Tony Mack nearly gave up wrestling five years ago in junior league.
However, his coach at the time, Guy Pritzker, made him a promise: Wrestle that year and he?d receive $2 a match as incentive. Mack, then 11 years old, took the deal and ended up winning the state junior league title.
Today, Mack is one of the top 145-pound wrestlers in the state. The Owings Mills High junior proved that once again Saturday when he improved to 9-0 this season following a 7-4 decision over Atholton?s Ryan Conroy in the Perry Hall Invitational. Mack earned most outstanding middleweight honors for his performance.
Pritzker, who is also Mack?s coach at Owings Mills, has seen his fair share of great wrestlers over a 35-year career and believes Mack has a chance to be mentioned in that category. Pritzker added that Mack never would have reached that level had he not trusted him five years ago.
“Winning that junior league state title changed him,” Pritzker said. “It made him more outgoing and gave him a sense of accomplishment. It used to be, he took every loss very hard and wouldn?t talk after losing a match for hours. Now, he?s one of our team captains and one of the best wrestlers on the team.”
Mack might be aggressive in his pursuit of victories on the mat, but that?s a far cry from the soft-spoken, laid-back person he is otherwise. Still, he is determined to come away with one, if not two, state championships before he graduates next year.
Anything less than a first-place finish is not acceptable to Mack, who is constantly looking to take himself and his team to the next level. He enters this season coming off a sophomore campaign where, at 130 pounds, he went 35-2 and captured Baltimore County and Class 2A-1A North Region titles before losing in the state final.
That defeat was all the motivation Mack needed for this year.
“Losing in the state finals made me hungry for this season,” Mack said. “Wrestling has also helped motivate me to do well in school because I want to keep getting better on the mat.”
THE MACK FILE
» School: Owings Mills
» Class: Junior
» Weight: 145
» 2006-07 record: 9-0 through Saturday
» Did you know? Mack took first place in last Saturday?s Perry Hall Invitational, where he was also named the tournament?s most outstanding middleweight. He went 35-2 last year when he captured the Baltimore County and Class 2A/1A North Region titles. He placed second in the 2A/1A state tournament after losing to Harford Tech?s Mike Long, 3-1, in the 130-pound final.
