Summer Notebook!

FERNANDEZ’S SUMMER IN BRAZIL

Archbishop Spalding’s Taina Fernandez kicked off the Summer of 2025 winning a couple of championships, while spending some time on the beach in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil on June 20th through the 22nd. Fernandez competed at the U17 Pan-American Championships in Freestyle on the 20th and Beach Wrestling on the 22nd, doing what she does, which is collecting gold medals around the world.

Fernandez was one of ten champions for Team USA as they swept the gold medals and outpointed second place Mexico in the team race, 250-147. Fernandez was the USA’s squad only female rep on the beach, where they placed fifth as a team well behind first place Brazil.

Fernandez, who won an U17 World Championship last year, defeated the same girl in both of her finals, the Dominican Republic’s Yolayni Rosado Valerio. Their Freestyle meeting ended with a fall in 2:43 as part of the three falls and a tech that Fernandez posted as she marched through the bracket.

Fernandez’s technical superiority win came in her first match in the Qualifying Round, 10-0, over Peru’s Michely Gutierrez Cayllahua. In the Quarterfinals, the Cavalier stuck Argentina’s Danna Costa in just over a minute, 1:03. Colombia’s Susana Sanchez Carvajal had her lights turned out with a 21 second Half-Final fall.

The finals result with Valerio was much tighter on the beach than on the mats with Fernandez coming out ahead, 3-2. The beach competition started with four groups and narrowed it down to a bracket for the medals. Valerio was the Group D Champ, Fernandez locked down Group A with two techs and a fall.

In beach wrestling, a technical superiority victory is earned with a 3-0 margin. Fernandez handed that result to her first opponent, Puerto Rico’s Paola Ramirez, and her final one, Sylvia Espinosa Muniz of Mexico. In between those wins, Fernandez decked Nairam Jaime Figueroa (Venezuela) in eight seconds.

Once slotted into the brackets, the soon to be junior, registered two quick pins to reach the finals. A quarterfinal, 44 second flattening of Natalia Proboste (Argentina) was followed by a quicker ending in 15 seconds for Chile’s Fernanda Riffo Catalan.

MELEE TIL MIDNIGHT

The concept for the Melee Til Midnight is an unusual one with a name that hints at that reality with the entries capped at 500 and a start time of 6:10 PM. Held in Fairfax, Virginia at the George Mason University Field House, the wrestling was preceded by a clinic ran by coaches and wrestlers of the University.

The Melee is subtitled as the “Eric Monday Memorial Tournament” and was held on June 21st with Divisions across all age groups, including an Open one, this recap will focus on the Maryland High School Boys and Girls only.

Maryland pushed five to the top of the podium in the Boys Division. The biggest star being Perry Hall’s Victor Marks-Jenkins. Marks-Jenkins, who repped Punisher Wrestling Club, is currently ranked 15th in the country in the latest High School on SI National Rankings and had little trouble here locking down the 190-pound crown, riding two pins and a technical fall to the finals, where he stuck Virginia’s Adrian Guerra in 3:04.

Brunswick’s Seth Crawford (144) used a tech fall, a pin, and then a 6-4 decision of Nova’s fourth-place finisher Cruz Liu in the semis, to reach the finals and post a major-decision victory, 12-3, against Virginia’s Basit Amid. Speaking of major decisions, Clarksburg’s David Dansou put two on the brackets to go along with a tech fall on his championship run at 138 pounds that ended with a 9-5 win over Virginia’s Ari Runkle.

Legend Wrestling Club’s Braxton Bohinc (132) and Patuxent’s Jahkiye Dixon (285) both won their finals bouts on 7-2 counts. From there the similarities end, as Bohinc operated from a loaded bracket that saw him wrestle four times before the finals, picking up one pin and one tech fall before downing fellow Marylander, Felipe Jacome (Bethesda Chevy Chase), in his final. Dixon (Honeybadgers) had to step on the mat just once before his finals win over Virginia’s Micah Gillespie, and that resulted in a semifinal tech.

In addition to Felip Jacome’s silver, two others came in second, Bullis’ Soshiant Ahanj-Elias (157 pounds) and Northwest’s Logan Brown (165). Ahanj-Elias donned the Capital Wrestling Club attire while coming up just short, 4-2, in his final bout with Chase Alvarez (Independence, VA). Brown was covered in Germantown gear as he fell to Virginia’s Jonre Fisher, 4-0.

Driving back to Maryland with bronze around their neck were Clarksburg’s Amanuel Fisahaye (120 pounds) and Magruder’s Neil Sharma (150). Fisahaye defeated Virginia’s Jayden Rivera, 10-5, in the consolation finals. Sharma (Warhawks Wrestling Inc.) edged Virginia’s Reese Keene in his placement match. Sharma also participated in the Open slate and captured the 145.2-pound gold with a 19-3 tech of silver medalist Ibaad Shaikh (UMCP) in a Round Robin format.

Marylanders placing fourth were Beat the Streets’ Noah Reising-Rubli (113 pounds), Walt Whitman’s Jabasie Trice (Beat the Streets, 126 pounds), Queen Anne’s Landon Shanks (138), Magruder’s Jayson Hinojosa (157), Bowie’s Carter Tucker (175 pounds), Westminster’s Davit Guliashvili (190), and Beat the Streets’ Nicholas Christie (285).

Two girls were crowned champions, Francis Scott Key’s Madalyn Johnson (118 pounds) and Potomac’s Kamil Johnson (225). Both were involved in Round Robin affairs. Madalyn mixed it up four times, while Kamil threw down twice.

Madalyn Johnson took out another grappler from Maryland in eventual runner-up, Kayla Levenberry (Seneca Valley), 10-6, in her travels through the field. The bronze medalist, Jocelyn Sanchez (Legacy Wrestling), was discarded with a 19-4 tech. A tech was also handed to fourth place finishing Sofia Qadir (Oakton, VA), 15-0. Virginia’s Jillian Organek was decked in 46 seconds in another bout.

Kamil Johnson was battling for Beat the Streets and needed overtime, 6:30, to pin Herndon’s second-place Eja Gatewood while ahead 12-6, and also planted North Stafford’s bronze medalist, Aerith Harrington, in 55 seconds. Christina Lefeged came in second for Clarksburg at 106 pounds, after being pinned by the champ, North Stafford’s Karla Cornejo in two straight, 1:11 and 1:10, in their best of three final.

GABRIELSON, GAVIN, HAYES, AND RANDALL POWER TEAM DIAMOND FISH PINK TO ALL-STAR SILVER POOL TITLE AT AAU DUALS

Team Diamond Fish entered two teams, Pink and Blue, into the AAU Scholastic Duals in Fort Lauderdale, Florida at the Broward County Convention Center on June 23rd through the 28th (exact schedule is unknown to us). The Pink squad would swim with the Big Fish of the All-Star Gauntlet, while Blue would do their work in the Developmental Pond.

Pink went 2-7 in All-Star Pool G, which pushed them out of the top 16 and placed Pink into the All-Star Silver Pool, where they went undefeated to reach the top of that pile. Teams came from all over the country for this Shindig and the competition was deep.

Pink’s final match of the Silver Slate was essentially the final, even though this pool was run in a Round Robin manner, as Team Berserkers Black from Florida was defeated 53-21 and came in second. The third-place team, North Carlina’s Carolina Extreme Blue, was beaten, 50-29, in Pink’s second match. In the pool opener, Pink downed Florida’s Port Charlotte, who placed fourth, 57-24.

In the beginning Pool G, Pink beat the Berserkers, 36-31, and also handled another Florida foe, Guerriero Gold, 39-33. Losses came to teams from Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, and South Dakota.

South Carroll’s Eli Gabrielson (120 pounds) was the star for Maryland along with Pennsylvania’s Erik Carlile, in putting up 11-1 records. Gabrielson went undefeated in the Silver Pool, with loss coming to Georgia’s Elijah Lunderman-Hattaway (Camden Outsiders – The Greaser All-Stars), 6-3, in the opening pool. Six of Gabrielson’s wins came by fall with three more by tech fall.

Eleanor Roosevelt’s Austin Hayes (106 pounds), Walt Whitman’s Solomon Randall (126), and St. Mary’s Ryken’s Evan Gavin (215/285) were 10-2. All three went unscathed during the championship run. Hayes had two falls and a tech amongst his wins. Randall registered a whopping eight pins. Gavin dropped five pins and a tech on his rivals.

Sparrows Point’s Brandon Wunder rolled to a 7-5 record with four falls at 113 pounds, going 3-0 in the final rounds. Eleanor Roosevelt’s Leo Foreman (150) was 4-2 in limited duty, missing most of the initial pool matches, but stepped up for his squad in the placement pool, shaking off whatever ailed him to put three wins in the book.

Kevin Hernandez (138/144 pounds) won just five matches, but three came at the most important time, in Silver Pool action, with two of them by fall. William Chism IV of Lackey won four matches with half coming on the Silver Plate. South Carroll’s Davy Snyder chipped in two of his three wins during the Silver Rounds.

Blue placed sixth in Developmental Pool I, with a 3-5 record, which also placed them into a Silver Situation, where they would go 1-3 to finish eighth. Blue’s Silver Pool unfolded in a bracketed manner after the Round Robin format of Pool I.

Blue won their first match in the Silver Pool in the round of 16 over Indiana’s Indy Elite, 41-36. A quarterfinal loss to Illinois Cornstar Black, 39-36, relegated them to the fifth-place bracket as you needed to reach the semis to have a shot at third. Indiana’s Monrovia Bulldogs sent Blue into the seventh-place match with a 44-24 score, where they would suffer another defeat to Florida’s Lugo Wrestling Club, 61-18, to take eighth.

The three wins in Pool I came over Team Montana Gold, 45-33, in the opener. A Round four win came against Florida’s War Ready White, 52-28. Blue’s third win came in their next to last match, 39-30, versus Virginia Wrecking Crew. Losses came to Lugo WC, 47-33, along with one more from Florida, Youth Impact Center Blue, and squads from Indiana, Iowa, Pennsylvania.

Braxton Bohinc (126/132 pound) was Blue’s star with an 11-1 tally. Bohinc’s only loss was a close one, 5-4, versus Illinois’ Raiden Terry. Bohinc posted five falls, two techs, and a major decision amongst his victories. Northern of Calvert County’s Jacob Gough (165/175) was right behind Bohinc, finishing with a 10-2 record. Gough had seven pins, a tech, and a major in his array of results.

Three Blue Grapplers were 9-3, Lackey’s James Kunz (138 pounds), Wise’s Dorian Jordan (157), and Thomas Stone’s Rafael Williams (165/175 pounds). Kunz had three pins, three major decisions, and one tech fall. Jordan Had two each of falls and majors along with one tech. Williams collected six pins and a major decision.

Lackey’s Luke Baldwin (106/113 pounds) went 6-4, with two falls and two major decisions. Micah Brown was 6-6, pocketing two pins and a tech fall. St. Mary’s Isiah Stanley (150) had five wins with four falls and a tech. Michael Kunz (Lackey, 113/120) won three matches, two by fall. Jared Kolker (120/126 pounds) chipped in two wins, one by fall. Adding one valuable win at various times were, Mekhi Holmes (106/113 pounds) and heavyweight Taizay Matthews.