Severna Park Wrestling Sees Potential For Late-Season Success

It has been a competitive winter season so far for the Severna Park wrestling team, which has produced highlights going against a range of competition from throughout the county and state in duals, tri-meets and tournaments.

Leading the way has been a pair of wrestlers on opposite ends of the scale and yearbook. Senior heavyweight Harry Tompkins is 7-0 overall and placed first at the Boonesboro Tournament in mid-December, and he was named tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler. Head coach Chad Vosburg estimates Tompkins has a good chance to advance deep in this year’s playoff tournaments and could be in the mix for a state championship in the 285-pound weight class in the 4A/3A division.

At the other end of the roster is freshman Jack Chadwick, who is undefeated in dual meets this season and 8-2 overall in the 106-pound weight class.

Severna Park has also gotten strong wrestling from the middleweight classes. Freshman Colin Shadowens is 6-4 overall in the 132-pound class. Junior Griffin Strickler is 8-3 at 138 and placed fourth at the Boonesboro Tournament. At 152, Bohdan Andrulis is 7-4, and Ty Broadway has a 6-4 record at 220.

PHOTO GALLERY: Severna Park wrestling vs. Annapolis, 12.19.17

The Falcons haven’t posted the most impressive team record at 2-3-1, but they did get a pair of team wins in a tri-meet with Glen Burnie and Meade on December 12. Strickler notched a pin in both his matches that day, as did sophomore Jonah Charles at 145. Also recording victories for the Falcons were Kevin Lee (one pin and a win-by-forfeit at 113), Michael Hamlett (pin at 160 vs. Meade opponent), Ron Schlipp (pin at 182 vs. Glen Burnie), Caleb Robinson (major decision at 195 vs. Glen Burnie), Shadowens (one pin), Tompkins (a pin and a win-by-forfeit), Andrulis (major decision) and Broadway (one pin).

At the Winters Mill tournament on January 6, Chadwick, Strickler and Hamlett all placed fifth, while Shadowens and Charles placed sixth and Schlipp placed seventh.

Vosburg said the team is progressing and has a chance to put four or five kids into the region tournament or further. With so many quality wrestlers in the county and state, he also challenged his Falcons to continue pushing to improve.

“We’re a lot of first- and second-year wrestlers,” said Vosburg. “They’re adjusting to high school wrestling. You get bumps and bruises, and you’ve got to push through it. Most of the time, you’re pretty evenly matched with the kid, and it’s a matter of who wants it more. … If we can get mentally tougher, the sky’s the limit for some of these kids. We have four or five kids who can qualify for regions and possibly get to states, but it is going to come down to what physical stuff they want to put into their own workouts, and mentally, are they ready to push through things when the going gets tough?”