Tavon takes top honors

Mount Carmel’s eighth-ranked junior Tavon Mitchell was feeling the pressure of expectations entering Saturday’s 215-pound Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association Tournament championship bout against Archbishop Spalding’s 19th-ranked junior Luke Barulli at Gilman.

Mitchell is essentially a second-year wrestler, having first engaged in the sport as a ninth-grader when an 11-9 decision over Barulli contributed to his record of 21-10.

But Mitchell suffered an ACL tear early in his sophomore year, aborting a full season of experience.

Mitchell returned to action in football as a defensive end this past fall, making 45 tackles to go with four sacks to earn All-MIAA B-Conference honors.

“I tore it on September 30 in the first quarter of the first game of the year,” said Mitchell, whose record on the year is 33-7. “I was actually on [the wrestling team] but I didn’t wrestle any matches. I think I had 13 forfeits.”

At Gilman, Mitchell scored his 27th pin of the year against Calvert Hall senior Mac Ridgely in 68 seconds, and his third technical fall of the season by the score of 19-3 technical over Archbishop Curley’s 17th-ranked sophomore Josiah Williamson.

Next up was the title bout rematch with Barulli, whom Mitchell defeated, 4-1, in overtime to become the Cougars’ first-ever MIAA champion. Williamson pinned Ridgely in 2:23 for third place.

“Nobody from Mount Carmel had ever made it to the MIAA finals, so I really wanted to go out there and get the win,” said Mitchell, who carries a 3.5 GPA. “But I already knew that it was going to be a close match because I had wrestled Luke during my freshman year and beat him, 11-9.”

Mitchell was prophetic concerning Barulli, a returning third place finisher at MIAAs who placed eighth at last year’s Maryland Independent/Private Schools state tournament.

Barulli led, 1-0, entering the third period before Mitchell sent the bout into overtime with an escape. After repeated attempts, Mitchell secured the decisive three-point takedown with 19 seconds left in the first overtime period for the victory.

“I had taken several shots, and I saw that Luke was starting to get a little lazy in his stance,” said Mitchell, also the Cougars’ first MIAA finalist. “I was able to hit a slide-by and a body lock to take him down.”

Mount Carmel’s third-year coach is Wes Clarke, who has among his assistants, Joshua Laubach, a 2018 Archbishop Curley graduate who placed second, third, fourth and fifth in the MIAAs and first, third, fifth and sixth at private school states.

“When I think of Tavon Mitchell, I think about a young man who has shown up ready for every event,” said Laubach, who is a four-time National Preps All-American and was twice an All-American before graduating from Division II Alderson Broaddus University in 2023.

“Tavon was admired by all of our guys last year while he was recovering from that ACL tear. The way Tavon has demonstrated a lot of grit while overcoming adversity in this sport is second to none on this team. Tavon is only in his second year of wrestling, but he already has some wins over several ranked guys.”

Among Mitchell’s victories this year are those over ninth-ranked senior Adam Keever of Hereford and senior Elijah Fields of Guilford Park, who is a returning Howard County champion.

Mitchell decked Fields in 1:57 and scored a 2-1 victory over Keever, who placed third, fourth, and third in last year’s Baltimore County, regional and Class 2A-1A state tournaments.

Among Mitchell’s losses is that by a 9-8 overtime decision in the Franklin Tournament finals against 14th-ranked senior Iyanuoluin Ogunsakin of Mount Hebron, a returning Howard County Tournament runner-up who was third at regions.

Mitchell won the Severn Run tournament on consecutive pins in 1:44 and 1:54 before winning his title match by 4-0 decision over Severn senior Talin Krashoc, who was fifth at MIAAs last year.

“I trained really hard coming into this tournament. We wrestle Josh [Laubach] every day and he really pushes us,” Mitchell said. “I had some momentum coming in after winning the Severn Run Tournament last week, and I have to say that the results were what I expected. I’m basically a second-year wrestler, and I figure I still have another year to go.”