenge the 6-foot-3, University of Virginia-bound 6-foot-3 grappler.

“It was a good match. It was a fun match. It was cool to be able wrestle somebody that good,” Sherlock said. “I want to wrestle good people. It was good that he went up to challenge himself at the beginning of the season.”

Sherlock is three-time titlist in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association and Maryland Private Schools State tournaments who has placed second twice, third, fifth and sixth at National Preps.

“I had heard that Emmitt was going to wrestle at the same tournament as me. I couldn’t miss the chance to test myself. I just wanted to wrestle Emmitt and have some fun,” Tsarni said. “We’ve never had a full, six-minute match before, but we have drilled together during camps. I wanted to see how I would wrestle against a world team member and one of the best in the country.”

Tsarni began this year’s march by winning five of six bouts at the preseason’s Elite 8 Dual Meet Tournament, falling, 7-1, to four-time Georgia state champ Dom Bambinelli. A runner-up at the Super 32, Bambinelli is ranked seventh, nationally.

In his opening match of the Elite 8, Tsarni scored a 21-6 technical fall over Riley Johnson, a two-time state champ from Nebraska and a double-All American at Fargo who is ranked 29th-nationally.

Tsarni also notched a 12-8 decision over Pennsylvania’s eighth-ranked Bode Marlow, who has placed second and third in the states and owns a 2-1 victory over Sherlock for third place at this year’s Beast Of The East tournament.

There was also Tsarni’s 12-3 major decision over Alabama’s two-time state champion Cody Kirk, who won this year’s NHSCAs as a 182-pound senior. Kirk owns a victory over third-ranked senior Elijah Josey of Saint Frances, who placed second at MIAAs, third at states, sixth at National Preps and fourth at NHSCAs, while earning a No. 25 national ranking at 190-pounds.

Yet another triumph at The Elite 8 for Tsarni was against 18th-ranked senior Elliott Humphries of Massachusetts, whom he pinned in 5:32. A third-place finisher at National Preps and a Fargo runner-up, Humphries was an NHSCA champion at 170 pounds.

Tsarni’s fifth victory at Elite 8 was a 4-2 decision over 23rd-ranked Adrien Reyes of California, a fourth-place states finisher and a 16-and-under Fargo champion.

Tsarni followed up the Elite 8 with a third-place finish at The Super 32 tournament, losing his semifinal bout to the eventual champion in sixth-ranked Asher Cunningham, a two-time state title winner from Pennsylvania.

Among Tsarni’s four victories at The Super 32 was a 6-5 decision for third place over 21st-ranked Liam Carlin of Connecticut, a third-place finisher at National Preps.

Prior to facing Carlin, Tsarni posted a 9-2 decision over California’s 15th-ranked Travis Grace, another over Virginia’s 27th-ranked Caleb Neal, and a 15-0 technical fall against 29th-ranked Blake Hostetter of Pennsylvania. Grace was a third-place finisher in the states, and Neal had twice beaten Tsarni.

Tsarni finished second at December’s Beast Of The East, falling, 4-3, to Florida’s seventh-ranked Claudio Torres of Lake Highland Prep, a National Prep champion and a USA Wrestling Junior Nationals title winner. Torres would go on to defeat Tsarni in this year’s National Prep Finals as well, 10-7.

To reach the Beast finals, Tsarni hammered 17th-ranked Shane McFillin of Pennsylvania’s Bethlehem Catholic by an 11-3 major decision after having dominated his 30th-ranked quarterfinal opponent, Jake Robie of Christiansburg, Virginia, 15-2.

Salah was the first of his siblings to wrestle, followed by his older sisters in succession, Seda, 22, and Nebi, 18. Then came his younger sister, Kesi, 14, a ninth grader at Bullis. Tsarni’s younger brother, Zakey, 11, is a fifth grader who also wrestles.

Seda became the first state champion for the Watkins Mill Wolverines of Montgomery County, winning the crown during the inaugural all-girls’ state tournament in 2018.

Nebi became the Wolverine’s second state champion as a sophomore and the program's first-ever three-time state champion as a senior last year. Nebi’s feat earned her honors as Legacy Wrestling’s female Middleweight Wrestler Of The Year.

Nebi was also a runner-up at 165 pounds in the senior division of last year’s NHSCAs, where Kesi finished third after being a runner-up at National Preps.

Ranked No. 2 by Legacy Wrestling among girls at 135 pounds, Kesi won the 138-pound title at the Journeyman World Classic.

At the NHSCA's, Nebi Tsarni used technical falls of 19-3 and 21-5 to reach the semifinals, where she overcame an early 6-1 deficit for an overtime, 12-8, semifinal victory over Randallstown's three-time state champion Ugochi Anunobi, Legacy's Upper Weight Wrestler Of The Year.

Seda is in her fourth year at the Air Force, and Nebi, her first there.

"Seda is my oldest wrestling sister and has been an All-American a few times. Nebi is the second oldest and a three-time national champ," Tsarni said. "Kesi is my younger sister, and she is also an All-American as a freshman,” Tsarni said. “And Zakey is my youngest brother and youngest wrestler. Zakey will be the best of our family. "

That's a mouthful from Salah Tsarni, whose freshman season included a decision victory over then-senior Class 2A-1A state champion Gavin Solito of Stephen Decatur that amounted to Solito's lone loss of the year. Solito ended his season with a record of 46-1 and graduated as a three-time state finalist.

"My determination is finally paying off," Salah Tsarni said. "I’ll keep on working hard to represent Maryland well.”