John Carroll Wrestling team has closed out the strongest season in school history with a 5th place finish at the National Prep Championship held annually at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. The Patriots went into the highly challenging national tournament with a school record 10 wrestlers all of whom contributed points to help the team. Individually, Hunter Ritter was crowned a National Champion at the 195 lb. weight class after pinning Haveford, Pennsylvania's, L.J. Barlow in the finals. Chris Almony finished with a strong third place going 5 and 1 with 5 pins and his only lost was by 1pt. The Patriots also got excellent performances from Zach Dwyer and Christian Scott who became All-Americans again! In addition to the historic team finish, Coach Watson (Watty) was also named National Prep Coach of the Year. Seniors Brian Chalmers, Chris Almony, Hunter Ritter, and Christian Scott have also all been selected to represent the Maryland Private Schools against the Public School All-Star Team at McDaniel College on March 10th.
The team has had an amazing season finishing the regular dual meet season 28-4 and were crowned the MIAA tournament champions edging out rival McDonough to win the school's first crown. In addition they were runners up at both the Solanco (PA) and MD State Tournaments. Congratulations to Coach Watson and his entire coaching staff on a great season.
