Glenelg has a win over four-ranked Mount St. Joseph and a fifth-place finish in the highly competitive Ray Oliver Tournament at McDonogh this season, but the match still on most of the Gladiators? minds is a loss to Rising Sun.
It occurred in last year?s 2A/1A dual meet semifinals, a 37-26 defeat in a match Glenelg felt it should have won. The loss ended its dual meet season, but provided plenty of motivation for this winter.
The third-ranked Gladiators have stormed to a record of 9-1 overall and 7-0 in Howard County competition following a dominating, 52-15 win over Reservoir on Thursday.
Glenelg, which placed third in the 2A/1A State Tournament last year, will take on Atholton and host Mount Hebron in a tri-meet this afternoon at 4, as it tries to extend its winning streak to 10 since a 37-27 setback against 4A/3A state dual meet champion La Plata on Dec. 20.
“We?re in a better position now then when we were a year ago,” said Glenelg 135-pound senior Danny Bichner. “We expect to go into every match and win, but that loss to Rising Sun is a constant reminder we can?t let down.”
Glenelg enters the last couple of weeks of the regular season turning to its seniors to lead the team to its first state wrestling title.
Bichner, who is 121-14 in his career with three county titles and a second-place finish at the state tournament last year, headlines an outstanding senior class that includes defending county champions Tim Chase (152), Chris Stinnett (140), and Brian Marcoux (125).
Chase said he has never been more confident than he his right now, especially since the Gladiators had an impressive, eighth-place showing in the highly competitive Mount Mat Madness Tournament earlier this month. Chase upset top-seed Shane Milam in the semifinals en route to a first-place finish.
“Since losing to Rising Sun last year, everything we?ve done has been to get us back in title contention,” Chase said. “That?s why we?ve wrestled such a difficult schedule this year.”
Glenelg coach Scott Delpo said he?s given his team a tough schedule and shuffled his lineup to prevent his wrestlers from facing an inferior opponent by winning via forfeit. In wrestling, it?s common for coaches to intentionally forfeit a match ? giving the other team six points ? to save one of their wrestlers from being embarrassed, or possibly injured, against a superior opponent.
“We want to put our wrestlers in a position where they are challenged,” Delpo said. “They are only going to get better competing in Mount Mat Madness or wrestling schools like La Plata. We know we?ve got to take it one step at a time and that continues [today] against Atholton and Mount Hebron.”
