Whitman Wrestling

Starting on Tuesday, April 14^th the Spring Mat Club will be underway.  We, once again, have secured our tremendous coaches, Matt and Dwayne, to help out.  The mat club will be every Tuesday/Thursday from 6:30 to 8:00 P.M.  The mat club will be of no cost to you or your family.  However, you will be required to purchase a USA wrestling card (about $30).  This can be found on www.themat.com.  This is necessary for insurance purposes.  Mr. Mike Lerner, the head of the Viking Mat Club, has been a big help in getting this started and we thank him.

All Whitman wrestlers who are not currently on a spring sports team will be expected to attend all mat club practices.  This is an excellent way to continue our pursuit of excellence in the offseason.  I hope you are all as excited as I am to get on the mat and learn some new technique for next season.   Remember, spring/summer/fall wrestling makes winter CHAMPIONS!!

The dates for the mat club are as follows:

April: 14, 16, 21, 23, 28, 30

May:  4, 7, 12, 14, 19, 21, 26, 28

June: 2, 4, 9, 11

Thank you very much!  Please let me know if you have any questions as always.

Coach Manon

You can find more information in this Word Document

Great wrestling opportunity on Saturday, April 18th.  Get on the mat and get some more experience!!

http://www.severnaparkwrestling.com/

Monday April 6, 2009 — Wade Shalles Clinic @ Gaithersburg High School.

For more information and to register go to the website

National Wrestling Hall of Fame says:

“One of the most exciting and spectacular athletes of his time, Wade Schalles would wrestle anyone, anytime, anywhere, at any weight from 150 to 180 pounds, with odds of 2 to 1 that he would win by a fall. Nor was he particular about the style. Schalles was a national champion, or an All-American, in folkstyle, Freestyle and Greco-Roman, and in the allied disciplines of sombo and judo. He earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records as wrestling’s all-time leader in victories with 821, and in falls with 530. Schalles also was renowned for defeating 36 national champions, pinning 17 of them, and defeating eight World titlists.”

Website: http://danfisher.brinkster.net/schalles/schallesclinic.htm

Questions: danfisher@mindspring.com

Sponsored by Montgomery Youth Wrestling League and Viking Mat Club

The Whitman Vikings were tied going into the finals at Cole Field House Saturday night at the State Tournament. Both the Vikings and Old Mill had two State finalists and Old Mill was able to secure one win while both Danny Lee wrestled valiantly but came up just short. The entire team wrestled very well and placed second as a team.

Wrestling for the Vikings at Cole were 112-Sawyer Symington, 119-Eric Harder, 125-Andrew Follmann, 145-Eric Beverly, 160-Steven Fisher, 171-Taylor Leighton, 189-Aaron Norris, and 215-Danny Lee. Sophomores Andrew Follmann and Eric Harder were able to secure one win and two wins respectively. Eric Harder was one win away from placing. Aaron Norris capped an amazing career at Whitman with a personal best of 5th place at States. He was a three time state placer. Eric Beverly also completed an incredible career and wrestled back valiantly on Saturday to place fourth for the Vikings. Fellow senior Steven Fisher lost to the eventual state runner up but secured 4 pins on Saturday to place 3rd a year after he placed 6th at States to finish off his own incredible four years at Whitman.

Juniors Taylor Leighton and Danny Lee both finished 2nd to lead the way for the Vikings. Leighton lost a close one to Nadjitade Badje in the finals while Lee lost a two point match to Mwanza Wamalumba. This is a career best for both wrestlers at States.

Congratulations to all wrestlers for another amazing season!!! We’ll see everyone at the banquet on Saturday.

The Whitman Vikings rebounded from a tough 2nd place finish in last week’s county tournament to take the 3A/4A West Region Tournament. All eight of Whitman’s region qualifiers wrestled very hard and qualified for this weekend’s State Tournament at UMD’s Cole Field House. The Vikings won with an impressive point total of 148.5 which beat out Springbrook( 2nd with 125) and Sherwood (3rd with 111).

Leading the way for the Vikings was undefeated Eric Beverly, as well as Aaron Norris, and Danny Lee. All three won their respective weight classes. Each wrestler also won the county tournament a week ago. Steven Fisher and Taylor Leighton also made it to the finals but came up short. In addition to those five guys Sawyer Symington, Eric Harder, and Andrew Follmann also wrestled exceptionally and qualified for the State Tournament. Eric and Andrew place third while Sawyer wrestled to fourth place. This is the first time qualifying for States for each of these wrestlers.

Please come out and cheer on the Vikes in this final tournament of the year!!

Attention ALL Whitman Wrestlers!

Whitman’s annual Mulch Sale Fundraiser is next Saturday, March 7^th.  All Whitman wrestlers are required to attend and help out in the effort.  You must check in with an adult who is supervising the mulch sale to prove that you were there.  The Wrestling team is responsible for the 8 A.M. to 11A.M. time slot so make sure you are there for the entire three hours.  The only wrestlers who are exempt from participating in the mulch sale are those wrestlers who qualify for the State Tournament which is that Friday and Saturday.  Please email Coach Manon if you have any questions.  There is a form with a link below to order mulch if your family would like to do so.  Thank you so much in advance for helping out with this very important fundraiser.

Mulch Order Form [PDF, 188KB]

By now you should have received your Wrestling banquet invitation via Evite.

Time to celebrate a great season!

Saturday, March 14, 2009
5pm
Includes mounds of delicious BBQ, coaches’ and player gifts and awards.
Families also contribute drinks, side dishes and desserts - see pot luck list to sign up by grade level.
Cost: $100/wrestler (check to Whitman Wrestling)
RSVP by March 7;
Limit wrestler + 2 guests

Pot Luck items:
Freshmen - desserts
Sophmores - side dishes; salads
Juniors - drinks and ice
Seniors - chips

On Wednesday, February 11^th the Whitman Vikings wrestling team beat Springbrook and Magruder to claim it’s second 4A/3A West Region title in as many years.  In what may have been Whitman’s best wrestling all season the Vikes stormed out to leads of 32-7 and 37-12 against Springbrook and Magruder respectively before forfeiting the final 4 bouts of each dual.  Whitman wrestlers were 16-4 in the 20 matches wrestled on the mat.  Coming away with two wins for the Vikes were Eric Beverly, Steven Fisher, Aaron Norris, Ned Daryoush, Danny Lee, Sawyer Symington, and Eric Harder.  Also garnering victories for Whitman were Taylor Leighton and one HUGE win by Keegan Barber.

Thanks to all the parents, fans, teachers, and administration who came to the matches to support our team.  It is always such a boost to see our section of stands filled up the most.  Our guys really feed off that excitement and emotion.

Whitman looks to continue their winning ways this weekend at Marriott’s Ridge High School.  Wrestling begins at noon when we wrestle Old Mill.  Please come out and support the team once more!!!

Last weekend, our Viking wrestlers saw many of the best public and private schools from Maryland, including teams from Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and Virginia, in the annual Mount Mat Madness tournament. Whitman place 18th out of 29 teams, up from 26th place in last year’s tournament. Junior 215 pounder Danny Lee placed a team high 4th. Seniors Aaron Norris, Steven Fisher, and J.D. Hamilton all placed 6th. The team missed the leadership of Eric Beverly on and off the mat at the tournament. We all look forward to see him back soon.

This tournament is like none other in the state of Maryland, including States! Each weight class features several wrestlers who place high in their respective State Tournaments, and in many cases there are more than 1 or two state champs in a weight class. Each of our wrestlers wrestled hard for 6 minutes or more and achieved our goal of improving as a team and as individuals. Each of the past couple of seasons our team has learned and improved from this tournament. We have come out of this tournament a better team that is more equipped for the final weeks of tough competition.

I want to thanks all of the guys and gal for working so hard thus far this season. Let’s keep it going, have some fun, and work throughout the end of the season!

Whitman’s wrestlers went to Southern Maryland this weekend and won the 16th Annual Northern High School Patriot Classic. Whitman sent 8 wrestlers into the finals and came away with 7 champions. Overall the Vikes put a very impressive 13 wrestlers, out of 14 weight classes, on the podium as place winners. We didn’t have a 152 pounder for this meet. Whitman finished second in this tournament last year. This year Whitman took on tough competition from host the Northern High School, another Southern Maryland power, Calvert High School and ten other schools and won this year’s affair handily. They won by nearly 75 points. Whitman is 2-0 in tournaments this year. The 7-0 Vikings travel to Paint Branch on Wednesday for a match before heading up to the always tough Mount Mat Madness tournament next weekend at Mount St Joe’s High School in Baltimore County.

Patriot Classic results

103 Keegan Barber 4th place
112 Sawyer Symington Champion
119 Eric Harder 3rd place
125 Andrew Follmann 2nd place
139 Andrew Pore 4th place
135 Jordan Tritell 3rd palce
140 Alex Hysong 3rd place
145 Eric Beverly Champion*
160 Steven Fisher Champion
171 Taylor Leighton Champion
189 Aaron Norris Champion*
215 Danny Lee Champion
285 JD Hamilton Champion

* Won the tournament last year

Eric Beverly(145) beat 3a/4a State runner up Jeff Williams. Williams beat Eric in a close state semifinal last year. Steve Fisher(160) beat Patrick Berry from Calvert. Berry placed 4th in the 1a/2a States last year. Taylor Leighton pinned Zane McBride in the first period of their final. McBride placed 5th in last year’s 3a/4a State Tourament. Aaron Norris and Danny Lee both won their second tournament (as did Beverly and Leighton) and are still undefeated on the season. So even though the tournament was smaller this year there were still very good matches in the finals between great wrestlers from around the state.