Decatur Fares Well at War on Shore

OCEAN CITY- Stephen Decatur's varsity wrestling team enjoyed another great weekend hosting the 8^th Annual War on the Shore tournament last weekend at the Roland E. Powell Convention Center for the first time ever, finishing 17^th overall as a team with four individual wrestlers placing in their respective weight classes.

The Seahawks finished 17^th as a team out of an impressive field of 28 teams during the 2009 edition of the War on the Shore, which was moved to the Ocean City convention center for the first time because of the growth of the event. Going into the event, St. Mark's of Delaware, ranked 9^th nationally, was the favorite in the tournament and lived up to the expectations, finishing first with 188.50 team points.

Sussex Central, also of Delaware, was a close second with 187.50 team points, followed by traditional Baltimore powerhouse Mount St. Joseph in third with 182.50 points. Host Decatur finished near the middle of the pack in 17^th place as a team with 78 points. All in all, 28 of some of the top high school wrestling programs in the region participated in the two-day event last Friday and Saturday.

From an individual standpoint, four Decatur wrestlers placed in their respective divisions, with the highest finish coming from Dylan Drew at 285. Drew won three straight to start the tournament, beating Aaron Hill of Hanover, Tyler Chronic of Sussex Central and Dylan Devine of Dematha. Drew then fell to Mount St. Joseph's Karl Green before beating Andrew Baranski of Rising Sun and losing to Wayne Powell of Salesianum to take fourth place in the 285-pound class.

Seahawk Bryce Smith took sixth in the 160-pound class, beating Mark Esposito of Salesianum and Nick House of LaPlata to start the tournament. Smith then dropped three straight including losses to Sean Patrick Meehan of Dematha, Gary Ochs of Great Bridge and finally, a rematch to Houser of LaPlata.

Two Decatur wrestlers finished eighth in their respective weight classes including Devin Bataille at 135 and Luke Barger at 215. Bataille beat Chris Smith of Indian River and Sean Williams of Broadneck before falling to Gabe LaVey of Hanover. Bataille responded by beating David Letterman of Smyrna before dropping two to Jason Robinson of Rising Sun and Gino Pollock of Mount St. Joe.

Bargar lost his opener to Devon Showell of Indian River before reeling off straight including wins over Charles Keeve of LaPlata, Darian Keeling of Grassfield and Quinn Young of Severna Park. Bargar then lost to Joel May of St. Mark's and Darren Hankins of Hickory.

Other Seahawk wrestlers who participated in the 2009 War on the Shore included Matt Meekins (103), Cody Bush (112), Anthony Labarck (119), Seth Goggin (125), Cobin Lohnas (130), Johnny Soghomonian (140), C.J. Mitchell (145), Josh Bargar (152), Mike Meekins (171) and Mike Baglieri (189).