The wrestling team (19–0) defeated the Northwest Jaguars (5–3) 55–19 and the Churchill Bulldogs (3–3) 39–24 in to win the region on Thursday night, then the Vikings defeated the Springbrook Blue Devils (7–7) 36–43 the Broadneck Bruins 33–31 on Saturday to win the 4A state championship and complete an undefeated season.
Sophomore Solomon Randall (120 lb), senior Jacob Gaum (126 lb), Laird Ostein (165 lb), junior Justin Rommel (138 lb), sophomore Matthew Hobbs (150 lb), Meran Elakel (144 lb), Chris Lindstrom (132 lb), Leo Smith (157 lb) and freshman Jabaise Trice (113 lb) were pivotal to the Vikings victory against all their opponents and their regional and state championships.
Coach Derek Manon, who recently got his 200th dual meet victory, showed a ton of pride in his varsity squad.
“Obviously, it’s been a very special dual meet season. It is our first state Championship since 2005 when Andy Wetzel was the coach,” Manon said. “I’m just so lucky and proud to have coached this group. They are a tremendous group of wrestlers, but more importantly, they are outstanding young men and women.”
Every Whitman Viking played a significant role in the push toward a championship. From the seniors: Jacob Gaum, Jonathan Aron, Leo Smith, Sam Tello, Tristan Ramos, Meran Elakel, Daniel Kiron, Xan Fedeli, and Levi Merenstein, to the juniors: Liam McLaughlin, Justin Rommel, Jack Fleming, Laird Ostien, Cameron Choi, Matthew Hochman, John Duffie, Lucas Krause, Mitchell Kwoun, Joseph Roman, Abhinand Nathala, Yonald Chery. The sophomores also include Jude O’Donoghue, Chris Lindstrom, Solomon Randall, Matthew Hobbs, Thomas Kemp, Seth Olevsky, Nico Petrilli, Andy Boshnick, Gabriel Olalia-Napier, Adriana Timms, Dashiell Poe, Jacob Sherman, Owen Dinces, Arti Qerimi and the freshman: Mary Patton, Kelani Ramos, Isabelle Delgado, Ahmet Demirkan, Mathias Jensen, Luke Monaco, Liam Warren, John Madikiza, Malik Shraim, Jabasie Trice, Avnish Awasthi, Teo Reising-Rubli, Noah Reising-Rubli, Aiden Cheng Dylan Hollister, James Yin, Sydney Kantor, Sam Rouse, Paul Kushnir, Ben Rutman, Hugh Momchilovich and Ela Aycan. The entire squad has put tremendous effort into placing the Vikings on top of Maryland.
This story has been updated to reflect the current roster.
