Depth propels Owings Mills wrestling to Baltimore County tournament title

Owings Mills ended Sparrow’s Point’s three-year reign as Baltimore County wrestling tournament champion as the Eagles survived a nip and tuck struggle until the end, winning the title over the runner-up Pointers, 175-160, at Perry Hall.

The second day of the tournament was postponed until Monday because of snow. The semifinals began at 2:30 p.m. and the finals lasted late into the night.

Two hours into the semifinals, Sparrows Point held a half-point lead over Owings Mills, but the Eagles built a 165-142.5 lead through the consolation round and maintained it through the finals.

Owings Mills had three finalists with Cregg Ngounou (165 pounds) becoming its lone champion, while Kelvin Alumonah (190) and Simeon Bryant (285) finished as runners-up.

“These guys came together, they knew they wanted the county title as a team and it really came down to our consolation guys for third or fourth,” Owings Mills first-year coach Jarrad Martin said. “With five guys for Sparrows Point in the finals, I knew that our consolation bracket needed to come back and place and they are the ones that kind of separated it for everybody else. The guys in the finals just put the period at the end of the sentence.”

The Eagles placed in seven other weight classes with a bronze from Ladaynean Simpson (157), fourths from Jeffrey Baltazar (120), Tony Dufour (126), Malochi Roberts (150) and Joshua Savoy (215) and fifths from Domonic Toscano (106) and Lavanta Morgan (132).

Ngounou (29-5), a junior, pinned Towson’s Henry Kline (32-6) in 54 seconds, the fastest fall of the night.

“Basically, he had my leg tied up and stuff like that and all I did was grab that leg that he had and tripped him and his back was exposed, so I put him on his back and I locked up the headlock,” said Ngounou, who did not place at counties last year when the Eagles placed third. “My goal was to get No. 1 and move onto regionals.”

“He’s got a few hard decision wins, but he goes out and picks up a fall usually at some point, he’s very reliable,” Martin said.

Alumonah (36-6) lost in the finals to Dulaney’s Roman Kaminski (30-4), 5-0.

“[Alumonah] is a 10th grader and one of the most dedicated guys in the room,” Martin said. “Once we get in to sharpen up his offense, he’s going to be a real problem for everybody else in the state.”

In the final bout of the long night, heavyweight Bryant (34-5) took a 3-1 lead over Milford Mill’s Anthony Hills (13-0) with a takedown 30 seconds into the second period, but a reversal tied the match heading into the third.

Hills took a 4-3 lead with an escape early in the third period and a late takedown in the final seconds secured the match.

“He [Bryant] is our most reliable guy, he’s won us a few matches,” Martin said. “He’s been the explanation on the end of our year. We knew he had a tough one in the finals, but he will have a shot at him again in regionals.”

One of the highlight matches of the night featured Sparrows Point senior Nick Weber against Loch Raven senior Devaraun Waters.

Waters led 7-3 after the first period, but Weber rallied to within 7-6 after two. After giving Waters an escape, Weber tied it 8-all on a takedown with 1:20 left in the third period and after three back points he ended the match with a pin eight seconds away from the whistle.

Other champions included: Sparrow’s Point’s Wyatt Rossi (106) and Russell Fary (150), Eastern Tech’s Brayden Polly (113) and Anthony Oge (215), Catonsville’s Toby Eveleth (120), Franklin’s Maximus Conley (126), Hereford’s Andy Burton (132), Perry Hall’s Connor Chattin (144) and Victor Marks-Jenkins (157) and New Town’s Maleek Ayonrinde (190).

Burton (28-9) and Marks-Jenkins (40-0), ranked No. 1 in the state by Legacy Wrestling, both repeated as county champions.

Catonsville’s Eveleth (21-1) has been ranked since his freshman year and the ninth-ranked senior finally got his first Baltimore County title.

Freshman year was wiped out by the pandemic and as a sophomore he lost in the finals to unbeaten Owen Bell, of Hereford. Last year, he was sick and missed the tournament, but this time he returned from a wrist injury and pinned Eastern Tech’s Abhi Godar (25-8) in the third period.

“He was able to prevent me from getting in my offense for a while, but eventually I got to my single leg and once I got on top I felt really comfortable and I was able to turn him,” Eveleth said.

‘He’s very methodical, very technical, he takes his time and when he sees his opening he takes it and he capitizes,” said Catonsville coach George Dunn, whose squad won the Respect for the Game Sportsmanship Award along with Towson.

Last year, Mason Ritter won the first Baltimore County title for Catonsville since current Owings Mills coach Martin won one in 2016.

“It’s a huge win for Toby, he’s been a regional champ, he’s placed in state, but he’s never won a county title, this is a real monkey off his back.”

Male team scores

Owings Mills, 175; Sparrows Point,160; Franklin, 138; Eastern Tech, 132.5; Hereford, 129.5; Perry Hall, 117.5; Kenwood, 94; Milford Mill, 88.5; Dulaney, 87; Lansdowne, 63.5; Parkville, 60; Patapsco, 50; Catonsville, 49.5; New Town, 47; Towson 47; Pikesville, 41; Overlea, 39; Loch Raven, 34; Randallstown, 33; Dundalk, 30; Chesapeake,16; Western Tech, 5.

Male results

106: Wyatt Rossi (SP) fall Hegan Chhantayal (PH), 3:14
113: Brayden Polly (ET) dec Brayden Wunder (ET), 4-2
120: Toby Eveleth (CAT) fall Abhi Godar (ET), 4:37
126: Maximus Conley (FR) fall Jose Correal (OV), 1:47
132: Andy Burton (HERE) dec. Zion Ince (KW), 7-3
138: Nick Weber (SP) fall Devaraun Waters (LR), 5:52
144: Connor Chattin (PH) maj. dec. Alex Hynes (PAT), 11-2
150: Russell Fary (SP) tech fall Sean Lippman (LANS), 23-7
157: Victor Marks-Jenkins (PH) dec. Tanner Cooper (SP), 4-0
165: Cregg Ngounou (OM) fall Henry Kline (TOW), :55
175: Roman Kaminski (DUL) dec. Kevin Alumonah (OM), 4-0
190: Maleek Ayonrinde (NT) maj. dec. Chris Nwachukwu (KW),12-1
215: Anthony Oge (ET) dec. Braden Poorbaugh (PKV), 6-1
285: Amory Hills (MM) dec. Simeon Bryant (OM), 6-3

Female team scores

Eastern Tech 239, Patapsco 119, Hereford 83, Franklin 72, Randallstown 58, Perry Hall 46, Woodlawn 46, Western Tech 45, Sparrows Point 42, Loch Raven 38, Kenwood 37, Lansdowne 28, Dundalk 27, Carver 26, Catonsville 21, Parkville, 18 Overlea 16, Pikesville 7, Towson 7, Chesapeake 5, Dulaney 5.

Female results

100: Haley Sweatt (ET) fall Brooke Jones (KW), :40
105: Leian Wright (WT) tech fall Dylan Hurd (FR), 17-1
110: Alaina Kopalchick (PH) fall Ariana Carnahan (ET), 6:00
115: Abigail Hicks (LR) fall Willow Case (DUN), 3:09
120: Aubrey Burkhardt (HERE) fall Ayannah Burley (KW), 3:37
125: Jayla Mackell (ET) fall Alyssa Dong (WT) 7-4, 4:45
130: Kyrah Proctor (ET) fall Layla Martin (PAT), 3:29
135: Ryleigh McCreer (ET) fall Amelia Ramalho (HERE), :57
140: Gianna Guarnera (PAT) fall Taylor Fitch (PH), 1:05
145: Ki-Ora Morton (WOOD) fall Kayla Carter (FR), 1:54
155: Hannah Hickman (ET) fall Gianna Sheppard (WOOD) 3:42
170: Ugochi Anunobi (RAND) fall Morgan Linton (ET), 3:58
190: Ashari Willis (PAT) dec. Arianna King (ET), 1-0
235: Endya Williams (LANS) fall Tessa Hoppa (PKV) :30