Glenelg 135-pound senior Danny Bichner became the eighth county wrestler to win four county championships with his 4-0 decision over Oakland Mills' Thomas Consiglio on Saturday at Atholton.
Bichner joined an elite group that includes Tim Lewis (Atholton, 1974-77), Jeff Rosenberg (Oakland Mills, 1985-88), Adam Seidman (Oakland Mills, 1990-93), Josh Zillmer (Hammond, 1994-97), Jeremy Lignelli (Glenelg, 1994-97), Ryan Green (River Hill, 1999-2002) and Vince Taweel (Hammond, 2004-07).
Bichner (31-3) also is a three-time regional champion and has finished as the state runner-up the past two seasons after finishing third as a freshman. He said the matches in the county finals his sophomore and junior years were both close.
"I won by one point my sophomore year and was up by one point my junior year before getting a pin," he said.
Saturday's victory required patience, as he wrestled Consiglio for the first time.
Consiglio "wouldn't wrestle, so I had to sit back and be patient," Bichner said of the slowly developing match. "I didn't want to make a mistake and have him counter me. I was pretty nervous because of the hype but tried to treat it like any other match."
Girls basketball -- The good news for Mount Hebron is that it earned the top seed in the Class 2A West region with its 22-0 regular season. The bad news? It is -- top to bottom -- the toughest region in the state. Vikings coach Scott Robinson's one-word description: "Brutal." After receiving a bye in the first round, the Vikings must contend with the Fairmont Heights-Central winner, with emerging River Hill then in the shadows. On the other side of the bracket is perennial state power and second-seeded Gwynn Park, with Southern, a finalist last year, also in the mix. Robinson was quick to credit his players, who accepted their given roles after losing four starters from last year's team and showed a knack for maintaining high intensity when dealing with adversity. "Our top eight didn't play out until after tryouts and scrimmages. There was definitely some question marks, but the competition was healthy. All the girls were willing to accept their roles, and even the girls that didn't get in many games helped make the others better," he said.
Boys basketball -- While River Hill boys didn't make it to a second straight county championship game last night (Atholton and Long Reach edged out Howard and Marriotts Ridge for the two spots), the Hawks certainly made an impact in determining which teams did last week. On Thursday, River Hill upset Howard, 40-39, to thwart the Lions' chance and then made Long Reach sweat Saturday before the Lightning pulled out a 48-46 overtime victory.