| Top 15 Performance For Storm at National Preps |
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Bobby Burg reached the championship finals and Cody Barrick and Ethan Keiser joined him on the medal podium with placewinning performances of their own, as Mercersburg finished a strong postseason by placing 15th at the 115-team National Prep Wrestling Tournament.
Coach Nate Jacklin's five-man contingent opened the first two rounds of the event impressively, winning nine of their first ten individual matches. Barrick (10-2 major decision, 7-2 regular decision), Burg (15-0 technical fall, 13-3 major decision), Keiser (16-0 technical fall, 5-0 regular decision), and A.J. Firestone (4-2 regular decision, 3-2 overtime decision) all won in the rounds of 32 and 16 competitors, while John Sanfilippo rebounded from an opening round loss against #2 seed Steven McPeek of Bishop Lynch (TX) to notch a pin in the first round of consolation. The next several rounds evolved as a series of tough battles that mixed triumph and tough losses. The championship quarterfinals saw Barrick lose a hard-fought 5-0 decision to eventual 145 pound runnerup Chris Mears (Bishop Lynch, TX), but Burg became the Storm's first guaranteed placewinner by grinding out a 1-0 victory over Ryan Harding of Loomis Chaffee at 152 pounds. Keiser followed with another quarterfinal victory at 160 pounds, downing Dan Grabfelder (Germantown Academy, PA) 6-0. Firestone dropped from the championship bracket when he fell to #3 seed Karl Green of Mt. Saint Joseph his 285 lb. match, while Sanfillipo took another step in the 189 lb. consolation bracket with an 11-4 decision over Joshua Watts of Lexington Christian Academy, VA. Burg (41-5) gave Mercersburg its first championship finalist since 2002 when he reversed Jesse Shanaman of Blair Academy in the third period to defeat the #5 ranked wrestler in the country, 2-1. "Bobby really wrestles his best when the pressure is the highest. He seems unfazed by the high stakes associated with the National Prep Tournament," commented Jacklin. Barrick then wrote his own chapter in Mercersburg wrestling history, becoming the program's third 3x Prep All-American, when he downed Christian Funder (Forsyth Country Day School, NC), 13-5. He continued his run to a top six finish with a 6-5 decision over John Mills (Trinity Christian, TX, but the senior's final tournament ended with two close losses, concluding in a 5-2 defeat in the 5th place bout to Loren Phillips of St. Christopher's (VA). Keiser (23-4), Sanfilippo (31-16) and Firestone all ended the tournament with difficult losses as well. After working his way into the championship semifinals at 160 pounds, Keiser lost three consecutive close decisions, eventually finishing 6th. Sanfilippo was eliminated in the third round of the consolations by virtue of an 11-6 loss to Nash Simpson of Milton Academy (MA). Firestone's last loss was the most difficult however, when he fell 4-3 to Ibraheem Khadar of Tabor Academy (MA) on a controversial last second takedown call. "It is going to be very hard to replace the leadership that we had on this team this year. Losing Barrick, Keiser, Firestone and Paul Suhey all in one year is not going to be easy. Luckily, we still have two wrestlers (Burg and SanFilippo) returning who have wrestled at a very high level and can assume the leadership void," reflected Jacklin, whose team achieved a number of successes this season, despite enduring injury and illness issues throughout the year. Noteworthy: Burg is now a 3x National Prep placewinner, including a 2nd place finish when he wrestled for Woodberry Forest School last year& Barrick joins George Matchneer'48 (3rd-1st-2nd) and Eric Sheffield'99 (7th-4th-8th) as 3x placewinners for Mercersburg at Lehigh&Jeremy Berry'00 (1st-3rd-3rd-6th) is the only 4x placewinner. Barrick completes his Mercersburg career with 136 victories, placing him 4th on the school's all-time win list&Firestone, who had never wrestled before his ninth grade year, ends his career as a 3x state placewinner and a 3x national prep qualifier. He was 22-6 this year& This marked the most National Prep placewinners since 2000, when the Storm had five, including two finalists, and the highest team finish since 2005, when the team finished 13th. Tournament Notes: Nationally #3 ranked Blair Academy won it's unprecedented 28th consecutive title, but had to work to outdistance #6 nationally ranked Wyoming Seminary, 274-237. Pennsylvania was well-represented in the upper tier, with Kiski taking 4th and Germantown Academy finishing 6th. |