Female wrestlers shine
MPSSAA hosts first tournament exclusively for girls at Northeast High
Some girls who won medals were seniors; some were freshmen. Some already plan to wrestle in college; some have been competing for just a few months.
At the MPSSAA’s first girls-only folkstyle wrestling tournament at Northeast, the diversity in the gym only served to underscore how the sport brought all the young women together.
Around 80 girls from across the state participated in Saturday’s inaugural MPSSAA Girls Tournament. The field included wrestlers from Annapolis, Broadneck, Glen Burnie, Northeast, South River and Southern High Schools in Anne Arundel and Atholton, Howard, Mount Hebron and Reservoir in Howard County.
Northeast freshman Lacee Schmidt won the gold medal in the 125-pound class and Mount Hebron senior Cassy Lopez took gold in the 106.
The girls were bracketed into 16 weight classes of four or five wrestlers each, determined by the morning weigh-ins for an even distribution rather than by the standard high school weights. Each wrestler matched up against the other three or four girls in their class in a roundrobin format.
Schmidt went 3-0 in her class, starting with a pin of Reservoir’s Sabrina Dumas. Her most exciting match was her second, against Northwood’s Jasmine Alvarez. The score was 5-5 through one period when Schmidt fell behind on a takedown, but she salvaged an escape to pull within 7-6 after two. In the first 20 seconds of the final frame, she scored another escape and followed it up with a takedown, putting her up for good as she won by decision, 9-7.
Schmidt finished by defeating South River’s Gwen Owens by 10-2 major decision. Owens went on to win the 125-pound’s bronze medal.
By tournament’s end, Schmidt was so exhilarated she could barely remember how she won her first match.
“When you wrestle, you just forget everything that you do, you know what I’m saying?” she said. “You watch videos and you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s what I did, maybe that’s what I need to improve on.’”
Some of the pairings in the final round turned out to be true goldmedal matches, including at 106 and 160. At 106, Lopez pinned each of her first three opponents in 20 seconds or less, while Northeast senior Micah Santos also started 3-0. Santos pinned Broadneck’s Analese Ney in 26 seconds and added a pin against Skylar Rupe of Havre de Grace.
Santos gave Lopez a run for her money at the start of their showdown, but the Viking star scored a few takedowns and recorded the pin at 1:13.
A veteran of the sport, Lopez has twice won the Maryland State Wrestling Association’s Triple Crown Award for winning a state championship in folkstyle, freestyle and Greco wrestling in the same year.
“It’s nice seeing the big turnout (at Northeast). It’s awesome seeing women’s wrestling grow in Maryland,” said Lopez, who has five offers to wrestle in college. “I’m really proud of how much the sport has grown in such a short time.”
Northeast senior Lisa McChesney (127) rebounded from an openinground loss to eventual gold medalist Destiny Benjamin of Dulaney and earned silver. Her first win was a pin of Glen Burnie’s Chloe Campbell, and she also defeated Kalin Bower of Middletown, 7-0.
Tournament co-directors Chris Dyke and Chad Vosburg, the respective head coaches of Northeast and Severna Park, were happy with how the day transpired and optimistic it would build momentum toward their future goals.
“I thought it was a great turnout. The overall quality of wrestling was great,” Vosburg said. “It gave a lot of girls a chance to really come out and shine, and it’s a chance to show where the future of our sport can go.”
“I think it’s a catapult to expand for next year,” Dyke said. “Where that expansion takes (us) is to be determined. Obviously we’re looking to double our numbers, double to triple, and that will project us to more events in the next three to five years.”
Dyke and Vosburg feel the girls who wrestled Saturday would make the best ambassadors or recruiters for attracting more girls to the sport. Building participation is key for the sport’s health, Dyke said, and “in order to build participation, (we need) to include everybody, male and female.”
All 16 gold medalists are listed below. Howard’s Priyanka Kundu (122) also won silver and Southern’s Ashley Knapp (115) and Mount Hebron’s Kiersten Rogers (120) won bronze.
MEADE 42, RANDALLSTOWN 22: KeAndre Butler (106) and Isreal Ayomobi (220) each recorded pins and Meade used five forfeit victories to defeat Randallstown, 42-22, on Saturday. Meade finishes the dual meet part of its season at 5-14. Glen Burnie is now 12-6.
BOWIE 38, ANNAPOLIS 26: Tate Scott (120), Kyle Leming (182) and Brandon Jackson (195) each recorded pins, but the Panthers were defeated by Bulldogs. Aidan Heim (106) and Presley Miller (152) scored major decisions for Annapolis.
NO. 5 POLY 72, MOUNT CARMEL 60: Justin Lewis scored 23 points to lead the host Engineers (11-5) past the Cougars (12-17). Poly led 40-30 in the first half.
NO. 10 LAKE CLFTON 64, FRIENDSHIP ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY 18: Alphonso Barney scored 20 points to lead the host Clippers (15-3) past the Grizzlies (1-5).
GLEN BURNIE 60, NORTHEAST 48: Kennedy McKissic scored 18 points and had four assists and Mekhi Simmons chipped in with 13 points and 10 rebounds as the Gophers broke a deadlock at halftime and went on a 13-0 run to win.
ANNAPOLIS AREA CHRISTIAN 64, CHAPELGATE CHRISTIAN ACADEMY 61: Eddie Scott (25 points) made a 3-pointer and a free throw in the closing minute of the game to lift the host Eagles (9-1) over the Yellow Jackets (12-11).