2011-2012 Recaps

3/28 - 4/1 - NHSCA Nationals
The Blair seniors, along with a group of underclassmen, competed in the NHSCA Nationals held down at Virginia Beach. Always a tough tournament, NHSCA Nationals drew wrestlers from 49 states this year. Four Blair underclassmen placed. In the freshman division, Michael Monica took third and David Showunmi took fifth. In the sophomore division, Walker Dempsey placed fourth and PJ Klee earned first place.

In the senior division, the final scholastic event for seniors before they compete in the college ranks, three Blair seniors placed. Both Todd Preston and Max Hvolbek lost close matches, which put them down in the consolation rounds, and both wrestlers competed well to come back and earn third place. Then, in the finals, Mark Grey faced a tough opponent from Montana and won a hard-fought 7-2 victory and in so doing, also earned the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler Award.

Blair Wrestlers Win National Preps
The Blair Wrestlers won their 32nd consecutive National Prep Championship this past weekend at Lehigh University's Stabler Arena. The team tied the tournament record, which was held by the 2001 Blair team, by placing 11 wrestlers in the finals and winning 9 titles. Blair outdistanced the second place team by a margin of 102 points. The individual champions for Blair were: Jordan Kutler '15, Joey Mckenna '14, Mark Grey '12, Todd Preston '12, Russell Parsons '13, Patrick Coover '14, Michael Mocco '12, Frank Mattiace '13 and Brooks Black '13. Mark Grey became only the tenth wrestler in Blair history to win four National Prep titles. The other strong performances were Charles Tucker '15 and Dylan Milonas '14 both placed second, Max Hvolbek '12 placed third, and David Farr '12 placed fifth. On their way to winning the championship, the Blair wrestlers raised money for the Autism Speaks foundation through their "Pin Down" campaign. Winning National Preps, Ironman, Beast of the East, and Powerade titles and finishing undefeated secured the Bucs as the nation's number one team in the country.

Blair Qualifies Two for NCWA Nationals
This past Saturday, Blair competed in the NCWA Mid-East Conference tournament held at Valley Forge Military Academy and College. Abe Ayala placed second on the day, and Mark Stillerman placed third, places that qualify them for NCWA Nationals held in Daytona Beach, FL 3/8-11. Also, Willie Wilson competed and placed fifth.

1/21 - Robert Dougherty Wrestling Tournament at Rutgers Prep, NJ
Team "B"
113 Shannon Davis 2nd
126 Alex Rinaldi 1st
138 Michael Deehan 3rd
145 Peter Bearse 4th
160 Stephen Broadbent 3rd
285 Teddy Riker 3rd

Click to view "A December to Remember, Record Performances at Ironman, Beast and PowerAde" in December 2011.

1/14 - NHSCA Festival- Win
This past Saturday marked a showdown of the #1 and #2 ranked high school wrestling teams in the country. The dual between Blair and St. Ed's happened at the NHSCA Festival held at Pleasant Valley High School in Pennsylvania. The event started with teams wrestling in pool competition and then into brackets. In pool competition, Blair competed against, and handily beat, Cedar Cliff, PA and Framingham, MA. Next up, the Bucs faced Mifflinburg, PA in the semi-finals of bracketed competition. Again, Blair won easily and made it to the much anticipated finals match-up with St. Ed's.

The rest of the teams finished wrestling, and one mat was set up in the middle of the gym to host the finals match. St. Ed's lined up on one side of the mat, and Blair lined up on the other, both teams ready for a battle. The match started at 138, where Todd Preston got to work right away and took down Nick Barber of St. Ed's. Preston held on to win 4-2, and Dylan Milonas, 145, and Russell Parsons, 152, kept thing going the Bucs way with wins over Markus Scheidel and Matt Van Curen. Then, at 160, Jacob Davis of St. Ed's turned the momentum in their favor with a tight 2-1 victory over Patrick Coover. Next up, at 170, Mark Martin Jr. racked up enough points to secure a major decision (and an extra team point) over Addison Knepshield. St. Ed's kept rolling as Domenic Abouander defeated Michael Mocco and gave St. Ed's its first lead of the night: 10-9. However, at 195, Frank Mattiace finally slowed down St. Ed's with a decisive victory of James Suvak. At 220, one of the most exciting matches of the night took place, and in a back and forth scoring fest, Ty Walz of St. Ed's took down David Farr in overtime, to regain the team score, 13-12. When it came to Heavyweight, Brooks Black made sure to put some points on the board, and he pinned Joe Belford of St. Ed's in the first period, not only turning the score 18-13 in the Bucs favor but giving them a much needed boost as the match turned to the lower weights. At 106, in a key swing match, Jordan Kutler held on to beat Lorenzo Bentley of St. Ed's 4-2. Despite Alex Moore of St. Ed's pinning Chas Tucker at 113, the Bucs held on to their lead. Joey McKenna, at 120, handed Colin Heffernan of St. Ed's a 7-1 defeat, putting the score at 24-19 in the Bucs' favor. At 126, Max Hvolbek tried to secure the win for the Bucs but fell short to Dean Heil of St. Ed's.

Finally, at the beginning of the 132 match, the Bucs held onto a slim 24-22 lead, thereby needing a win from Mark Grey to win the dual. Fans for both teams elevated their level of cheering as Grey stepped on the mat to face Edgar Bright of St. Ed's. In a match up of two wrestlers ranked in the top ten in the country, a defensive battle ensued. Grey got in on some shots early but could not capitalize, and then Bright missed securing a takedown as time ran out in the first period, sending the wrestlers 0-0 into the second period. After trading escapes in the second and third periods, both wrestlers readied themselves for overtime. After the first OT, with the score still tied, the two wrestlers preceded to two 30-second periods. Starting the action on top, Grey was able to ride out Bright to keep the score tied, and then, when it came his turn to take the bottom position, Grey escaped to go up 2-1 and then fended off Bright's attacks to secure the victory for himself and for his team.

After a hard fought dual, Blair stood victorious 27-22.

Check out www.trackwrestling.com and www.nhsca.com for more information.

1/7 - Blair "B" team competes at Newark Academy Invitational
Blair's lone champion, Michael Monica, led the way for the Bucs at the 28th annual Newark Academy Invitational. Monica wrestled his best tournament of the year en route to his first place finish. Walker Dempsey and Nick DiNapoli also made it to the finals but lost in their attempts to take home first place.

Placers:
132 - Michael Monica - 1st
138 - Walker Dempsey - 2nd
160 - Nick DiNapoli - 2nd

12/29 - PowerAde Tournament - 1st
Blair Wins 2011 Powerade Christmas Tournament
Blair finished with 4 champions. 3 seconds, 2 thirds, 2 fourths and 1 sixth at the 2011 PowerAde.

Blair's unoffical final team point total was 293 pts, about 100 pts more than 2nd place and host Canon McMillan, USA # 9.

Only twice in history has Blair scored more than 293 team pts at an in-season national tournament and both times were at Beast of the East (in December 2008 and earlier this month). However, unlike PowerAde, which is a 5-round tournament, Beast is a 6-round tournament. Aside: An extra round produces 30 to 40 more team pts for teams of Blair's caliber.

Moreover, Blair's terrific results at the 2011 PowerAde came without an entry at 113 lbs (since USA #4 or so Joe McKenna did not make weight) and with back-up Jack Wedholm filling in admirably for the starting 170 lber, Addison Knepshield, who was injured at the 2011 Beast.

Blair's 2011 PowerAde Champs

• 132 lbs Mark Grey — Mark beat 2nd seeded Tyson Dippery of Central Dolpin (PA), 4-2. (Go rest your ankle, Mark. You've more than earned a break.)
• 138 lbs Todd Preston — In the finals beat AWN's USA #1 ranked wrestler at 138, Nate Skonieczny, the Walsh Jesuit (OH) wrestler who pinned in the finals of Ironman. Todd won 2-1 in 6 periods. After getting a pin and a 19-5 win in his first two bouts, Todd allowed just 2 pts — total — in the quarters, semi's and finals.
• 152 lbs Russ Parsons — In the finals beat the 2nd seed 2-1. Won via a takedown in the final 15 seconds. In semis, won 4-3 via a reversal in final 15 seconds. This is junior Russell Parsons' first major title at Blair. He has been on a steady upward path all season, placing 4th at Ironman and 2nd at Beast.
• 285 lbs Brooks "Babe" Black — His finals opponent ran from him the entire match. Brooks became the only Blair wrestler this year to win Ironman, Beast and PowerAde. Aside: Dylan Milonas won Ironman and Beast. Mark Grey and Todd Preston won Beast and PowerAde.

Blair's 2011 PowerAde 2nd Place Finishers

• 120 lbs P.J. KLee — Though seeded just 6th, this highly talented sophomore made it to his 2nd finals in a row (Beast having been his first) by beating all opponents decisively, including the 3rd and 7th seeds. In the finals, lost to a senior who will be wrestling for Pitt next year this time.
• 126 lbs Max Hvolbek — Though he placed in very difficult weight classes at Ironman and Beast and though he placed at Fargo Juniors this past summer, somehow Max was NOT SEEDED at Powerade. He showed the seedy seeders by beating their 7th seed 15-0 and then beating their 2nd and 3rd seeds to get to the finals. In the finals Max lost by regular decison to USA #2 Jimmmy Gulibon, who was winning his 4th PowerAde crown, for which he was named OW.
• 145 lbs. Dylan Milonas — After beating many fine wrestlers to win both Ironman and Beast (after winning the Cadet Freestyle national crown this past summer), Dylan Milonas finally lost a bout. In what was the deepest weight classs at PowerAde, Dylan lost to Soloman Chishko, a very good grappler from Canon McMillan, who no doubt Dylan's will meet many times in the years ahead.

Blair's 2011 PowerAde 3rd Place Finishers

• 195 lbs Frank Mattiace — The story here is that in the match for 3rd place, Frank beat the very wrestler who had knocked him out of title contention. The wrestler in question caught Frank in a head lock more than once in their quarterfinals match to upset Frank 9-3. In the match for 3rd, Frank wrestled a very different kind of match (than he had in the quarters), avoided the head lock and rode the opponnet out to win 1-0.
• 220 lbs David Farr — What a story David Farr has become. Dave was not seeded at Ironman, even though 14 wrestlers were seeded at his weight. Regardless, he placed 6th at Ironman. Then he placed 6th at Beast. Now he has placed 3rd at PowerAde, meaning he had just one loss at PowerAde, and that was to the #1 seed and eventual champion. Dave is now nationally ranked by at least one ranking service.Talk about improvement.

Blair's 2011 PowerAde 4th Place Finishers

• 160 lbs Pat Coover — Sophomore Coover continues to improve his finishes. Had a 7th at Ironman and a 5th at Beast.
• 182 lbs Mike Mocco — 3rd straight placement this season. Had pins in first two rounds.

Blair's 2011 PowerAde 6th Place Finisher

• 170 lbs Jack Wedholm — Another great story. Jack has been wrestling for less time than most of the Blair guys, but has been improving rapidly and is expected to be a regular on the very strong 2012-2013 Blair team. Because Addision Knepshield sustained a knee injury in the 3rd round of Beast, Jack Wedholm took his place in Blair's PowerAde line up. As a relative unknown, Jack was unseeded. Regardless, Jack came through again and again, and placed 6th!!!!!

12/27 - Blair "B" Wins Lenape Valley Holiday Tournament
With 12 weight classes filled, the Blair "B" team took part in the annual Lenape Valley Holiday Tournament just two days after Christmas. Blair placed in 11 of the 12 weight classes they entered en route to besting second place Manalapan. Heading into the finals, Blair needed to make up ground, down 7.5 to Manalapan. They did so with a strong finals round. Alex Rinaldi started off the action with a first period pin. Rinaldi, with three first period pins on the day, also walked away with the tournament's outstanding wrestler award. Blair wrestlers Walker Dempsey, John Welch, Nick DiNapoli and David Showunmi also recorded wins in the finals, while Michael Monica, Will Cooley and Andrew Monahan placed second. Next up for the "B" team is the Newark Academy Invitational this Saturday 1/7.

Lenape Valley Holiday Tournament Placing
106 - Chase Palanca - 6th
113 - Andrew Monahan -2nd
126 - Alex Rinaldi - 1st
132 - Michael Monica - 2nd
138 - Walker Dempsey - 1st
145 - John Welch - 1st
152 - Christian Suk - 5th
160 - Nick DiNapoli - 2nd
170 - Steven Broadbent - 3rd
182 - David Showunmi - 1st
220 - Will Cooley - 2nd

12/17 - Beast of the East - 1st
The Blair Bucs won the 19th Annual "Beast of the East" wrestling tournament held at the University of Delaware this past weekend. The team had thirteen wrestlers place in the top 8 and crowned 5 individual champions. With a dominating performance, the Bucs set a new team record accumulating 321.5 points, outdistancing the second place team by 142.5 points. The team field consisted of close to 96 teams from all over the East coast. Winning their respective weight classes were Joey McKenna, Mark Grey, Todd Preston, Dylan Milonas and Brooks Black. Mark Grey also made Beast of the East history by being the only wrestler in the 19 years of the tournament to win four titles. After his win in the finals, the tournament director presented him with a trophy to recognize his accomplishment. He also received the Most Outstanding Wrestler award, which was voted by all the team coaches. After Christmas, the team will travel to Canon MacMillan High School to compete in the prestigious Powerade Tournament.

Individual Places
106 Chase Palanca 3rd
113 Andrew Monahan 1st
120 Shannon Davis 2nd
126 Alex Rinaldi 1st
132 Michael Monica 1st
138 Walker Dempsey 1st
145 John Welch 1st
160 Nick DiNapoli 2nd
170 Jack Wedholm 1st
182 David Showunmi 1st
220 Will Cooley 1st

12/10 - 1st
The Blair Wrestling team travelled to Walsh Jesuit High School in Cleveland, Ohio to compete in The Ironman, the so called "toughest" high school wrestling tournament in the country. Entering the tournament, Blair was ranked #1 in the country in two out of the three high school national rankings. The other rankings had Blair #2 behind St. Ed's of Ohio. The Ironman consisted of about 72 teams with more than a handful of top 25 ranked teams. After the first day of competition, Friday, the Bucs were ahead of St. Ed's by 2 points, but there was plenty of wrestling left on the second day. The team scores flipped flopped back and forth throughout Saturday until the last round of wrestling where Blair was ahead by 14 points. The Bucs had four in the finals compared to St. Ed's five, and both teams had numerous wrestlers in the consolations. Representing the Bucs in the finals were Joseph McKenna, Dylan Milonas, Frank Mattiace and Brooks Black. In the end, Blair walked away with three individual champions and the team title, backing up their #1 ranking over St. Ed's.

12/10 - Blair "B" Wins Wilson Duals
The Blair "B" team travelled to Northampton Community College last Saturday to compete in the Wilson Duals. Blair went 5-0 on the day, ultimately beating Bangor High School in the finals. In Pool B competition, Blair beat Pocono Mt. East, Palisades, Valley View and Southern Lehigh in order to reach the finals versus Bangor, winner of Pool A. Teddy Riker started the match off with a pin and gave the Bucs a jumpstart. Andrew Monahan, Michael Monica, John Welch, Nick DiNapoli, Jack Wedholm and David Showunmi also recorded falls, helping Blair to a 48-31 victory. On the day, junior Jack Wedholm led the charge for the Bucs, posting a 4-0 record. Nick DiNapoli, Michael Monica, Andrew Mon and Walker Dempsey also went undefeated on the day.

return to top