Centennial junior Nathan Kraisser pinned Malachi Edmond of Henry Wise in 46 seconds of Friday night’s first-round, 125-pound bout to improve to 38-0 with his 59th consecutive victory and the 113th of his career, this, to maintain his quest to earn a third straight Class 4A-3A state title at the Unviversity of Maryland’s Cole Field House.
A three-time Howard County and Class 4A-3A state titlist, Kraisser is competing on the first of the two-day Class 4A-3A state tournament, with a quarterfinal match up looming against Shaun Murphy (22-2) of Perry Hall.
Kraisser (113-3 career) is looking to join Aberdeen of Harford County’s Matt Slutzky, Owings Mills of Baltimore County’s Steve Kessler, Hereford of Baltimore County’s Josh Asper and Southern of Garrett County’s Bubba Scheffel as Maryland’s only four-time state titlists.
Kraisser is not expected to face his most difficult challenge until the finals, where he will likely meet returning state champ, Park Overmiller (31-1) of Magruder, who scored a 16-1, technical fall over Patterson’s Robert Sewell in first-round action.
Returning state champions Alex Polonsky (103) of Wilde Lake, Ron Vaughters (145) of Old Mill, Mark Colabucci (171) of Reservoir and Brandon wolley (215) of Seneca Valley.
Polonsky finished LaPlata’s Robbie Patterson in 1 minute, 48 seconds, this, during his quest to rebound from last weekend’s fourth place finished at the Class 4A-3A East Regional tournament after having won that event a year earlier.
Vaughters rose to 26-2 with a fall in 1 minute, 30 seconds over Walter Johnson’s Max McClesky as he looks to win his third straight state title after having finished fifth as a freshman 112-pounder.
The fall was the 146th career win for Vaughters and the fourth straight by pin. Vaughters decked all three of last weekend’s opponents on the way to winning his fourth straight Class 4A-3A East Region crown.
Colabucci (34-1) earned career win No. 140 with a ??? over Northern of Calvert County’s Alex Cranford, this, after having earned his second straight Class 4A-3A East Regional crown with last weekend’s 6-0 shutout of Wilde Lake’s Alvin Harris.
Wolley took only 55 seconds to improve to 30-0 with his pin of Tuscarora’s Matt Elgin.
The win over Harris (30-2) avenged a 7-5 loss in the Howard County Tournament final, a clash of returning county titlists that ended Colabucci’s streak of 75 straight wins that had included his 44-0 mark that capped last year’s 145-pound state title run.
Also moving forward were state runners-up Eli Bienstock (119) of Quince Orchard, Shaun Murphy (125), of Perry Hall, Tyler Goodwin (130) of Arundel, Cameron Kirby (130) of River Hill, Jordan Tolbert (135) of Magruder, and Salaman Riddell (140) of Old Mill and Josh Hamilton (285) of Rerservoir.
A junior who decked LaPlata’s Nick Higgs in 1 minute, 23 seconds of their first-round contest, Bienstock (33-1) was a runner-up as a freshman to Kraisser and finished third as a sophomore after losing to Kraisser in the semifinals.
Murphy (125), of Perry Hall, pinned Jarred Howell of Sherwood in 2 minutes, 20 seconds to improve to 22-2. Murphy has a rematch with Kraisser, to whom was runner-up at last year’s states.
A junior, two-time Class 4A-3A East Regional champion, Goodwin improved to 36-0, with 23 pins, thanks to a 15-0 technical fall over Quince Orchard’s Greg Holland. Holland marked Goodwin’s third straight win by technical fall, and his 11th technical fall victory of the year.
Goodwin’s only route-going efforts were a pair of decisions over Chesapeake of Anne Arundel County’s 135-pound Alex Rice, who is 36-2 and won his first-round match up, 11-0, over Tuscarora of Frederick County’s Matt Wax.
After having been a Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association Tournament champion as a Mount St. Joseph freshman, Goodwin won his second straight Arundel County title last weekend, and will continue his quest for a second straight state title next weekend.
Kirby rose to 38-4 with a 6-2 decision over Wootton’s Shane Bramble, having twice been a state runner-up.
A runner-up to Goodwin’s graduated older brother, Frankie, last year, Tolbert ran his record to 26-0 with a first-round fall in 3 minutes, 31 seconds over Leonardtown’s Andrew Duncanson.
Riddell is looking to add his first state title to his first-ever Anne Arundel County and Class 4A-3A East Regional crowns, having bounced Frederick’s Kyle Cooper, 19-7, in the first round.
Hamilton rose to 35-0 with his 31st pin of the year when he decked Springbrook’s Churchill Ndonwie in only 26 seconds. Hamilton is looking to add his first state title to the county and regional belts he already has earned.
