Saumenig Rises to Occasion
6-5 Overtime Win Over Northwest's McCarty Helps Old Mill Win Title

By Ryan Mink
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, March 4, 2007

Old Mill's Greg Saumenig felt the state championship was on his shoulders. And while most wrestlers would buckle under that sort of pressure, Saumenig entered the third period of his 125-pound final bout clapping his hands with a big, bloody grin on his face.

With Old Mill behind La Plata by one point after the Warriors' Dane Orzechowski took the 119-pound title, it was up to Saumenig to respond. In one of the most anticipated matches of the tournament against undefeated Northwest junior Sean McCarty, Saumenig walked away with a 6-5 overtime decision.

Saumenig was awarded a point after McCarty was called for stalling in the third period but Saumenig was hit with the same call with two seconds left to send the match into overtime. Saumenig beat McCarty in last year's 112-pound state semifinals on a decisive stalling point and the year before in the state quarterfinals.

With nine seconds left in overtime, McCarty was hit with another stalling penalty, giving Saumenig the match and his second state title.

"I hate to win like that, but a win is a win," Saumenig said.

Old Mill still hadn't quite locked up the title after Saumenig's win. But once Northeast's Maurice Flemming beat La Plata's Tanner Shaffer, Old Mill gave Flemming a collective hug, saying he was their favorite Anne Arundel county wrestler.

The final exclamation point for Old Mill came when 189-pounder Ethan Brown pinned South River's Ian Graham in the final, his fourth pin of the tournament. Old Mill beat La Plata, the defending tournament and duals champions, by nine points, 108.5 to 99.5.

Arundel 103-pound junior Nicole Woody continued to make history, even though she didn't accomplish as much as she wanted. Woody became the first Maryland female wrestler to reach the state finals with a 5-4 overtime win against Tuscarora junior C.J. Savage. Her run was ended, however by River Hill sophomore Scott Mantua, 6-2, in the final.

Woody became the first girl to win a regional crown this year, topping Centennial's Jack Western, 2-0, in the 4A/3A North Region. A week earlier she made history by becoming the first female Anne Arundel County winner when she pinned South River's Curtis Taylor with 18 seconds left in the third period.

"I'm disappointed with the way I wrestled, not the way I finished," Woody said, adding that her accomplishments finally started soaking in after her overtime win. "It was still pretty cool, how everybody was cheering for me, even people who didn't know me."

Hammond 119-pound senior Devon Gillett beat Glenelg junior Brian Marcoux, 1-0, after holding him down for the entire third period, for his second state title. Marcoux had won the Howard County title in overtime and Gillett won the regional title in quadruple overtime.

At 152, Annapolis junior Bubby Graham was surprised when he allowed the first takedown but rebounded to top Broadneck senior Abe Hunter, 5-2, to win his second state title. Sherwood 130-pounder Andy Lowy won his third state title with an 8-2 decision.

Maryland State Wrestling Hurting: Hammond 135-pound senior Vince Taweel, who was attempting to become just the third four-time Maryland state champion, injured his knee during the first period of his quarterfinals match Friday night and took an injury default. Taweel was losing to Beall's Stephen Whetstone 10-3 when the match was stopped. Hammond Coach Pedro Barbosa said Taweel (39-2) will have an MRI exam next week. "It got worse and worse and worse until he couldn't do much of anything," Barbosa said. "I stopped the match because I didn't want to make it worse and damage his college career."