WJ wrestling beat Gaithersburg with a score of 62-12 on Jan. 5. Junior Charlie Bulman pinned his opponent in 37 seconds, junior Elad Covaliu prevailed with a time of 2:48 seconds, and junior Tim Forline won by forfeit.
“Going in to the Gaithersburg match we weren’t too worried knowing that we have already beaten them at the RM duals,” said Covaliu. “We were simply expecting a good tune up match right before our big tournament, the Big Train duals.”
Wrestling also won its first championship at the Big Train Duals on Jan. 7 and 8. After the tournament, Covaliu’s record stands at 23-0, and sophomore Colin McCoy is now 21-2.
Second place winners were junior Mario Murillo, sophomore Tommy Branthover, sophomore Jamie Fitzpatrick, Bulman and Forline. Junior Jimmy Parker placed third, along with freshman Darien Crawford, junior Will Greenan, junior Max McCleskey and sophomore Innocent Okocha taking fourth place.
The team now has 19 wins and four losses. Coach Tom Wheeler was excited about the team’s promise as it racked up its first tournament victory of the season.
“[I’m] impressed with the improvement of our team and how hard the wrestlers who weren’t active for the tournament worked to set it up and clean up and take it down,” said Wheeler. “The competition was great and the crowd was large and enthusiastic.”
You can catch WJ’s next wrestling match this Wednesday, Jan. 12 at Quince Orchard at 6 p.m.