St. Paul's coach Jay Braunstein knows a B Conference team has never won the team title at the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association championships. His wrestlers know it, too. But junior Brad Mutchnik, the defending champ at 152 pounds, said he and his teammates need to ignore the facts and aim for the heavens.
"We should focus on winning the tournament anyway," said Mutchnik, whose quarterfinal victory was one of seven for St. Paul's. "If you don't aim for the top, you'll only fall shorter from your goal."
Archbishop Spalding is leading heading into Saturday's 9 a.m. semifinals at Mount St. Joseph Memorial Gym. The Cavaliers send 11 wrestlers into the round after building a 117.5-114 lead over McDonogh. St. Paul's is third with 83 points, followed by No. 9 Mount St. Joseph (81) and St. Vincent Pallotti (80.5). The finals follow at 1 p.m. Saturday.
"St. Paul's chooses to be in the B Conference," Spalding coach Mike Laidley said. "By the time we get to the final round, St. Paul's may have more wrestlers than anyone. We're in the lead right now, but no lead is ever big enough."
The Crusaders, the B Conference champs, have a dual-meet record of 14-4 and are ranked fourth by The Baltimore Sun. Only No. 1 Archbishop Spalding (32-0) and No. 2 McDonogh (13-8) rank ahead of them among MIAA teams. But in a tournament like this one, in which teams from both the A and B conferences compete and in which the result of each individual match adds up to the team score, anything can happen.
"The great thing about this tournament," McDonogh coach Pete Welch said, "is that you can excel at any level. It's possible to come out ahead. If we have a couple go out early and other teams mix it up, it could definitely impact the outcome."
John Carroll coach Keith Watson, whose team's second-place finish a year ago was its best ever, said, "Everyone knows St. Paul's talent."
That made Mutchnik grin.
"It's a little weird," he said. "We're so used to being the underdogs. Now, in a weird way, we have a target on our back. It's nice. It's nice to say you're a St. Paul's kid now."
This season, perhaps more than most, there is balance in the seedings and talent to be respected on nearly every team. But St. Paul's, which is missing wrestlers in three weight classes (two because of concussions), is giving away a lot of points.
"We need everyone we have to place if we want to finish in the top three," Braunstein said. "It's very doable, but Spalding is a team with some great kids at some weight classes and good ones at every class. And McDonogh has all 14 classes filled, too. For us to be up there anywhere would be great."