Magruder Wrestling Places Second At County Tournament

When the Magruder wrestling team started 1-4 this season, there were questions about whether the talented team had enough depth and experience to pose a real threat in Montgomery County. After reeling off nine straight wins, and capping it with a second place finish at the Montgomery County tournament, any remaining doubts about the team were completely erased.

Parke Overmiller and Jordan Tolberts won their weight classes, Cameron Mayberry was a finalist, and thee others finished fourth or better as Magruder finished only behind Whitman at the tournament held at Blair Friday and Saturday.

“I'm so proud of our team,” Overmiller said. “Coming from a losing season to upsetting three of the top seeds and how we finished here, it's amazing.”

Overmiller won his finals match against Gage Neubaum with a pin in the second period. Neubaum caught Overmiller early with a takedown, but Overmiller took control midway through the first period and held on to that control throughout the rest of the match.

“It felt great, it's my second county championship so that's awesome,” Overmiller said. “This is the first step towards the state championship, which I really want to help me get into a good school.”

Jordan Tolbert also took another step in his comeback story. Injured at the beginning of the season, there were questions on whether he'd wrestle at all this season. After returning in early January, Tolbert has torn through the 140 pound weight class, and won his second county tournament, beating Charles Banaszak from BCC 5-1 in the finals.

“I didn't get to wrestle my match in the finals, but I'm happy to win,” Tolbert to said. “I'm really happy to finish the county tournament with a bang, especially since neither of my brothers won this tournament. It's another thing I have against them.”

Tolbert was also given the Monisera award at the end of the tournament, which is given every year to the senior who had scored the most points at the county tournament over his career.

Cameron Mayberry lost a tough 6-5 match in the 160 pound weight class to Elad Covaliu from Walter Johnson. It was a very even matchup that came down to a late reversal by Covaliu at the end of the second period.

“Cameron's loss was unfortunate,” Magruder coach Max Sartoph said. “That was the one guy he lost to earlier this season. Hopefully he'll see him again next weekend [in the regional tournament] and maybe the result will be different.”

Caymen Barnes and Andrew Conine finished in third place in their weight clases while Andrew Barnes finished fourth. In addition, Carlos Sanchez finished in fifth at the 145 pound weight class to qualify for the regional tournament, held at Sherwood Friday and Saturday.

“I'm really happy with the performance this weekend,” Sartoph said. “Of course the goal is to come in first, but it's nice to place second.”

In addition to the seven wrestlers who qualified for regionals by placing at the county tournament, two other wrestlers, Ryan Sachs and Tyler Dykes qualified due to their performance over the course of the season.

“We feel pretty good going into the regional tournament next weekend and states after that,” Sartoph said. “We got off to a rough start, but I'm really proud of how we've done.”