Old Mill's two-time 3A-4A state champ Chris Combs and Archbishop Curley's private schools state champ Paul Boettcher earned All-America honors with fourth-place finishes at the weekend's National High School championships at Pittsburgh's Duquesne University.
Combs (112) went 6-2 and Boettcher (140) 7-2 in the 10th annual event, which featured 750 public and private school state champs or runners-up from 48 states.
DeMatha wrestlers Drew Robertson (140, third) and Wes Cummings (171, third) were Maryland's only other All-Americans in a tournament featuring nine four- time state champs.
Among his wins, Boettcher pinned Georgia's state champ, whipped Indiana's champ, 9-2, beat a Minnesota wrestler with 175 career wins (110 pins) and defeated three-time champs from Virginia and Montana.
Boettcher's losses were by 4-2 to the Ohio state champ, who reached the finals, and to Robertson, a two-time National Preps and private schools state champ.
"My brother came here last year and went 3-2, didn't make All-American, so this feels pretty awe- some," said Boettcher, referring to older brother Mike, a former two-time state champ.
Combs decked his opening-round opponent from California in the second period before edging a New York wrestler, 1-0. He defeated opponents from Illinois and Indiana by 3-0 scores and another California rival, 7-1.
Combs' opponent from Indiana had just eliminated Calvert Hall's two-time state champ Chris Knox, 4-3. A two-time All-Metro pick, Knox won a National Preps crown earlier this month and is ranked No. 2 nationally by USA Wrestling at 112 pounds.
"A lot of great wrestlers are out here, but not everyone's going to make it," Combs said. "You can't be timid. You just have to go out and wrestle."
A three-time All-Metro wrestler and one of only two repeat state titlists for the state's premier public school program, seven-time state champ Old Mill, Combs rebounded from a sixth-place finish at this year's states after having missed all but one day of the previous week's practice with the flu.
A four-time Anne Arundel County champ along with being the Patriots' first sophomore to win a state title, Combs is Old Mill's winningest wrestler with 120 career victories.
"After states, I spoke with college coaches who said, 'Don't show me a kid who hasn't lost a high school match,' " Combs said. "They said, 'Show me a kid who has lost, come back, and won.' "
Pub Date: 3/29/99