By Kevin Eickman
Milford held their annual wrestling invitational this weekend
Make no mistake about it, William Penn wrestling traveled down to Milford this Saturday for the annual tournament and were the class of the field. The Colonials would net six individual titles in the boys tournament.
The winners for Penn would be Julian Philips at 106, Nazeef Bush at 113, Christia Smith at 126, Jason Hugart at 157, Franklin Norris (Tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler) at 175 and Eliedxander Jarquin-Torres in the heavyweight class. Speaking with William Penn coach, Joe Archangelo, he was very pleased his team took the long ride down to Milford.
“This is a great tournament and Milford does a great job running it. Our guys were very prepared for this, and the results bore that out.”
The lone first place individual winner for Milford would be Davonne Dallas of Milford at 150 pounds. Following the match, speaking with Dallas he was thrilled to have won at Milford.
“Winning in your own gym is a fantastic feeling, I’m very happy. I also think that I have my best wrestling ahead of me, I believe I can and will get better as the year goes on,” Dallas said.
Milford would also have multiple podium finishers with Randy Perez 3rd at 113, Daniel McElwee at 132, Jami White 3rd at 157 and Gregory Lockett in the heavyweight class
“I thought our team did well. As you know it’s all about building to the big tournaments at the end of the season, so I was pleased with our progress.” Parsley stated.
While the girl’s tournament was a big success, one of the Milford girls decided to wrestle in the boys tournament, Autumn Littleton. Wrestling in the 120 pound class, she recorded a 5th place finish
“I feel very confident that I can wrestle at this level. I really like the challenge and the fact that I get to do it here at Milford makes it extra special,” Littleton said.
While Penn may have taken the team title, it was the tournament itself that was the real star of the show. Not only was there a boy’s tournament, that was a girls tournament and a J.V. Tournament as well.
“That’s a lot of wrestling,” Milford coach Parsley eloquently said.
Parsley ran the tournament with a lot of help and after arriving at 6 am, and did not depart the gymnasium until 9 pm.
There were many factors which made this tournament so exciting. It started with the boys format, which found 20 teams entered in a pool format. Eschewing the traditional double elimination bracket allowed more wrestlers to get more matt time.
“If you go with the double elimination setup, a lot of wrestlers will only get two matches, this way they get at least four matches and up to six, depending on how well they do. That’s the goal isn’t it, to grow the sport? A wrestler doesn’t get better sitting in the stands for six hours, they get better on the mat,” Parsley said.
Without a doubt however, Parsley’s favorite part of the Milford Invitational was the girls bracket. He has embraced the growth of the girls division and even though it is in its infancy. He was thrilled with the turnout and proud to watch the quality of wrestling.
The girls tournament would have 74 participants with St. George’s filling up all the weight classes with 16 entrants
“The participation was fantastic,” Parsley said. “Everyone was enthusiastic and it was wonderful to see. These young ladies are serious about their craft, and I think that the ceiling for this sport is very high.”
On the girls side, the champions would be St. Georges, who would out score Caesar Rodney in the action packed event. The individual champions were Callie Dolt of CR at 100, Lily Moffett of CR at 107, Emarie Dolt of CR at 114, Isabella Tompkins of Dover at 120, Joy Lombardi of St. Georges at 126, Natalie Hackett of St. Georges at 132, Savannah Timney of Odessa at 138, Addison Weismiller of St. Georges at 145, Juliet of Saint Andrews at 152, Madison Moore of Saint Georges at 165, Madelein Lasell of Saint Andrews at 185 and Vanessa Rodriguez-Reyes of Conrad at 235.
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