It has been clear for some time that when Amateur Wrestling News announces the Top 40 high school teams for the decade, which it will do soon after the 2009-2010 season ends, Blair will be USA number 1, i.e., the Team of The Decade. *

In that context, it is fitting to note that on December 19 –20 at the Carpenter Center on the campus of the University of Delaware, Blair won its 10th straight Beast of the East title, meaning Blair has won every Beast held this decade.

To accomplish that feat this year meant that Blair had to overcome the loss of 8 senior starters from last year’s team, an unprecedented chore. The answer came largely in two ways. First, two outstanding wrestlers, Mike Evans and Brooks Black, entered Blair this fall, and even though Black was only a freshman and a heavyweight at that (meaning he’d be wrestling opponents much older and heavier than he), he and Mike have made an immediate and substantial impact on Blair’s behalf.

The other factor was the manner in which returning Blair wrestlers rose to the challenge.
At Beast this was evidenced by repeat championships from Evan Silver, Mark Grey and Chris Villalonga, his 3rd straight; by the continued immergence of Jesse Shanaman as one of the nation’s top 152 lb’ers.; and by sophomore Max Hvolbeck’s impressive showing in this his first year as a Blair starter.

All told Blair had five individual Beast champs, the second highest total at Beast by any team ever, behind only last year’s Blair total of six champs. Moreover, Blair did this without defending Beast Champ Austin Ormsbee, who injured his knee two weeks before Beast.

Blair’s five 2009 Beast Champs were as follows: Evan Silver at 112 lbs., Mark Grey at 119 lbs., Chris Villalonga at 140 lbs., Jesse Shanaman at 152 lbs., and Mike Evans at 189 lbs.

In addition, Max Hvolbeck finished a strong 2nd at 103 lbs., losing only a close 6-4 match to the number 1 seed in the finals.

The amazing Brooks “Babe” Black continued his impressive rookie year, placing 3rd in one of the strongest heavyweight fields ever assembled at an in-season tournament.

Stepping back and looking at this year’s Beast from a distance, we see two defining features. First, it was held during one of the most severe blizzards ever experienced in the Mid-Atlantic. For nearby Philadelphia the 23 + inches of snow were the most ever for a December snowfall and the 2nd most ever for any recorded snowfall. The blizzard swept through the states that send the most teams to Beast, meaning Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Yet 743 wrestlers from 101 schools wrestled at the 2009 Beast. Most arrived Friday, before the heavy snows, and left Sunday at varying times, depending largely on when their team’s last wrestler finished. 

The second defining feature of the 2009 Beast was the unparalleled number of close matches, especially overtime bouts. In fact, an amazing one-half of all 3rd place bouts went into overtime.

For Blair wrestlers memorable close victories included Mark Grey’s 2-1 win in overtime over Brandon Jeske in the finals at 119 lbs., Russ Parsons’ 5-3 OT win over the 8th seed at 125 lbs., Max Hvolbeck’s 1-0 ride-out shut-out in the 103 lb. quarterfinals, Jesse Shanaman’s 1-0 ride-out, shut-out of Caesar Rodney’s Issah Meade in the 152 lb. quarterfinals and Brooks Black’s 1-0 ride-out shut-out in the round of 16 at 285 lbs.

Course, if you want to talk about a string of close wins, and the ability to come back time and again when behind, look no farther than Jesse Shanaman. Taking up where he left off surprising folks at Ironman, the 2009 Beast Champ at 152 lbs. showed that indeed a match with him is “not over till it’s over,” as Yogi Berra might have said.

After beating Meade 1-0 in the quarters, Jesse faced nationally ranked Brandon Rolnick of Lawrenceville (NJ) in the semi’s. Rolnick had won Ironman in 2008 and had been a teammate of Jesse’s on the New Jersey Junior Duals Team that finished number 2 in the USA in Oklahoma City last July. After getting ahead 2-0, Rolnick found himself reversed by Jesse and then was getting driven when he suffered an injury and had to default. In a quiet show sportsmanship, Jesse came to Rolnick’s aid, helping carry him off the mat. 

In the finals, Jesse was taken down twice fairly early by Matt White of James Wood (OK), but wrestled back to win 6-5. Jesse’s focused ability to ride out periods and avoid last second escapes was part of his success package in this crucial match, and throughout the Beast.

Besides its team points from its seven place winners, each of whom placed quite high, Blair got 10 team points from Brad Bishop at 160 via three winners’ bracket wins, two of them pins; 6 team points from Todd Preston at 130 lbs., as he won his first three matches handily; and 5 team points from freshman Russ Parsons at 125 lbs. via his upset of the 8th seed in the 1st round and an 8-0 major decision in the 2nd round.


Notable Accomplishments at the 2009 Beast

•    Chris Villalonga became the first wrestler in the history of American high school wrestling to win a combined 6 Ironman and Beast titles, having now won three of each. (Chris is also the only wrestler in history to have been an 8-time finalist at these two ultra-competitive in-season tournaments.)

•    Chris is only the 2nd Blair wrestler to win Beast three times. The other is the great Zack Esposito, who won it in 1999, 2000 and 2001.

•    With its 5 Beast Champs this year, Blair now has a record 43 individual Beast Champs. Aside: By a strange coincidence, Blair also now has 43 individual Ironman Champs.

•    With the 2009 Beast team title, Blair has now won Beast 14 times. Only three other teams have ever won Beast, and each of them has done it just once.  

_________________________________________________________

* Based on annual rankings over this decade, it is also clear that St Edward (OH) will be USA #2 for the decade and that St Paris Graham (OH) will be USA #3. Blair, St Ed’s, St Paris Graham and Apple Valley (MN) are the only programs to be ranked in the final rankings every year this decade. Moreover, averaging their respective final annual rankings shows Blair as # 1, St Ed’s as # 2, St PG as # 3 and Apple Valley as # 4, with the gaps between each of the four being substantial.
 

Decades ago, Pulitzer Prize sportswriter Grantland Rice wrote of Notre Dame’s “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,” substituting the members of Notre Dame’s renown backfield for the biblical four horsemen,  “Death, Destruction, Pestilence and Famine.”

Well, for the outstanding wrestlers who faced Blair wrestlers at the 16th annual Ironman Tournament in Ohio on December 11-12, 2009, it was one apocalyptic nightmare after another as Blair wrestler after Blair wrestler defeated highly seeded and often nationally ranked wrestlers from across the country, meaning, for example, from California, Nevada, Colorado, Oklahoma, Ohio, Pennsylvania and even New Jersey.

The short version of the story is that Blair captured its 9th Ironman title against a field that included 6 of the top 8 teams in the country and 10 of the top 15, and that Blair had 9 place winners including 3 individual champions, one second, two thirds, a fourth, a sixth and an eighth.  And as is often the case for Blair, its wrestlers’ hallmark included winning the close matches (to include at least three overtime bouts), scoring many bonus point wins and riding like they were already at NCAA’s.

The longer version of this story is even more intriguing. To illustrate, here’s a look at the performance of each place winner, Blair’s Ironman 2009 Horsemen of the Apocalypse. We’ll let you, the reader, decide which ones are “Death,” “Destruction,’’ “Pestilence” and “Famine.”


We start with the youngest and largest of the Blair wrestlers, freshman heavyweight Brooks Black. En route to placing third, the 8th seeded young Mr. Black lost just one match, and that was by a single point to the #1 seed, a senior out of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, who found it necessary to re-group via an “injury” time out that was so long it could have been timed with a sun dial.

“Babe” Black is like few other heavyweights: He moves. Whether he’s on his feet, on the bottom or on top, he makes things happen. And if he’s riding you and straightens your arm while holding your wrist, you might as well cry “Uncle” ‘cause the match is over. He’s gonna drive you over to your back. And then it’s “Good night, Irene.”

How would you like to be a 260 lb. senior and lose to a 225 lb. freshman. Well, that happened to several of Brooks’ opponents at Ironman.

There are quite a few very good heavyweights in this year’s high school senior class, and at least three of them are at eastern prep schools. So Brooks will get to cut his teeth on them this year, several times in the case of one of them.

Given the rate at which Babe Black is progressing, within a year or two Coach Buxton may have to pay guys on other teams to wrestle him. Babe is gonna be one heck of an apocalyptic nightmare for opponents and huge bonus points for Blair.
Moving from the largest to one of the smallest Blair wrestlers, let’s look next at the USA #1 wrestler at 112 lbs, Evan Silver, who showed everyone at Ironman exactly why he’s number one.

In the weeks leading up to Ironman, Internet wrestling sites were full of tales about Evan’s projected opponents at Ironman. Two in particular were publicized as though they had just parted the Red Sea. More than one wrestling fan told the world that the chap from Pennsylvania was gonna “destroy” Evan, while other rabid fans felt the wrestler from California would do likewise. And indeed most ranking services had the two at #2 and #3 in the USA at 112 lbs., behind only Mr. Silver.

Well, the wrestling world got to see for itself just how good Evan Silver is. In the semi’s, Evan drew the wrestler from PA, who indeed had a pin and two lopsided wins in his three previous bouts. Evan was never threatened; as he had a takedown, back points, a ride out and an escape to win 5-2. His opponent, unaccustomed to losing, cried after the match,

In the finals, Evan drew the talented wrestler from California, who was generally accorded the #2 ranking in the USA at their weight. The match was never close as Evan dominated in every phase, building up an 8-0 lead before winning 10-4. 

If you’ve never seen Evan wrestle, you’re in for a treat when you do. He is very hard to attack, maintains an excellent position on his feet and has a range of solid takedown moves. His first takedown on the California wrestler was absolutely picture perfect and left the opponent no chance to defend himself.

 
Before moving on to Blair’s other place winners, to include its two other 2009 Ironman champs, let’s look at two wrestlers who dramatically exceeded their seeding and beat a shopping list of high seeds in the process. 

With much diligence and careful planning, senior Jesse Shanaman has dropped to the 152 lb. weight class for the 2009-2010 season. (Aside: Jesse is now “ripped,” as they say.) A virtual “man of steel,” Jesse has become a very complete wrestler as well, good in every phase. Moreover, Jesse has a characteristically “Blair” exceptional ability to ride.

Jesse pinned his first opponent and had a major decision shutout over his second. Then, in the quarterfinals, because Jesse was the 7th seed, he drew the defending Ironman 152 lb. Champ, Brandon Rolnick of Lawrenceville (NJ), who was seeded 2nd. Jesse wrestled a terrific match, coming from behind to send the match into overtime tied at 4 each. Then, Jesse had an escape and a takedown to upset Rolnick 7-4 in the OT. 

In the semi’s Jesse had to face the #3 seed, Nevada state champ Steven Hernandez of Bishop Gorman, and prevailed 2-1. 

In the finals Jesse got USA #1 Dylan Alton of Central Mountain (PA), who won Ironman last year at 145 lbs. Jesse fought valiantly, but lost.  Bottom line: Jesse’s 2nd place finish at Ironman exceeded his seeding by a hefty 5 places and along with his two bonus-point wins and two regular wins was good for 25 of Blair’s team points. In other words, Jesse Shanaman accounted for almost two-thirds of the 39-point gap between Blair and second-place St Paris Graham.


Another wrestler who dramatically exceeded his seeding – and defeated many high seeds in the process– was sophomore Todd Preston at 130 lbs. Somehow, despite Fargo Cadet credentials, Todd was unseeded at 130, even though 16 wrestlers were seeded at that weight. 

En route to finishing 4th, Todd pinned the #5 seed and shut out the #1 seed. No, those are not misprints, and the undersigned saw both remarkable matches personally, Ironman’s  two separate venues notwithstanding. Todd is another of those Blair wrestlers who are excellent on their feet and phenomenal riders to boot. Bear in mind that in his win over the #1 seed, he essentially rode the California wrestler out twice, once after a reversal and then from the top in the third period.

Todd’s full scorecard for the 2009 Ironman is amazing.  In order of their respective seeding, he beat the #1 seed from California, the #3 seed from Ohio (in triple overtime) the #5 seed from Colorado, the #6 seed from Pennsylvania, the #12 seed from Pennsylvania and one unseeded wrestler from Pennsylvania.

Since 16 wrestlers were seeded at 130 lbs., for calculation sake we might pretend Todd was #17, in which case placing 4th put him a whopping 13 places above his imaginary seed.

Anybody want to bet that Todd Preston will ever again be unseeded in his high school career?

 

Like Blair’s three 2009 Ironman Champs, Max Hvolbeck and Mark Grey finished exactly where they had been seeded. At 103 lbs. 3rd seeded sophomore Max Hvolbeck, who crossed the continent from California because he wanted to be a Blair wrestler, distinguished himself with a strong 3rd place finish. Max had two shut outs, one over a fellow Californian (from Calvary Chapel), and a pin en route to his 3rd place finish. Curiously, in the bout for third, Max won 6 to 1 over a Cuyahoga Valley Academy wrestler whom he had beaten in the quarterfinals by the almost identical score of 6-0.


Sophomore Mark Grey, who’s wrestling up at 119 lbs. after a sensational freshman year at 103 lbs., placed sixth, exactly where he was seeded in one of the tournament’s toughest, deepest weight classes. Mark beat the 3rd seed in the quarterfinals, 1-0, before losing in the semi’s to eventual 2009 Ironman champ Mason Beckman of Reynolds (PA), who himself beat renown Hunter Stieber of Monroeville (OH) in the finals, 3-0.  Mark’s only other loses were very close matches, one to a junior who placed 3rd and one to a senior who had been pre-season #4 in the USA at 119. 

Before discussing 2009 Ironman Champs Mike Evans and Chris Villalonga, here’s a look at Blair’s remaining place winner, Dillon Hoffman. By placing 8th in the 215 lb. weight class, Dillon exceeded his 11th seed by three places. After losing his first bout, Dillon wrestled back well with a pin and two additional wins to get his first Blair placing points.

Now, we’re gonna finish this report on Blair’s 2009 Ironman with a look at the performances of two of Blair’s latest Ironman Champs, Mike Evans and Chris Villalonga. Along with Evan Silver’s championship, Mike and Chris’ titles bring Blair’s total of individual Ironman Champs to a remarkable 43, which is 10 more than the next team, St Ed’s, and 26 better than all-time #3 St Paris Graham.

Wrestling at 189 lbs., Mike Evans opened Ironman with three straight first-period pins. In each of those matches, Mike built up enormous, quick leads. Then, in his semi-final bout Mike completely dominated the 4th seed, Tommy Burrell of Clovis (CA), en route to a 9-2 win. In the finals, Mike mastered USA pre-season #4 Max Thomusseit of St Paris Graham (OH) in a 6-2 win that was far more one-sided than that final score would seem to indicate. In fact, if team points were given for physical dominance in matches, Mike would have won the inaugural “Major Ray Mendosa Award.” As it was, he finished tied for 2nd for the “Mendoza Award.” 

Mike Evans is very good on his feet and a fierce rider who is constantly working to turn his opponent. It must be strange for his nationally ranked opponents to have to spend so much effort trying to protect themselves from being turned. In fact, one can imagine them thinking to themselves at about the half-way point in their matches with Mike,“I’m gonna need a shoulder operation when this is over.”

Last but not least is USA #1 Chris Villalonga, who won his third straight Ironman to become just the third Blair wrestler to win Ironman 3 times. The first two were Cory Cooperman, who won it from 1998 through 2000, and Kurt Backes, who won it from 1999 through 2001. Both wrestlers went on to be multi-year NCAA All Americans.

Chris is one of but a few wrestlers in the history of Ironman to have been a finalist there four times. Chris came in second at 112 lbs. as a freshman and then was Ironman Champ at 125 lbs. as a sophomore and at 130 lbs. last year as a junior.

This year, wrestling at 140 lbs., Chris opened Ironman with pins over wrestlers from Broken Arrow (OK) and Wyoming Seminary (PA) and a 17-1 tech fall over a wrestler from Central Mountain (PA).

In the semi’s Chris won a fierce 6-4 battle over Evan Henderson of Kiski Prep (PA), (Chris beat Henderson 5-2 in the finals of National Preps last year.) Then, in the 2009 Ironman finals, Chris had to go to overtime to defeat Ian Miller of Oak Harbor (OH), 3-2. The difference in the end was Chris’ rather incredible escape from Miller with 6 seconds to go in the first 30-second ride-out period and his ability to ride Miller out in the second 30-second ride-out period.

It is noteworthy that Chris Villalonga and Cory Cooperman are the only Blair wrestlers to have won Ironman and Beast a combined 5 times. Good luck at the 2009 Beast, Chris.

As we look to the future, we realize that Blair has other prospective Horseman of the Apocalypse in the wings. For example, junior Austin Ormsbee, ranked #4 in the USA at 135 lbs., injured his knee a week before Ironman and so, did not wrestle there. Austin’s return will add significant team points to Blair’s already impressive total and present yet another apocalyptic nightmare for opponents to lose sleep over.

Blair's "B" team competed in the Willson Invitational Dec. 12th and came away with two team victories on the day.  Teams were placed in two pools of five and competed against the other four teams in their pool.  Blair's pool consisted of Palisades, Pittston, Salisbury and Pocono Mt. East.  Blair went into its last match in pool competition with a win against Salisbury and losses to Pittson and Pocono Mt. East.  Upon completion of the Blair v. Palisades match, the final score was tied, so the two teams looked at tiebreak criteria.  After much discussion, it was determined that Blair accumulated more "first points" than did Salisbury, thus securing the victory and a chance to wrestle Wilson, who took third place in the other pool.  Despite some hard-fought individual matches, Blair lost to Wilson, so the "B" team ended up 2-3 on the day.

Individually, Kyle Taylor (103lbs./112lbs.) stood out, racking up four victories, three by fall, and a forfeit, for a 5-0 record on the day.  Holt Johnson (103lbs./112lbs.) and Joseph Frick (130lbs./135lbs), also wrestled well, and each won two matches for the Bucs.  Ian Mindham (130lbs./135lbs.), a first-year wrestler, came away without a victory but fought hard and lost one of his matches 17-10.  Also of note, three freshmen won their first high school matches: Harrison Gardner (125lbs), Mike Deehan (119lbs.) and Jack Wedholm (145lbs.).  Finally, Eugene Park (135lbs./140lbs.) won a match in his first ever competition.     

On Saturday December 12, Blair went down, along with Middlesex County College and West Chester, to compete at Williamson Trade.  At 125 lbs., Scott Collins got a first period lead in his only match, but hurt his shoulder in the second period.  Mark Cirello, 149lbs., and Rod Sharpe, 285lbs., both competed hard and showed some improvements.  As a result of their hard work, attention to detail and aggressive style, they pinned both of their opponents.

Blair is in action next at the Wilkes Open Dec. 28th, and it will be a great challenge for the guys to compete in a high level tournament. 

                               The “Major Ray Mendoza Award”
                   To The Wrestler Who Earns The Most Team Points

               
This year’s Ironman and Beast of the East are the first national-level tournaments in the history of wrestling to recognize and honor the individual wrestler who earns the most individual team points for his team.

Moreover, with the enthusiastic endorsement of Mrs. Karen Mendoza, the widow of the late Major Ray Mendoza, a terrific wrestler for Blair and Ohio State and a great American who was killed in action in Iraq in November 2005, the award is named the “Major Ray Mendoza Award.”

Unlike OW (“Outstanding Wrestler”) awards, which are entirely subjective and based on votes, the “Major Ray Mendoza Award” is a totally objective selection based solely on the computation of each wrestler’s individual team points. Research of past Ironman and Beast results suggests that the “Mendoza Award” winner will normally be one of the 14 individual champions. 

An exceptional and popular wrestler at Blair and Ohio State University, Major Mendoza was in his 3rd tour in Iraq with the U.S. Marines when he was killed in action. Major Mendoza left behind an incredibly strong wife, Karen, and two wonderful children, Kiana, Blair Class of 2011, and Alek.

Ray’s great smile and All American personality are with all of us who knew him, forever. And his legacy will be very difficult, if not impossible, for us to measure up to.
 
Those involved in running the Ironman and the Beast and indeed many in the wrestling community feel that establishing the “Team Points Award” is an excellent way to give special recognition to a deserving wrestler, recognition that will have been well earned.

Moreover, since the “Mendoza Award” is based on a wrestler’s contribution to his team’s score, it speaks to the team aspect of wrestling. What a fitting and inspiring way to honor a wrestler who gave his life for the team, our country.

The following are the criteria for awarding team points based on an individual wrestler’s results:

Placing Points

     1st=16 pts; 2nd=12 pts; 3rd=9 pts; 4th=7 pts; 5th=5 pts; 6th=3 pts; 7th=2 pts; 8th=1 pt.

Winning a Bout (Advancement Points)

•    Championship side of bracket= 2 points per win, except final placing bout, which gets only the placing pts. Note: Byes followed by a win also get 2 team pts.
•    Wrestle-back (i.e., consolation) side of bracket = 1 team pt. per win.

Bonus Points For Championship and Consolation Bouts
•    Pins = 2 team points
•    Technical Falls = 1.5 team points
•    Major Decisions = 1 team point

Full article at the Daily Princetonian: 

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2009/12/09/24684/

12/06/2009 -
Blair went down to the Middlesex Invitational today and came back with two medals. Rodney Sharp took first place in the 285lb division, and Mark Cirello took third place in the 149lb division. Rodney began the day by pinning his first opponent, Joe Chiambrone, from Northampton. Then he outlasted Ben Grant of Deleware in triple overtime to make it to the finals. In the finals, Rodney found himself losing by a point in the last period, so he shot a high single and locked up a cradle on his opponent when he got him to the mat. The gutsy move locked up an 8-5 win over Matt Santini of Northampton.
After losing a shoot-out in his first match, Mark Cirello came back to win three straight matches and take third place. Mark fought hard on the day, especially after he went down 7-1 to his first opponent, Steve Armor of West Chester. In that first match, Mark came back only to lose 14-10. In the wrestlebacks, Mark pinned two of his opponents and beat another one 15-2.
Scott Collins also competed, and he pinned his opponent in his only win. Unfortunately, Scott lost two close matches.
Finally, Dom Maurillo was winning 7-1 in his first match when he split his eye open and had to leave the tournament to get stitched up.

Free wrestling clinic hosted by 

Date:   Oct 22, 2009
Time:  3:00-5:00
Place: Blair Academy Wrestling Room

Featuring:
Matt Azevedo

*Seven-time US National place winner
*2008 U.S. Open National Championship and OW, where he defeated eventual Olympic gold medalist Henry Cejudo
*Second at the 2007 U.S. Freestyle World Team Trials in the summer
*Second at the U.S. Freestyle Nationals in 2005 and 2006
*Third at the World Team Trials in 2006.

Jeremy Spates

*Three-time NCAA qualifier
* NCAA All-America honors
*The first Missouri three-time captain
*Assistant coach at Cornell University

Here we go for a new year. The wrestling team is getting ready for classes and is looking to get into the groove of things.