Published: March 07, 2008 10:48 am         

Top high school wrestlers head to state tournament

17 local matmen to compete in two-day event at College Park

COLLEGE PARK - The 39th annual Maryland high school wrestling state wrestling tournament begins today at the University of Maryland's Cole Field House.

As in the past, the Class 1A/2A and Class 3A/4A tournaments will be held simultaneously on eight mats. Preliminaries begin at 2:30 p.m. on eight mats. On Saturday wrestling resumes at 9:30 a.m. and continues throughout the day, with the championship finals starting at 5:30.

To reach the state tournament wrestlers had to qualify in regionals held last week. The 1A-2A West Regional was held at Mountain Ridge, and the top four finishers in each class earned spots in this weekend's state tourney.

Seventeen local wrestlers advanced, including West Region champions Lex Ozias (112-pound class), George Scheffel (125) Jakob Scheffel (130) and Sean Sisler (285) of Southern, and Stephen Whetstone (140) and Noah DeVore (215) of Mountain Ridge.

George Scheffel is a defending state champ, having won the 103 title last year. Ozias and Whetstone enter the state tournament unbeaten this year, while George Scheffel and Noah DeVore have lost only once.

The field also includes regional runners-up Matt Armstrong and Josh Arnold of Southern, Andy Ganoe and Dustin Stough of Northern, and Derrick Sisk of Mountain Ridge.

Southern, which won the West Region team title, qualified seven wrestlers for the state tournament, with Mountain Ridge next with six.

The list of area wrestlers advancing to the state tournament by placing among the top four in last week's regional includes:

* From Southern: Armstrong (103; 27-5 record), Ozias (112, 36-0), Arnold (119, 28-6), George Scheffel (125, 35-1), Jakob Scheffel (130, 35-3), Sisler (285, 28-6) and Ryan Bennett (189, 21-8).

* From Mountain Ridge: Whetstone (140; 38-0), DeVore (215; 37-1), Sisk (285; 29-9), Glenn Johnson (112; 29-12), Aaron Patterson (135; 32-4) and Justin Blubaugh (171; 29-11).

* From Northern: Ganoe (152; 31-3), Stough (160; 31-3) and Kameron Kamp (103; 18-13).

* From Allegany: Jake Twigg (215, 34-5).

Wrestling will be taking center stage in more ways than one this weekend at the University of Maryland.

While the high school tournament will be held at Cole Field House, the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships will be held at the Comcast Center.

The MPSSAA and ACC have adjusted their schedules so fans may see featured matches in both events.

On Saturday, the MPSSAA state semifinals begin at 11 a.m., and the ACC semifinals start at 2 p.m. The MPSSAA has moved up its finals to 5:30, and the ACC finals will start at 8 p.m.

In addition, on Saturday the MPSSAA and ACC plan to extend a ticket discount by presenting a ticket stub or tournament pass from the other's tournament. Spectators from the MPSSAA event will receive a half-price admission to the ACC championships, and fans from the ACC championships will receive $5 off the admission price at the high school tournament.