The Catonsville wrestling team proved it was one of the best dual-meet teams in Baltimore County by winning its first 13 meets this season. That momentum carried over to the first day of the Baltimore County wrestling tournament on Feb. 20, when the Comets advanced six wrestlers to the semifinals.
In the team standings, the Comets had 73 points after Day 1 and trailed only Perry Hall (81).
Catonsville finished fifth overall with 122.50 points in a tournament that was delayed a day because of snow.
Perry Hall (193.50) won the title and was followed by Owings Mills (144.50), Dulaney (129) and Sparrows Point (122.50).
Catonsville hopes to start strong again in the Class 4A-3A North Region meet, which begins Friday at Westminster High.
Coach Eric Warm was pleased after the first day of the county torunament.
"That (second place) was actually a little higher than where I thought we were going to be," said Warm, whose squad was one of the four teams that competed in the Class 3A-4A North Region dual meet team championships on Feb. 4 with North Hagerstown, Urbana and Perry Hall.
All three will be in Westminster for regionals.
A day after losing to Urbana in the the regional duals, Catonsville lost a makeup meet to Perry Hall in a match in which Warm rested all but three of of his regular starters.
The extra rest and tough non-league dual meet and tournament schedules appeared to pay off for the six who advanced to the semifinals in the county meet.
Luke Mercier (170, 25-9) was the lowest seeded Comet (7th) to advance to the semifinals and was the only one to reach the finals, where he placed second.
Warm was confident Mercier was better than a seventh seed.
"We let him go in at seventh seed and let his wrestling do the talking for him, and that is exactly what happened," Warm said. "He was in complete control of his matches."
Fourth-seeded Andrew Southwell (126 pounds, 30-9) won in the consolation finals and placed third.
Earlier, he earned a first-round pin and a 13-3 major decision over Hereford's Russell Carter in the second round.
During the regular season's 37-30 victory over Hereford, Southwell had to avoid a pin or technical fall loss to secure the Comets' dual meet win and he won, 6-5, over Russell in the final match of the night.
"Wrestling in the dual meet against Hereford on his shoulders, he didn't wrestle his best match and I told him that and I told him now you have nothing to hold back," Warm said.
Catonsville's Jarrad Martin (132, 27-7) followed Southwell to the semifinals with a close decision over Sokar Omar, of Dundalk.
Omar came into the meet with a 25-1 record, but Martin beat him in a close decision in the second round.
"That was the most exciting match of all my wrestlers," Warm said.
Martin finished fourth.
Omar pinned Conor Hurd (25-9) at 138 pounds during a dual meet match in December, but Hurd rallied to earn the second seed at 138 and advanced to the semifinals at countie,s where he took sixth.
Third-seeded Kojo Danquah (195, 21-6), one of the three wrestlers Warm took to the Perry Hall regular-season dual meet, also advanced to the semis.
He earned that higher seed over Perry Hall's fifth-seeded Daniel Ertel, who Danquah defeated in the dual meet.
Ertel bounced back at the county tournament and won the 195-pound weight class while Danquah placed fifth.
Second-seeded Naseef Kareem (220, 33-7), the highest seeded Comet, placed fifth at counties.
Kareem earned a first-round pin and defeated seventh-seeded Kyle Penniwell in the second round.
"Naseef did better than I thought he would do up until the final seconds," said Warm, noting Kareem got taken to his back late in the match, but held on for a close decision. "He wrestled very well out of the gate."
The Comets also advanced six wrestlers to the consolation semifinals, including Robert Johnson (106, 24-14) Eduardo Kelly (113, 19-6), Kelly Lassiter (120, 24-10), Alejandro Mendez (145, 11-12), Trey Glover (182, 24-7) and Chris Bruno (285, 22-9).
Lassiter rallied in the consolation round and placed fourth and Johnson was sixth.
With eight wrestlers placing at the county tournament, Warm hopes to get even better results as he tries to get as many grapplers as he can to College Park for the Maryland state tournament.
"There are a lot of good schools in our region," Warm said. "To move a kid to states in our region is not an easy feat. If you get through that region, there's a good chance you can get on the podium (at states).
Calloway Lee did that last year when he finished fifth in the state tournament.
"Coming into the (county) tournament, I told the kids no matter what happens from here on out, we've had a great year," Warm said. "We train all year to get to this point and now is when we want to peak and wrestle our best, even though we've been wrestling well all year, and the kids seem to respond to that."
Lansdowne places three at counties
Sophomore Gorsha Reitterer (21-11) was the highest finisher for Lansdowne at the Baltimore County championship meet. The 106-pounder placed fifth at 106 pounds.
Junior Collin Murphy (22-11) was sixth at 170 and sophomore Tom Weedon (12-9) was sixth at 195.
Western Tech pair solid at county meet
One year after Western Tech crowned a pair of county champions in Tejon Anthony and Austin Harrison, the Wolverines had two grapplers place in the top six.
Seniort Angleo Payne (23-8) was sixth at 170 pounds and sophomore Chukwudi Kalu (18-15) was fifth at 285.
Baltimore County champions
106: Jimmy Cavin, Hereford (27-3)
113: Brandon Bekar, Owings Mills (33-2)
120: LJ Bell, Franklin (32-5)
126: Jake Rendelman, Owings Mills (33-2)
132: Shane Chavis, Kenwood (28-3)
138: David Hollingsworth, Owings Mills (33-2)
145: Robert Doetsch, Dundalk (37-0)
152: Austin Mowry, Franklin (32-5)
160: Sam Solomon, New Town (18-3)
170: Islom Juraev, Owings Mills (26-6)
182: Ka'ron Pinson, Perry Hall (28-2)
195: Daniel Ertel, Perry Hall (29-8)
220: Tyquez Shade, Owings Mills (26-3)
285: Eric Ostrow, Franklin (32-4)