Eastern Tech's Rob Sullivan edged Franklin's Drew Outten, 4-3, in the 135-pound final to become the Mavericks' only champion, helping his team to dethrone Outten's, 171-167.5, in yesterday's 40th annual Baltimore County wrestling tournament at Parkville.
Teammates Trent Dixon (112), James Davis (140) and Randy Roberts (152) finished second; Gary Eikenberg (171) and Billy Farmer (heavyweight) were third; and Kenny Carter (103) and Brandon Leyhe (125) were both fourth, as Eastern Tech won its seventh crown under Joe Gast, who is in his 29th year as coach.
"All year long, people counted us out," said Sullivan (27-2), one of only four seniors. He said Gast, who has had heart trouble recently, was hospitalized for dizziness and a low heart rate just before the Mavericks lost a dual meet to unranked Dulaney three weeks ago.
"He came back, sat us down and told us what had to be done," Sullivan said. "He knew we had what it took."
Franklin crowned four champs: the top-ranked Mays twins, Luke (160) and Sam (171), who are 32-1 and 31-1, respectively; Matt Schuster (130), who is 32-2; and Evan Zipper (119). Franklin's Kyle Headley (189) was third.
Luke Mays won his third county crown with four pins, the final one against Kenwood's Tim Williams; and Sam Mays captured his second title, pinning Dundalk's Dave Poling. Schuster scored four takedowns in a 13-5 win over Owings Mills' Clayton Arnold (34-1). A takedown with three seconds left lifted Zipper (21-5) into a 5-3 win over Lansdowne's Ryan Brown (28-5).
The only champ for Owings Mills (148, third) was David Jacovsky, at 103 pounds. Jacovsky (28-1) scored a 4-2 decision over Kenwood's Kyle Krumholtz in the semifinals, then handed No. 1-ranked Jim Van Daniker his first loss, 4-2, for the title. Jacovksky (32-2) has won 23 straight.
"I definitely think it's better to have lost earlier; I was extremely mad about my performances," said Jacovsky, a junior. "I just took all the frustration into the practice room, and you saw the results today."
Dixon (26-2) had won two of four bouts entering his title bout with Perry Hall's Nick Ramsel (30-0), who defeated Dixon for the second time this year, 9-1. Ramsel reached the final with a 7-2 win over Lansdowne's third-place state finisher, Shawn Sims.
"I'm motivated because, last year at states, I wrestled two bad matches and was out," said Ramsel, a sophomore who is 3-2 against Dixon. "I really want to do better."
Kenwood's Jason Laubach (140) scored two pins and two technical falls, the latter by 20-4 over Eastern Tech's James Davis (26-2), to move to 30-1 and become only the county's third four-time champ, and Kenwood's Richard Wemple (145) moved to 11-0 (all pins), leading 14-0 before pinning Patapsco's Jon Rossi.
State champion Mike Weber (125) of Sparrows Point built a 13-0 lead before pinning Roy Britnall for his second straight county title. Weber is 23-4, having gone unscored upon in 22 wins.
After twice finishing as runner-up, Overlea's Chaudhry Afzal (26-0) won his first county title, 2-0, in overtime over Roberts, who was initially awarded, then denied an escape before the buzzer, as regulation ended in a scoreless tie. Dulaney heavyweight Konstantinos Kosmakos (31-1) pinned each of his four opponents en route to the crown.