1996 Potomac Valley Challenge Cup
June 12, 1996 - Forestville, Maryland
The 1996 Potomac Valley Challenge Cup was held June 8th at Bishop McNamara HS. It was a tremendous regional wrestling competition. Major teams from Pennsylvania, Delaware, Ohio and Virginia battled Maryland's best for the coveted "Challenge Cup". Below is a rundown of the most visible of Maryland's outstanding team members plus the final results.
Starting with the smaller weights, Maryland pitted Eastern National Runner-up Lucas Black at 55 lbs against the field.
Rudy Reuda, the 1995 1995/96 Eastern National Champion and 1995 AAU Grand National Folkstyle, Freestyle, and Sombo Champion at 65 lbs carried Maryland's hopes.
At 85 lbs, Maryland's William McKinney, the 1995 AAU Grand National Freestyle Champion and the 1996 USAW NE Regional Champion, was challenged by a Ohio Super Tournament Champion.
At 90 lbs, Maryland featured two tough wrestlers, Bryan Santangelo and Ryan Herwig, both 1996 Beltway State Champions. Ryan is also this years USAW NE Regional FS Runner-up.
At 95 lbs, Maryland featured super star Nick Alley, the 1996 Beltway State Champion and 5th place finisher at the 1996 AAU Folkstyle Grand Nationals.
At 100 lbs was Kevin Gabrielson, the 1995 AAU Grand National Folkstyle, Freestyle, and Sombo Champion. Also at 100 lbs was William Filbert, the 1996 USAW NE Regional cadet FS Champ.
Another super star was 132 lb HS State Champ Scott Munsey. Scott recently won the 1996 Junior World Team Trials, and will represent the US at the Greco-Roman Junior World Championships this summer.
Mike Pecha, 5th place finisher at the 1996 National Preps, was Maryland's 154 lb representative.
At 178 lbs, Maryland was represented by Frank Glover, the 1996 HS state runner-up.
At 189 was HS 4th place finisher Sean Stone, last seasons PV and Maryland AAU FS state champ.
At heavyweight, Maryland featured JR Plines, the 1995 USAW Junior National Champion, Junior US World Team member, and 1996 National Prep Champion.
This was the last local high school age appearance for Pecha, Glover, Stone and Plines as they move on to the college ranks this fall.
96 Cup Results
As usual, the 1996 Cup proved once again to be this regions premier all-star freestyle event for high school age and under club wrestlers. Fighting beach week, senior graduations, and other contending regional activities, the event still drew 118 all-star competitors. A total of 8 High School State Champions, 9 Cadet or Junior All-Americans, 17 Tournament of Champions Winners and 11 junior age Eastern National Champions, plus several other NE regional winners and other top contenders met head-to-head.
Some major matches for smaller wrestlers included Maryland 85 lb. William McKinney's defeat of Ohio's DeWitt Driscoll by a tremendous back and forth 12-10 score after first defeating a field of 5 other wrestlers. William's match was watched by a large crowd of Ohio's younger wrestlers all looking for the upset which didn't happen.
NE Regional Champion Will Filbert of Maryland was also challenged, but still dominated his 100 lb. weight pool with five technical falls. Since each state is allowed two wrestlers at each weight, Maryland had also entered Kevin Gabrielson at 100 lbs. Kevin came out aggressively with a couple of takedowns and it looked like an upset was in the making. Then Will started to put on the pressure, catching Kevin in an ankle lace and finished out the match Will received the pre-hs OW award for his great wins.
In the high school weights, virtually every match was a great one. For Maryland, both Maryland's Junior Greco-Roman World Team member and two time state champ Scott Munsey and JR Plenis had a great tournament. For Ohio, Kayne Toukonen looked outstanding in his defeat of Pennsylvania's always tough Chris Zaza. For Pennsylvania, probably the most exciting matches of the tournament came from high school state champ Joey Killar, who virtually destroyed the entire field with a series of outstanding performances. Joey also won the high school OW award.
Pre High School Weight Competition Team Placement
1. Ohio 2. Maryland 3. Pennsylvania 4. Virginia 5. Delaware
Championship Round
Maryland vs Ohio Score Team
OH MD
55 Lucus Black Adam Frey OH Fall :53 5
60 Matt Jones Ashtin Primus OH Fall :37 5
65 Forfeit Jeff Cumpston 5
70 Forfeit Mark Throckmorton 5
75 Eli Black John Foster MD 3-1 3
80 Forfeit John Bedford 5
85 William McKinney DeWitt Driscoll MD 12-10 3
90 Bryan Santangelo Nick Spatola MD 9-3 3
95 Nick Alley Michael Parsons MD Fall 2:49 5
100 William Filbert John Spires MD TF 1:13 5
25 19
HS Weight Competition Team Placement
1. Maryland 2. Ohio 3. Pennsylvania 4. Delaware 5. Virginia
Championship Round
Maryland vs Ohio Score Team
OH MD
106 Garrett Black Kayne Toukonen OH Fall 2:56 5
115 Bryan Long Shawn Ream OH TF 5
123 Eric Miller Tim Geiger MD Fall 4:42 5
132 Scott Munsey Richard Burns MD TF 5
143 Forfeit Daniel Grove OH 5
154 Mike Pecha Jimmy Wallace OH Fall 1:48 5
165 EJ Sauls James Wagers OH 15-13 3
178 Frank Glover Forfeit 5
192 Sean Stone Forfeit 5
Hwt JR Plenis Alex Lammers MD Fall 1:53 5
23 25
1996 PV Challenge Cup Pool Winners
55 Adam Frey Ohio 60 Ashtin Primus Ohio 65 Jeff Cumpston Ohio 70 Eli Black Maryland 75 John Foster Ohio 80 John Bedford Ohio 85 William McKinney Maryland 90 Bryan Santangelo Maryland 95 Nick Alley Maryland 100 William Filbert Maryland (OW) 106 Kayne Toukonen Ohio 115 Shawn Ream Ohio 123 Eric Miller Maryland 132 Scott Munsey Maryland 143 Mike Collins Delaware 154 Josh Boger Pennsylvania 165 Joey Killar Pennsylvania (OW) 178 Aaron Mitchell Pennsylvania 192 Sean Stone Maryland Hwt JR Plenis Maryland