UPPER MARLBORO — Northern’s Jacob Brenneman highlights 16 wrestlers from Allegany and Garrett counties, including two girls — both freshmen — competing for state titles Thursday through Saturday in the Class 2A/1A championships at The Show Place Arena.
Brenneman, a senior, will be seeking his third consecutive state championship having won as a freshman and a junior — his sophomore season was lost due to the pandemic — and will try to defend his title in the 138-pound weight division.
All individual matches can be seen live on the NFHS Network and results can be followed on Trackwrestling.
Nine from Northern qualified at last week’s regional, Fort Hill had four and Mountain Ridge one.
The Sentinels and Miners each had a girl qualify in Alivian Heavner (2-3) for Fort Hill and Elianna Stevenson (3-6) of Mountain Ridge. Both will compete in the 145-pound weight class.
Stevenson’s opening match is against Gwynn Park senior Jada Cuthbertson (0-1) and Heavner goes against La Plata sophomore Daisy Rojas (3-1).
The girls tournament is all inclusive and begins Thursday and concludes on Saturday while the boys competition is divided into two groups, Class 4A/3A and 2A/1A, and begins Friday and finishes Saturday.
All area boy wrestlers will be in the Class 2A/1A tournament.
Competing for the Huskies are senior Jacob Beeman (285, 33-9), sophomore Mathew Beitzel (113, 34-5), senior Scott Beitzel (195, 33-6), sophomore Caleb Brenneman (132, 34-4), Jacob Brenneman (138, 38-0), senior Jayden Fike (182, 25-10), freshman Devin Opel (120, 29-7), senior Austin Ravenscroft (126, 36-6) and junior Nate Wilhelm (106, 36-3).
Scott Beitzel and Wilhelm are also returning competitors for the Huskies. Wilhelm finished runner-up to eventual undefeated champion Tyler Garvin of Rising Sun at 106 while Beitzel won two matches, one by pin and the other by decision before he, too, fell to the eventual undefeated champion Alex Koulikov of Stephen Decatur in the 195-pound division.
The Sentinels have senior Jaxon Jones (113, 23-2), junior Bryson Metz (195, 20-10), sophomore Wyatt Walker (220, 25-6) and senior Tanner Wertz (138, 27-4) advancing.
Jones is the only returning state competitor for Fort Hill.
The Miners’ lone participant is junior Garrett Michaels (160, 33-6) who finished 33-8 after a win and a loss at the state tournament last season.
To see the state tournament brackets and more, go to mpssaa.org/state-championships/wrestling/mpssaa-wrestling-state-championships-central/.