Landon Wrestling 2020 insights from Coach Katz

goldenstateservicesj
Feb 9, 2020
3 min read

February 7 & 8 ,2020

Thanks to the Alumni who have come to support the Bears over the last two weekends. Greg Gosnell ’77, Gurmail Thagad ’05, Alex Rhoads ’05, and John Greenwald ’04. Forgive me if I forgot someone. Your support is definitely appreciated.

What an exciting weekend for the Bears! All year, this squad has depended on the freshmen class. This group has an excellent spirit and has worked hard all year long. This sport is unforgiving. It pushes outside of your comfort zone almost on a daily basis. In a match, you can do everything perfectly for three periods (6 minutes), but one mistake can end the match in seconds. It takes time to gain experience and confidence in what you are doing, but once you gain that wisdom, it becomes a part of you. Not many sports, teach discipline, perseverance, mental toughness, and humility all at the same time.

As a coach, you hope you start to peak during tournament time. This weekend went really well at both the varsity and JV levels. At the Melee on the Metro, every wrestler, except one, got at least one win in a very competitive tournament. There were 28 teams of the top private schools in the DMV, and teams from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Landon placed 12^th out 28. Freshmen; John Bates (106), Conrad Brady (120), Anthony Savoy (152), & Ty Reyes (182) all made it to the second day with two victories. Freshman Will Abramson had a break out weekend as he went 4-3 on the weekend and placed 6^th. Will is a first year wrestler and he wrestled some tough guys who were older and more experienced. Will, along with Seniors Jerrold Johnson (170), Matt Amitay (138), and Lorenzo Lopez (132) made it to the quarter finals. Matt and Lorenzo won their quarter final matches which automatically put them in the top 6. Will had to win 2 more matches to reach the podium.

Matt Amitay had another spectacular weekend. He was seeded 6^th and place 5^th. On his first match of the weekend, he earned a pin which was his 100^th career victory. He beat the 4^th ranked private wrestler in the state (twice). He earned 3 more victories over the weekend to put him number 15 (103) in the Career Wins in Landon Wrestling history. With a couple more wins next week, he will continue to move up the board.

Lorenzo Lopez continues to prove why he is so good. His weight class was one of the deepest in the tournament. 5 wrestlers were ranked in the top 20 in Prep Nationals. Lorenzo held on for a tough victory in the semi-finals against a wrestler from Ohio. He then almost beat a 2x Melee champ and returning Prep All-American. He lost 3-2 with a questionable call in the last 15 seconds of the match. Lorenzo earned 3 wins on the weekend to put him at 32-4 on the season and 157-26. He passed 2018 graduate Brendon Gallagher (155) and moved into 2^nd place for career wins. He trails 2019 graduate Axel Giron who sits at 168.

The JV squad traveled to St. James on Saturday and also had an amazing day. Most of the wrestlers were first year guys and continue to improve each day. The team placed 3^rd out of 9 teams. Here is a list of the place winners:

106 Bao Duong 3^rd place, Charlie Lynn 4^th place

120 Dylan Bradford 3^rd place

138 Daniel Robinson 4^th place

145 Nico Schermer 3^rd place, Grayson St. Aubin 5^th place

152 David LaPrade 2^nd place

160 Will Radcliffe 5^th place

170 Luke Camphausen 3^rd place

220 Eric Cao 2^nd place, Gabe Johnson 4^th place