A look back at the Carroll County high school wrestling season

The wrestling season came to an end on the first weekend in March, and Carroll County had 52 wrestlers in action at the annual state tournament.

There were county grapplers aplenty in the co-ed and girls divisions, and every Carroll school was represented in some way. By the end of the tournament, ahead of the championship finals, nine wrestlers remained.

And at the end of the finals, six were crowned champs -- a record for the most state titles in one season in Carroll County history.

South Carroll had three of those champions, and all three wrestlers capped undefeated records in winning their finals bouts. Plus, all three juniors repeated as Class 2A/1A state champs.

Michael Pizzuto (126 pounds) went 40-0, Gage Owen (138) went 38-0, and AJ Rodrigues (160) went 40-0. Owen had three pins and a major decision in his four state tourney matches, Rodrigues posted three pins in his four bouts, and Pizzuto had a pin and a major during his run.

Manchester Valley crowned its first state champion when junior Jake Boog won the 152-pound final in 2A/1A. Boog finished at 43-3 and pinned Glenelg's Ethan Sotka in the finals after Sotka defeated him in their regional tournament final the weekend before.

Liberty had a 2A/1A state champ in senior Ryan Ohler (145), who went 4-0 in the 145-pound bracket. Ohler dug deep in his four bouts, winning them 13-10, 5-3 (against MV's Travis Green in the quarterfinals), 4-1, and 7-4 in the final.

Ohler ended his Lions wrestling career with 125 wins. That's the sixth most victories in Liberty's program history.

Westminster added the sixth state championship to Carroll's haul when Kaden Bryan outlasted South River's Racheil Coney in their 4A/3A 285-pound final. Bryan won 3-1 in the tiebreaker round and ended his senior season at 28-1.

Bryan's lone loss of the year came against Coney during the regular season.

Congratulations to the state champions. Here's a look at some highlights from the tournament finals.

One more boys wrestler to note is South Carroll senior Ryan Athey, who placed third at 120 pounds in Class 2A/1A. Athey went 36-1 this season, and finished his stellar Cavaliers career with four county championships and 135 wins.

Athey's win total is eighth best in South Carroll history and he's one of 16 county wrestlers to amass 135 or more career victories. Athey didn't go out with a state title, but he went out with a win in his final high school bout.

Two Carroll girls competed in state finals at Show Place Arena.

Manchester Valley's Layla Lagunas got to the 105-pound final and had a 9-2 lead over Arundel's Jada Chaves. Lagunas had control of the match with the second period winding down, but Chaves scored on a reversal and used her leverage to put Lagunas in pinning position.

Chaves landed a pin just as the period ended, dashing Lagunas' hopes of winning a state title. But the sophomore figures to be back in contention in 2023.

Same goes for Winters Mill's Gabi McLeod, who tangled with Watkins Mill's Nebi Tsarni in the 145-pound final. Tsarni controlled the bout from the start and won by technical fall, but McLeod is a freshman so expect to see her at future state tournaments.

Let's wrap up by taking a look at the top records from the season on the boys and girls side. It was a great wrestling season and no doubt Carroll County will be back next winter with more state championship wrestlers atop the podium.