Milligan Qualifies For State Wrestling Tournament

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The Herndon wrestling team will be sending a wrestler to the state wrestling tournament for the first time in six years this weekend at Robinson Secondary School. Junior Sam Milligan qualified for the tournament after placing third at 152 pounds in last weekend’s 6A Northern Region tournament at Centreville High School.

Milligan, perhaps, took the hardest route to get to the state tournament. He was pinned in the first round match by Battlefield’s Ethan McCormic. After taking down McCormic and turning him to his back in the first period, Milligan was reversed, put on his back, and was pinned. However, Milligan was able to regroup and reel off five straight victories to secure his spot bid for states.

In the first-round consolation bout, Milligan made short work of Yorktown’s Lucas Degraw, with a quick 24-second pin in the first round. He followed that up with another fall over Annandale’s Mo Hamza at the 2:13 mark early in the second period.

Milligan squared off with Westfield’s Matt Schlink in the consolation quarter-finals. This would be the match that would determine who made it to the medal round. Milligan had defeated Schlink in a tight 4-3 decision in the conference consolation finals last weekend. This time, Milligan left no doubt on the mat as he pinned Schlink 41 seconds into the second period.

For the consolation semi-finals, Milligan would take on Lake Braddock’s Andrew Niedringhaus in what is considered the “blood round,” or the match that would determine who would qualify for states. Niedringhaus was able to take an early 5-3 lead in the first period after several flurries. Milligan had a huge second period, scoring two sets of back points using cradles. The action continued into the third period where both wrestlers exchanged takedowns and escapes, but Milligan was able to hold on for an exciting 15-10 win.

Milligan finished his amazing run with a pin in his final match over Conference 5 champion Emmanuel Mugoya of Chantilly, a wrestler who narrowly beat him in last week’s conference semi-finals. With this win, he was able to secure third place and a bid to the state tournament.

“Sam’s peaking at the right time, no doubt about that. They say the guy who places 1st is the best wrestler, and the guy who places 3rd is the toughest. Sam showed a lot of heart and determination to come back and win five matches in a row. We’ve got a couple things to fine-tune this upcoming week, but I think the 152 pound weight class is wide open, and Sam is in the hunt for a state title.”

The last wrestler to qualify for states for Head Coach Mike Gonzales was Josh Pike, who got there by placing 4th at 119 pounds in 2009.

“We’ve had a lot of bad luck and tough breaks in those last consolation rounds over the years. I can think back specifically to four tournaments that we should have sent guys to states, but things didn’t work out in our favor. I’m glad to finally be back at the dance,” added Coach Gonzales.

Other Hornets competing in regionals were Andrew Synnott (0-2 at 113), Bo Shull (1-2 at 120), Tommy Carnogursky (1-2 at 170) and Arbaz Hussain (1-2 at 220). Jacob Moberly (126, illness) and H.T. Elston (138, concussion) did not compete. Tommy Carnogursky had to default his last match due to injury. The team finished 18th out of 26 teams.

The state tournament will be held at Robinson Secondary School on Friday and Saturday, February 20-21.