BEARS set RECORDS, EARN their 3rd MOW in a row at MIS.

Thirty-Four Varsity and JV wrestlers traveled north to Harford Community College in Bel Air, MD on Friday to compete in a two day 30 team Maryland Independent School State tournament.  This competition is the qualifier for the National Prep School Championship next weekend at Lehigh University.

We had 9 of our 14 starters make it to the second day with 5 in the semi-finals.  DENNIS LEARY (106), THEO SHOCKEY (132), and CONNOR KOEGEL (157) lost in the blood round which is the last round before you place in the top eight in each weight class.

JOE PAPALIA (126) was the lone wrestler in the consolations to push through into the top eight.  He out placed his 8^th seed by one place by pinning his Loyola opponent that he lost to earlier in the season.

Three of our five semifinalists earned their way to the finals (THE MOST LANDON FINALISTS IN HISTORY).DP POPE has been struggling with some injuries and forfeited into the consolations semi-finals.  He toughed it out for the team and won a 12-6 decision to put himself in the top 4 where he then medically forfeited out for fourth. 

WILL LEVY (138) lost a heart breaker and was about 10 seconds from being our 4^th finalist.  He was beating the #2 seed 2-1 when he got turned in the last seconds and gave up two points.  In Will Levy fashion, he was able to bounce back and take 3^rd place in two decisive victories.

At 215, #2 seed TILLER SMITH had a great tournament to earn his way into the finals. He faced a returning State Champion from McDonogh.  In an exciting first period with a lot of good scrambles, Tiller got caught on his back and the ref called a very quick pin.  Tiller is now a 3x state place winner and will be a competitor next week at Nationals to make the podium. 

At 175, #2 seed SENIOR NATE FURGESON turned up the heat.  After several dominating victories in the early rounds, he faced the #1 seed from Calvert Hall.  Nate wrestled an amazing and won 2-1.  He had several scrambles where he came out on top, but the referee did not award the points.  Nate persevered and got the job done to become LANDON’S 5^TH STATE CHAMPION SINCE 2018.

The story of the weekend was Senior JAMES HANLEY (120).  He wrestled with a purpose throughout the tournament.  One of James’s many goals was to earn his way into the 100 VICTORY CLUB.  With a Covid year taking out one of his seasons, this is a very difficult challenge.  He started the weekend with 98. In the ¼ finals, he pinned his opponent from St. Paul’s in the second period bring him onto the semi-finals.  He faced an opponent that he lost too early in the season.  James turned heads in the crowd when he dominated a highly ranked wrestler in the state with a score of 14-2 to clearly avenge his previous loss.  Not only did he get a big win, it was HIS 100^TH OVERALL victory.  In the finals, he faced the reigning state champion from Mt. St. Joe who beat him in the finals last year.  James wowed the crowd again with two amazing take downs to take the lead in the first period 4-2.  At the beginning of the second period, James hit his opponent with a picture-perfect headlock for the fall and STATE CHAMPIONSHIP.  With this amazing throw, the coaches voted James as the MOST OUTSTANDING WRESTLER OF THE TOURNAMENT. 

THIS HONOR NOW HAS GONE TO LANDON BEARS FOR THREE YEARS IN A ROW…. 2 YEARS AGO WITH WILL LEVY AND LAST YEAR WITH JOEL BROWN.

Overall, the team placed 6^th and continues to be one of the top teams in the State.

At the JV level, we had two place winners.  At 138 Sophomore SAM BYNUM placed 4^th.  At 150, Sophomore KEDREN SMITH place 2^nd.  The team place 8^th overall out of 19 teams.