Captain Elliot Mondragon scores a takedown against St Benedict's in St Albans wrestling Saturday
The Bishop Ireton grapplers competed at the Annual St. Albans Invitational Wrestling Tournament on Friday (2/11) and Saturday (2/12) and as expected it was a grueling two days of wrestling for the team. The tournament included 33 very competitive teams from Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, including the three teams against whom the Cardinals lost during the regular season. With schools of this caliber competing, it represented largest, most skilled tournament challenge that the Cardinal squad will face this season.
The Cardinals once again had less than a full line-up, but despite this the team finished in seventh place, eleven places ahead of their finish in the last St. Albans tournament, which was in 2009. This year seven of our wrestlers placed and as a team, the Cardinals also were awarded the St. Albans Good Sportsmanship Award.
The tournament featured several nail-biting, bleacher-pounding, edge-of-your-seat performances, but there were four that were particularly note worthy. Among them was the especially stellar performance of Ben Nagao, who placed sixth in his highly-competitive 152lb weight class. Ben, who was unseeded in the tournament brackets, fell in his second bout to the #3 seed from Good Counsel. This loss put him into the consolation brackets, where he had to wrestle an additional six matches for his sixth place finish. Along the way he defeated opponents from Bullis and Bishop O’Connell, who had previously defeated him this season. Against a tough series of wrestlers, Ben earned his place in the tournament the hard way.
Two similar accomplishments were those of Darcy Gomez who likewise beat a Good Counsel opponent against whom he had previously lost and finished the tournament in sixth place. Co-Captain Ricky Baier also defeated a Bishop O’Connell opponent against whom he had previously lost to earn his fifth place finish in the tournament.
The fourth noteworthy accomplishment was that of co-captain Andrew Lutterloh, who achieved his 100th career win during the tournament and placed third in his 215lb weight class, which was Ireton’s second highest finish in the tournament.
Among the other tournament placers was Co-Captain Elliot Mondragon, who was the highest placer for Bishop Ireton and brought home the silver with his second place finish in his 103lb weight class. Nick Womach also brought home a medal for his sixth place tournament finish in his 130lb weight class. Gibson Hawk rounded off the team placers by finishing in seventh place in his 160lb weight class. The fastest pin of the tournament was achieved by Nick Womach, who pinned his Maret opponent in :54 seconds.
The last wrestling event of the season for the Cardinals will be the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association (VISAA) Championship Tournament on February 18-19, 2011 at the VCU Siegal Center in Richmond, VA.
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