BREAKING: Journeymen & MAWA Update

Tsarni and Pickett place at Journeymen World Classic

The Journeymen World Classic in New York was held over Easter Weekend and two Maryland grapplers landed on the podium, both in the seventh position.

Freshman state champion, Salah Tsarni of Bullis placed at 160lbs. In his seventh-place match Tsarni decked Sawyer Dailey (Awa) in 1:01. His loss in the placement bracket was to former Super 32 and Beast of the East placer Nolan Liess (Wyoming Seminary, PA).

The winner of each pool goes into a championship bracket, the losers (depending on number of losses go into consolation brackets). Tsarni lost once in the pool rounds to the No. 5 157lber in the nation, Grigor Cholakyan (St. John Bosco), who was a California state champion this year. His loss dropped him to the fifth-through-eighth bracket.

Brooklyn Pickett, who has yet to reach high school, defeated Green Farms Academy’s Harry Kittredge. The Connecticut grappler fell by a 10-0 tech fall. Some of the weights had more pools than ot

hers and that was the case with 138lbs. In these cases, you are placed in a bracket of eight. If you lose your first match, the best you can do is fifth place. If you win your first match and lose in the semis, you wrestle for third.

Pickett fell to eventual champion Jesse Grajeda (St. John Bosco), who finished second in the state of California and is nationally ranked 20th in the country at 132lbs, to fall down to the sub-bracket where he was tripped up by Florida’s Yandro Soto, who like Pickett, has not wrestled in high school yet. Pickett beat Wyoming Seminary’s Hayden Haber, 10-0, in his placement match.

Two wrestlers with Maryland ties who compete for New Jersey’s Blair Academy in high school placed at 195, No. 25 Peter Snyder and Cael Mielnik, who was a National Prep runner-up at 215lbs.

Snyder, who was a 2023 National Prep Champ and fifth this year, placed third beating Kyrgyz’s Iakov Chaplin in his bronze bout. Snyder lost to the eventual champ from Armenia, Razmik Epremyan, who beat No. 3 Elijah Diakomihalis (Hilton, NY) in the pool rounds.

Mielnik was sixth, losing to Diakomihalis and falling in the pool rounds to 190lb National Prep Champion, Nationally ranked #12 Jake Dailey from Wyoming Seminary.

MAWA District at Wilde Lake

Rankings referenced here are from Legacy Wrestling

Much like the Northeast MAWA event, most of the notable happenings in regard to ranked wrestlers occurred in the Elite Division over Easter Weekend.

At 140lbs, there was a Frederick County clash with Linganore’s Cash Wheat beating Urbana’s Nick Alahouzos (No. 17 at 138), 5-2. Alahouzos placed sixth in the 4A/3A states. Another Frederick County showdown happened in the semis at 171 with third place state placer Vince Corso (Urbana, No. 7 at 165 – 4th in the state) blanking Linganore’s Peyton Pickett (No. 15 at 157 – 3rd at states), 8-0. Corso defeated Spring Grove, Pennsylvania’s Chase Amspacher, 4-2, in the finals.

The 160lb weight class saw second place state placer Rhonin Swensen of Bishop McNamara (No. 6 at 157) claim the gold by pinning Poolesville’s Shimma Wexler (No. 18 at 165). Wexler pinned 2023 private school state placer Chase Carpintieri of St. Frances Academy to reach the finals. Carpintieri came back for third place.

Boonsboro’s No. 3 Tanner Halling, who was a state titlist at 126, was up at 130lbs and teched North Harford’s Tommy Blankenship (No. 19 at 120), 16-0.

190lb State Champion No. 5 Isaac Ogunlade (Albert Einstein) competed at 220 and downed Atholton’s Mark Enamorado 8-2 in the finals.

Howard County had one champion in fifth place state placer Isaac Choi (No. 20 at 132), who captured the 135lb gold by planting Eastern Tech’s Chase Ullmann (No. 17 at 126) in 28 seconds, who was sixth in 2A/1A states.

At 152, James M Bennett’s Braxton McAvey (No. 9 at 144), who placed 4th at the 2A/1A state tournament, won his gold with a tech fall over Francis Scott Key’s Pat Mattingly, 16-0.

Magruder’s Sava Makarov took home the 125lb wall chart with a 4-0 win over Virginia’s Tyler Chin (Stone Bridge). Chin decked Olu Faniyi (Eleanor Roosevelt) in their encounter. Faniyi won a 9-7 overtime decision over Hammond’s Cody Johnson (No. 19 at 113) in the third-place match.

Several private school grapplers finished on top in the Advanced Division headed up by state champion Ethan Valdisera (No. 3 at 113), who beat West Virginia’s Jackson Swingle (Keyser), 6-2, at 115lbs. Good Counsel’s state bronze medalist George Tate (No. 14 at 190) pinned Maryland’s Julian Reyes in 1:54 at 189.

Two Baltimore Area wrestlers secured top honors at 160 and 171. St. Frances’ Logan Brown (No. 12 at 150 – 5th at MIS) won the 160lb bracket with a 17-5 major decision of Frederick’s Ryan Barber. Loyola’s Riley Miller (No. 16 at 165 – 5th at states) beat Pennsylvania’s Michael Schmit (Kennard Dale), 10-4.

Kent County’s Scottie Ford (No. 20 at 138) took the 145lb wall chart back to the Eastern Shore after posting a major decision over Asa Wexler (Maryland). Logan King (MD) won a tight one with 4A/3A 5th place state placer Gabe Helmen (Urbana – No. 15 at 106), 9-8.

Spring Grove, PA’s Jack Rohrbaugh teched Glenelg’s Jonathan Sexton, 16-1, to claim the 140lb championship.

Advanced - 105

1st Place Match

Liam Soe (Unattached) won by fall over Luke Baldwin (Unattached) (Fall 3:50)

3rd Place Match

Daniel Canas (Unattached) won by fall over Gavin Lease (Unattached) (Fall 2:13)

Advanced - 110

1st Place Match

Gavin Lindner (Unattached) won by decision over Amanuel Fisahaye (Unattached) (Dec 4-2)

3rd Place Match

Dj Toscano (Unattached) won by fall over Aaron Fisahaye (Unattached) (Fall 0:26)

Advanced - 115

1st Place Match

Ethan Valdisera (Unattached) won by decision over Jackson Swingle (Unattached) (Dec 6-2)

3rd Place Match

Ansar Kmt (Unattached) won by fall over Kelvin Zimmerman (Unattached) (Fall 2:12)

Advanced - 120

1st Place Match

Tye Bellarin (Unattached) won by fall over Brendan Tobin (Unattached) (Fall 2:11)

3rd Place Match

Tucker Rudo (Unattached) won by injury default over Brayden Brassell (Unattached) (Inj. 0:00)

Advanced - 125

1st Place Match

Logan King (Unattached) won by decision over Gabriel Helmen (Unattached) (Dec 9-8)

3rd Place Match

Isaac Hassett (Unattached) won by fall over Jayden Dykes (Unattached) (Fall 0:36)

Advanced - 130

1st Place Match

Adan Magnas (Unattached) won by fall over James Pettiford (Unattached) (Fall 0:34)

3rd Place Match

David Dansou (Unattached) won by decision over Connor Mcgovern (Unattached) (Dec 13-6)

Advanced - 135

1st Place Match

Braxton Bohinc (Unattached) won by major decision over Jackson Knupp (Unattached) (Maj 9-0)

3rd Place Match

Samuel Sword (Unattached) won by fall over Daniel Orr jr (Unattached) (Fall 3:33)

Advanced - 140

1st Place Match

Jack Rohrbaugh (Unattached) won by tech fall over Jonathan Sexton (Unattached) (TF 16-1)

3rd Place Match

Jesse Owings (Unattached) won by fall over Cyrus Felton (Unattached) (Fall 3:43)

Advanced - 145

1st Place Match

Scottie Ford (Unattached) won by major decision over Asa Wexler (Unattached) (Maj 13-3)

3rd Place Match

Adin Walters (Unattached) won by injury default over Justin Ryland (Unattached) (Inj. 0:00)

Advanced - 152

1st Place Match

Joshua Choi (Unattached) won by fall over Jack Podsednik (Unattached) (Fall 3:44)

3rd Place Match

William Chism (Unattached) won by fall over Jayson Hinojosa (Unattached) (Fall 2:34)

Advanced - 160

1st Place Match

Logan Brown (Unattached) won by major decision over Ryan Barber (Unattached) (Maj 17-5)

3rd Place Match

Zoya Wexler (Unattached) won by fall over Ramon Espin (Unattached) (Fall 3:18)

Advanced - 171

1st Place Match

Riley Miller (Unattached) won by decision over Michael Schmit (Unattached) (Dec 10-4)

3rd Place Match

Amari Lonesome (Unattached) won by forfeit over Omid Shirzoi (Unattached) (FF)

Advanced - 189

1st Place Match

George Tate (Unattached) won by fall over Julian Reyes (Unattached) (Fall 1:54)

3rd Place Match

Caleb Ladson (Unattached) won by fall over Andrew Coakley (Unattached) (Fall 1:53)

Advanced - 220

Guaranteed Places

1st Place - Xavier Nichols of Unattached

2nd Place - Sam Oji ii of Unattached

3rd Place - Tayvon Mitchell of Unattached

Round 1

Xavier Nichols (Unattached) won by fall over Sam Oji ii (Unattached) (Fall 3:00)

Round 2

Xavier Nichols (Unattached) won by decision over Tayvon Mitchell (Unattached) (Dec 7-4)

Round 3

Sam Oji ii (Unattached) won by decision over Tayvon Mitchell (Unattached) (Dec 4-2)

Advanced - 285

Guaranteed Places

1st Place - Anthony Boddie of Unattached

Round 1

Anthony Boddie (Unattached) received a bye () (Bye)

Round 2

Anthony Boddie (Unattached) received a bye () (Bye)

Round 3

() received a bye () (Bye)

Elite - 111

Guaranteed Places

1st Place - Darly Ortega of Unattached

2nd Place - Leian Wright of Unattached

3rd Place - Amir Bakari of Unattached

Round 1

Darly Ortega (Unattached) won by decision over Amir Bakari (Unattached) (Dec 9-3)

Round 2

Darly Ortega (Unattached) won by decision over Leian Wright (Unattached) (Dec 10-5)

Round 3

Leian Wright (Unattached) won by fall over Amir Bakari (Unattached) (Fall 4:06)

Elite - 125

1st Place Match

Sava Makarov (Unattached) won by decision over Tyler Chin (Unattached) (Dec 4-0)

3rd Place Match

Oluwatunmise Faniyi (Unattached) won in sudden victory - 1 over Cody Johnson (Unattached) (SV-1 9-7)

Elite - 130

1st Place Match

Tanner Halling (Unattached) won by tech fall over Tommy Blankenship (Unattached) (TF 16-0)

3rd Place Match

Jeremiah Chinyere-okiyi ii (Unattached) won by decision over Deion Finney (Unattached) (Dec 5-3)

Elite - 135

1st Place Match

Isaac Choi (Unattached) won by fall over Chase Ullmann (Unattached) (Fall 0:28)

3rd Place Match

Jake Green (Unattached) won by fall over Andrew Montalvo (Unattached) (Fall 0:37)

Elite - 140

1st Place Match

Cash Wheat (Unattached) won by decision over Nicholas Alahouzos (Unattached) (Dec 5-2)

3rd Place Match

Michael Morgan (Unattached) won in sudden victory - 1 over Jahsiyer Blue (Unattached) (SV-1 4-2)

Elite - 145

1st Place Match

Gilberto Medina (Unattached) won by fall over Erick Coreas (Unattached) (Fall 3:48)

3rd Place Match

Sahr Tengbeh (Unattached) won by decision over Ediz Buchin (Unattached) (Dec 7-4)

Elite - 152

1st Place Match

Braxton Mcavey (Unattached) won by tech fall over Patrick Mattingly (Unattached) (TF 16-0)

3rd Place Match

Trenton Corbett (Unattached) won by fall over Justin Soriano (Unattached) (Fall 3:41)

Elite - 160

1st Place Match

Rhonin Swenson (Unattached) won by fall over Shimma Wexler (Unattached) (Fall 4:29)

3rd Place Match

Chase Carpintieri jr (Unattached) won by tech fall over Maximus Meiser (Unattached) (TF 15-0)

Elite - 171

1st Place Match

Vincent Corso (Unattached) won by decision over Chase Amspacher (Unattached) (Dec 4-2)

3rd Place Match

Peyton Pickett (Unattached) won by major decision over Chase Swiger (Unattached) (Maj 9-0)

Elite - 189

1st Place Match

David Akinsunlola (Unattached) won by major decision over Chilotam Ezeani (Unattached) (Maj 16-2)

3rd Place Match

John Adeniyi (Unattached) won by decision over Darrius Simms (Unattached) (Dec 4-3)

Elite - 220

1st Place Match

Isaac Ogunlade (Unattached) won by decision over Mark Enamorado (Unattached) (Dec 8-2)

3rd Place Match

Gasper Romero (Unattached) won by fall over Adam Knox (Unattached) (Fall 3:12)