Wildcats ‘keep Clyde home’ with record run at Washington County wrestling tourney

WILLIAMSPORT — Awarded annually to the team champion of the Washington County Public Schools Wrestling Tournament, the Clyde Downs Trophy is one of the most prized possessions in all of local sports.

“You know how I feel about that trophy,” Williamsport wrestling coach Mike Rechtorovic said. “It’s the only traveling trophy in the county.”

However, Clyde hasn’t been doing much traveling lately.

“We hope to keep it that way,” said Rechtorovic, whose wrestlers hoisted the trophy for a record fifth straight time Saturday.

“No one had ever won it five straight,” he said. “The guys noticed that this week, looking at the trophy. That gave them a little extra incentive to keep it home, to keep Clyde home.

“Really, we’ve kept it here six years because we didn’t have a county tournament due to COVID-19 (in 2021), but we were undefeated (4-0) in the county that year. Keeping it for six years is cool.”

In the 32nd edition of the tournament, the host Wildcats scored 193 points to prevail for the 15th time overall. They were followed by Boonsboro (175), Smithsburg (101), North Hagerstown (99) and South Hagerstown (12).

Wildcats pull away from Warriors

The Williamsport-Boonsboro rivalry has heated up this year.

The Warriors defeated the Wildcats for the first-ever time on Feb. 1 — 40-36 in their regular-season dual meet. On Feb. 9, Williamsport avenged that loss in the semifinals of the Class 1A West region duals, topping Boonsboro 38-30.

Entering the championship finals Saturday, the two teams were tied with 153 points each. The Wildcats had 10 finalists, while the Warriors had nine.

“We knew it was an uphill battle,” Boonsboro coach Shawn Smith said. “They had a lot of weight classes where they were the heavy favorites. We kind of saw coming what happened.”

Williamsport came out on top in seven weight classes to pull away, getting titles from Aidan Alvarez (106 pounds), Camden Hull (113), Nicky Anderson (126), Logan Williams (132), Aiden Straitiff (138), Brycen Fraley (182) and Adin Hastings (195).

“The guys have wrestled pretty well ever since that dual-meet loss to Boonsboro,” Rechtorovic said. “That was kind of like kicking a hornets nest. They’ve worked hard in the room.

“Hopefully we continue to work to peak at the right time and wrestle even better next Friday and Saturday (at the 2A-1A West regional) and the Friday and Saturday after that (at states).”

Boonsboro had four champions Saturday — Tanner Halling (120), Manny Sampson (160), Nate Elliott (220) and Sean Cornell (285).

The last bout of the tournament ended up being its best, with Cornell scoring a winning escape as he outlasted Williamsport’s Mason Wolfensberger 2-1 in a double-overtime, heavyweight thriller.

“He fought through it,” Smith said of Cornell. “That’s the third time they’ve wrestled this season, and Sean’s now won two out of the three. They’re all close and they’re all nail-biters.

“That one going into double overtime was pretty crazy, and they could see each other next week or the week after even. They’re probably not done yet.”

Smithsburg wins three titles

The other three titles were captured by Smithsburg seniors Logan Ryan (145), Clark Smith (152) and James Brashears (170) as the Leopards overtook North to finish third.

“They’ve been tough all year long,” Smithsburg coach Joe Dietrich said of his champions, who are a combined 99-11 this season.

“Everybody did pretty much the best they could,” he added. “And it was kind of nice to have two grandchildren in the tournament.”

His grandson, freshman Kaden Dietrich, placed third at 113, while his granddaughter, junior Payton Dietrich, was the runner-up at 120 in the girls tourney.

Girls earn county spotlight

Although the matches didn’t count toward the team scoring, the county crowned its first-ever girls champions.

A total of 10 girls entered, resulting in five title matchups, with Boonsboro winning four of them.

Emma Bryant (105), Morgan Cook (110), Michaela Carney (130) and Amelia Mikus (135) each prevailed for the Warriors, while South’s Nadia Ungurean was the champ at 120.

“We kind of got lucky that a lot of the weights had two girls in them so we could have some matches for a county tournament,” Smith said.

“All of our girls did really well, so we’re really thrilled with that,” he said. “Our goal is to eventually get a full girls team. We’ve been working really hard to do that.

“The ones we have are coming out and working hard and, obviously, are doing well. We’re hoping to see them do better at regionals and hopefully get to states and see how far we can get them.”

Championship finals

106 — Aidan Alvarez (Williamsport) bye

113 — Camden Hull (Williamsport) p. Sean Martucci (Boonsboro) 1:59

120 — Tanner Halling (Boonsboro) p. Bryce Swartz (Williamsport) 1:03

126 — Nicky Anderson (Williamsport) p. Cam Rogers (Boonsboro) 1:32

132 — Logan Williams (Williamsport) d. Joseph McClellan (North) 5-3

138 — Aiden Straitiff (Williamsport) p. Parker DeBaugh (Boonsboro) 3:49

145 — Logan Ryan (Smithsburg) d. Trevor Sowers (Boonsboro) 7-4

152 — Clark Smith (Smithsburg) m.d. Vince Raynor (South) 16-3

160 — Manny Sampson (Boonsboro) d. Soren Miller (Williamsport) 7-1

170 — James Brashears (Smithsburg) p. Michael Cornell (Boonsboro) 5:06

182 — Brycen Fraley (Williamsport) p. Jaheem Pickens (North) 1:49

195 — Adin Hastings (Williamsport) p. Jacob Hart (North) 1:56

220 — Nate Elliott (Boonsboro) p. Garcia Ndosa-Kadiobo (North) 3:13

285 — Sean Cornell (Boonsboro) d. Mason Wolfensberger (Williamsport) 2-1 (2OT)

Girls championship finals

105 — Emma Bryant (Boonsboro) fft. Kiersten Mislan (Smithsburg)

110 — Morgan Cook (Boonsboro) p. Grace Reynolds (South) 0:44

120 — Nadia Ungurean (South) p. Payton Dietrich (Smithsburg) 1:32

130 — Michaela Carney (Boonsboro) p. Bella Cox (Smithsburg) 0:28

135 — Amelia Mikus (Boonsboro) p. Allie Grossnickle (Smithsburg) 2:31

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Williamsport wins fifth straight Washington County wrestling title