State champion Vaymond Dennis (135) set a school record for career victories with two technical falls, and teammates Ryan Mackin (125), Nick LaSalle (130) and Pat Jameson (160) all won twice as fifth-ranked Hammond swept tri-meet wins over Calvert Hall and St. Paul's yesterday.
The defending 1A-2A state duals and state tournament champion Bears improved to 5-1 and have won 23 of their past 24 matches. The 35-33 win over Calvert Hall was the first loss of the year for the 14th-ranked Cardinals (8-1), last year's Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association champ and private schools' state runner-up.
Dennis, the Bears' first non-senior state champ last year and its third overall, improved to 9-0 on the year and registered his 108th and 109th career wins on technical falls by identical scores of 20-3. The senior's effort eclipsed the previous school record of 107, established by John Motley.
Despite being minus two starters yesterday, Hammond overcame late deficits of 24-23 and 33-29 to pull out the win over Calvert Hall.
The most notable contributions came from Mackin, a sophomore, and LaSalle, a senior, who broke ties in their bouts to win 6-5 and 6-3 over Calvert Hall's Kevin King and Zach Mryncza, respectively.
Also factoring in against the Cardinals was a pin by junior 140-pounder Rob Osborn, and one of two falls on the night by Jameson.
In a losing effort, junior Kevin Chrpaty (171), wrestled well before falling, 8-7, to Calvert Hall veteran Mike Brannan, who the Cardinals were counting on for a pin. Chrpaty also came through with a 35-second fall in a 45-22 win over the host Crusaders (1-10). Veteran Jason Friert (103) of Hammond received forfeits in each match.
But the host St. Paul Crusaders won the night's featured bout as heavyweight Nick Alevrogiannis (16-2, 10 pins), a fourth-place finisher at private school states, used an overtime escape to edge Hammond's state runner-up Matt Nelson, 3-2.
Alevrogiannis said he was motivated by the fact that Nelson is ranked No. 6 in the state.
"We win in our county, but we don't learn anything unless there's a real risk of losing," said Hammond co-coach Paul Di Rienzo.
Pub Date: 12/23/98