THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 29, 1995 TAG: 9512290698
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
Having just wrestled the best, Great Bridge now finds itself having an even easier time handling all the rest.
The Wildcats, less than a week after locking up with nationally top-ranked Blair Academy (N.J.) in the Mid-Atlantic Classic, ran roughshod through a talented field on the opening day of the Hornet Holiday Invitational at Deep Creek.
Ten wrestlers will compete in today's finals and four others remain alive in the wrestlebacks for the Wildcats, whose 235 points leave them in ridiculously easy range of the tournament-record 268 1/2 points Great Bridge racked up in 1991.
``We did pretty well,'' coach Steve Martin said. ``But there was one more weight class where I think we should have. . . .''
No one's going to want to hear this kind of talk from Martin, who cajoled superb performances from the expected - 130-pounder Carl Perry (three first-period pins to run his unbeaten string to 58) - and the unexpected - 215-pounder Eric Leonard and 275-pounder Shaun Curl, a 5-1 winner over area No. 1 heavyweight Steve Bruner of Maury.
``I guess (it was an upset),'' Curl said. ``But what I really want is to get some food.''
Making the Wildcats' overpowering effort even more noteworthy is the fact that it came without the services of top-ranked 125-pounder Jimmy Hawthorne, who's sitting out the tournament with a pulled chest muscle.
``We've wrestled in our toughest tournament already, and that was the Mid-Atlantic Classic,'' Martin said. ``That tournament did us a lot of good.''
Paulsboro, the perennial New Jersey 1A state champs, is in second place with 172 points, followed by Tallwood (91), Gloucester (87 1/2) and Rock Hill (S.C.) 81.
In addition to Perry, top individual performances were turned in by Rock Hill's Nick Dibenedetto and Tallwood's Mike Mercado.
The 215-pound Dibenedetto, who has already won the 24-team Midwest Classic at heavyweight and a 32-team tourney in Chapel Hill, N.C., at heavyweight this month, pinned Tallwood's Mike Mooney in less than a minute to advance to the 215-pound final.
Mercado, whose last loss came to Great Bridge's Bruce Fowler in the 1994 Hornet final, whipped Gloucester's Trey McGlohn for his 100th career victory and 36th in a row.
``I was thinking about the 100 victories a little bit more than the match,'' Mercado said after his 18-6 win. ``That hurt me a little.''
Tournament action resumes today with second-round consolation matches at noon, third-round consolation matches at 2 p.m., consolation finals at 4 p.m. and the finals at 7 p.m. by CNB