McDonogh senior Bryn Holmes was an underdog entering his 152-pound National Preps final in 2006 against Eric Medina, a Blair Academy junior called, "the best wrestler on the best team in the nation" by Intermat.
Medina "has dominated all comers,” and “destroyed highly-touted Junior Nationals All-American Jason Welch of California,” according to Intermat, “building a lead that was approaching a technical fall before securing the fall.”
"Medina followed that up with a 9-6 win over the No. 1-ranked 152 in the nation, Josh Rohler,” and “defeated Pennsylvania AAA state champion Tim Darling for the second time this season…the total combination of speed, power, and technique, Medina is truly the total package."
Medina got hammered, 15-4, as Holmes won his second straight National Preps crown, was named the event’s Outstanding Wrestler for the second straight year, finished his season with a record of 46-2 (31 pins), and completed a four-year mark of 162-19 with 114 career falls.
Now in his 14th year coaching top-ranked Gilman, Holmes' Greyhounds dethroned fifth-ranked Mount St. Joseph last year as Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association dual meet and tournament champions as well as the Maryland Private Schools State titlists.
Holmes reflected on his high school past last month while seated in the stands at his alma mater during the Ray Oliver Tournament at McDonogh, where his Greyhounds (162.5 points) were runner-up to nationally ranked St. Peter’s Prep of New Jersey (312).
"That was against Eric Medina at National Preps in my last match ever. Eric was a very good wrestler for Blair Academy who was ranked No. 1 in the country," Holmes said. "But I was just on that day, ready to compete and to lay it all on the line. Knowing that was going to be the last time I was going to be wrestling; I wanted to have no regrets.”
A three-sport All-Metro performer at McDonogh who was named The Baltimore Sun’s Male Athletes of the Year in 2006, Holmes was a 152-pound three-time state champion wrestler, a 160-pound football linebacker, defensive back and running back, and a midfielder in lacrosse, the sport he chose to play at The University of Maryland.
"Obviously, I'm back coaching high school wrestling at Gilman," said Holmes, who led the Eagles’ lacrosse team to one MIAA A Conference title in a pair of championship berths and was a member of Maryland squads which made the NCAA quarterfinals every year. "I'm still coaching lacrosse, but I'm the head wrestling coach at Gilman. Wrestling is obviously a very important sport to me, and it taught me a lot of things. Wrestling has made me into the person I am today. All three sports are great, but wrestling is just different."
Holmes won three each in MIAA and private school state titles at McDonogh after being second in each as a freshman, and twice earned National Preps crowns after placing third and fourth as a sophomore and freshman. Holmes pinned his way through the MIAA and state tournaments as a sophomore, junior and senior.
As a McDonogh junior, Holmes compiled a record of 42-3, pinning all five of his opponents en route to winning his first National Preps tournament title. Holmes spent a combined 4:32 on the mats at National Preps as an 11th-grader, comprising falls in 15, 18 and 26 seconds as well as one in 2:38 before planting his title match rival, senior Tyler Thurgood of Blair Academy, in 55 seconds.
Holmes was effective at three different weights during his junior year. At 152, Holmes pinned state runner-up Grady Gamble (Boys’ Latin). At 160, he scored a major decision over state-runner-up Josh Taylor (Harford Tech). At 171, Holmes registered another major decision against private schools’ state champ Jake Bohn (Mount St. Joseph).
As a McDonogh senior, Holmes avenged two earlier losses by defeating St. Mark’s two-time Delaware state champion Andrew Bradley in the finals of the Mount Mat Madness Invitational.
Holmes was in attendance at The Sun’s All-Metro banquet as a junior in 2005, when Patterson senior DeShawn Barrett was named Athlete of The Year. Holmes recalls Barrett, an unbeaten winner of the National High School Coaches Association Wrestling Tournament, telling him, “You’re gonna win” Athlete of the Year “as a senior.”
"That’s a different level of respect, especially in the wrestling community, that people have for each other because they know what every wrestler is going through as far as the practices and with cutting weight and trying to be their best every day,” Holmes said. “There's no sport like wrestling. It's not easy. it. Hearing that from somebody else that I considered to be one of the best, that just meant a lot. Especially someone who was older than me and whose footsteps I was following in. So, yeah, that was pretty cool.”
Holmes was lured to McDonogh by older brother, Travis, also a three-sport athlete before graduating in 2003 as a MIAA and private schools state wrestling champion before heading to the University of Maryland to play lacrosse.
"Back then, you could get recruited pretty early, and I committed to Maryland as a sophomore. My brother, Travis, was playing lacrosse at the University of Maryland and that played a big factor in me making my decision. I had pretty much made my decision from the standpoint of playing lacrosse in college because I had had a lot of interest from the lacrosse world,” Holmes said.
“For football, it was more like during your senior year when people would sign with somebody. As far as Wrestling, I had committed before my sophomore year before I had become a two-time National Prep champ. Pete did a good job of asking me...But if I were to go back and do it again...I don't know."
McDonogh coach Pete Welch continued to receive inquiries about Holmes even after his commitment to play lacrosse for the Terps.
"Pete did a good job of shielding me from some of the coaches who were trying to be aggressive and trying to get me to wrestle in college, knowing how important that was to me. I appreciate that. I feel like that was important,” Holmes said. “As a young kid, you're not always sure what's going on. Pete did a good job of asking me, knowing that I had already made a commitment to somebody and that I was going to be loyal and to follow through on that. So, to have an adult stepping in, occasionally, overall, I think that was for the better."
Holmes was even approached about becoming a two-sport athlete at Maryland.
"Coach [Pat] Santoro was the coach at the University of Maryland when I was there. He used to pop out of the bushes occasionally and would ask, 'Hey, are you sure you don't want to wrestle?' I'd be, like, 'Well, as far as lacrosse goes... January 2 was our first practice, and we're playing games in early March. That's when I would want to be at my peak during my wrestling career,’” Holmes said. “‘I just don't think it'll work out.’ There is something about feeling as if you're contributing to a team in lacrosse that is in a different way than with wrestling. That really appealed to me and that's why I made the decision that I made. If there was some way that I could have had wrestling in the fall and lacrosse in the spring, I would have been all over that. "
Younger brother, Curtis Holmes, was also a three-sport athlete for the Eagles, graduating in 2009 as a four-time MIAA champion, a three-time private schools state title winner, and a National Prep finalist.
"The Holmes family has been in the McDonogh wrestling room or in these gyms for years,” said Holmes, whose father, Cory, runs the Ray Oliver Tournament. “My Mom is still working at the concession stand. She's done it forever and loves being a part of the program. So, I think that the family culture that has been created here is what I'm thinking about.”
Among Holmes’ assistants with the Greyhounds are Gerard “Rock” Harrison, a 1993 Gilman graduate who is a former Maryland Scholastic Association champion and National Preps runner-up. There are also former MSA champion Henry Franklin as well as fourth-place MSA finisher Dave Mason, each of whom is a Gilman graduate. Another assistant, Zach Stavish, was a Class 2A-1A state champion at South Carroll. Stephen Yorkman and Cameo Blankenship are also assistants.
The Gilman and McDonogh wrestling teams have been archrivals since 1920, having commenced an annual dual meet competition for The Worthington Cup in 1987.
"Gilman's Henry Franklin, who has been coaching at Gilman for a long time and who was an alum, reminds me sometimes that the match for the Worthington Cup and the competition that we have between the two schools, that they beat us, meaning McDonogh, back when I was in high school,” said Holmes, whose Greyhounds face the 11th-ranked Eagles on January 31.
"They beat us at the Ray Oliver Tournament here when we were No. 2 and they were No. 1. I didn't even know that. If you would have asked me for one hundred dollars if I was willing to bet that happened, I would have said, 'No way, they didn't beat us.' But they did on that day, for sure. So it's a great rivalry. Obviously, both schools are very similar. There are great people at both."
Holmes presides over a Greyhounds’ squad which defeated league power Mount St. Joseph, 43-22, last season. In victory, Gilman earned its first-ever MIAA A conference dual meet title and the school’s first league crown since 1990 when Gilman reigned over the former MSA’s A conference as dual meet kings.
Gilman's triumph represented only the Greyhounds' third-ever over the Gaels in their schools' histories, and their first over the storied program since winning, 40-36, during the 2012-13 season. Gilman also defeated Mount St. Joseph in 1990.
The Greyhounds went 9-0 in the MIAA A conference and 12-1 overall, with other notable league victories coming against fourth-ranked Loyola (39-34), sixth-ranked Archbishop Spalding (47-27) and 13th-ranked St. Frances (63-9). (The rankings referenced in this paragraph are last season’s).
Furthermore, the triumph over the Gaels allowed the top-ranked Greyhounds to host the MIAA tournament as conference champions for the first time in school history. Gilman won last year’s MIAA tournament by eclipsing the Gaels by the score of 249-215.
This year’s Greyhounds are off to a 4-0 start, having returned six MIAA tournament and/or state place winners. Top-ranked senior Emmitt Sherlock (175) is in pursuit of his third straight titles in both the MIAA and private schools state tournaments and was a National Preps runner-up last year.
Top-ranked sophomore Liam McGettigan (113) was first at MIAAs and states and finished third at National Preps. Second-ranked senior Gabriel Smith (190) is a returning MIAA runner-up who was first at states and sixth at National Preps.
Top-ranked senior John Jurkovic (157) was second at MIAAs and states, then placed fifth at National Preps. Third-ranked senior Zach Glory (132) was third and third, and 11th-ranked sophomore Arthur Konschak (165) was second and fifth.
Sherlock and Smith won titles at McDonogh, where McGettigan and Jurkovic finished second, and Konschak was third. The Greyhounds also won their own Adam Janet tournament, crowning Sherlock, Smith, Jurkovic, McGettigan, Konschak and junior Isaiah Trusty (215).
Ranked seventh, nationally, Sherlock pinned all three opponents without a loss as the Greyhounds swept last weekend's St. Christopher’s, Va., Duals by defeating the hosts, 38-33, Mountain View, Va., 44-30, and New Kent, Va., 55-22.
At St. Christopher’s, Smith, McGettigan and Jurkovic all went 3-0 with two pins and a technical fall, while eighth-ranked freshman Cristian Wirts (106) went 3-0 with two technical falls and a pin.
Trusty went 2-1 with two falls, Konschak went 2-1 with a pin, Glory was 2-1 with a technical fall, and eighth-ranked sophomore JD Vassar (120) went 2-1.
The Greyhounds are gearing up for their league schedule, starting with a rematch against the fifth-ranked Gaels on January 15. In succession, the Greyhounds will face fourth-ranked Archbishop Spalding on January 22, third-ranked Loyola on January 24, and sixth-ranked St. Frances on January 29.
Named a Coach of The Year last season by Legacy Wrestling, Holmes remains as fierce a technician as a coach as he was relentless as a wrestler. Just ask Sherlock, who considers Holmes’ mentorship to be a catalyst in honing his own attributes as a vicious leg-rider.
“Leg-riding has been an essential part of my folkstyle career. If you’ve watched coach Holmes, his leg-riding is outstanding,” Sherlock said. “The only time he puts legs on in practice is when he wrestles me. He’s taught me a lot with leg-riding.”
Holmes, in turn, calls Pete Welch “probably my favorite coach and one of the main reasons I got into coaching.”
“Obviously, I'm thankful for my time here. I took what Pete and all of the other coaches were doing when I was in high school and I tried to make it the same at Gilman,” Holmes said. “Wrestling at McDonogh was great. The coaches were great, the culture was great. Really, I've just tried to emulate that at Gilman. It took a while, but I think that we're pretty doggone close to having some special teams like we did at McDonogh.”