| 1996 - Francis Scott Key edged 2nd place Hammond for the team title at the innagural Hammond Invitational. Hammond would later avenge the loss by beating Key in the finals of the Maryland State Duals Championships. 1997 - Lackey High School was on top over 2nd placeHammond, followed by Archbishop Curley in 3rd. The OutstandingWrestler award was originally given to Hammond's Josh Zillmer, but in anact of sportsmanship, Zillmer gave the award to Curley's Sal Aquia, whodefeated 4x County Champ & 2x State Champ Jeremy Lignelli of Glenelg. At 119, Josh's brotherJared also won, beating Catoctin's Chad Dewees in overtime 4-2 to earn his 2nd Hammond Invitational title. 1998 - Archbishop Curley won the team title, beating2nd Place Hammond, and 3rd place South Carroll. Heavyweight Matt Nelson of Hammond broke a 2nd Place tie with South Carroll when he upset eventual state champ Ben Brand of Rising Sun. Brand had earned a victory earlier in the year versus Nelson atthe finals of the Lackey Invitational. At 152, Roy Orr fromRising Sun upset 2x State Champ Jimmy O'Conner to earn the Oustanding Wrestler Award. And Junior MattPandullo from Meade won his 3rd Consecutive Hammond Invitationaltitle by edging Curley's Brian Bricker 2-0. 1999 - Dematha squeezed by Archbishop Curley forthe team title winning 257-243.5, with Gilman having a strong showing in third. South Carroll was the top public school finishing 4th, followed by Mt. St. Joe in 5th Place. St. Marks of Delaware surpassed Hammond for6th place when Andrew Donofrio and Pete Santoro both wonin the finals. Donofrio won the Outstanding Wrestler awardafter beating Mt. St. Joe's Ryan Herwig in the semi-finals, then pinningMeade's 3x Hammond Tournament Champ, Matt Pandullo. Otherinteresting matches included: 2x National Prep champ Drew Robertson from DeMatha and Paul Boetcher from Curley. Robertson deckedBoettcher in the third period when down by 1. At 135,Undefeated Bryan McDermott from Mt. St. Joe's edged DeMatha's Kevin Gabrielson 5-2. At 171, 2x National PrepChamp Wes Cummings from DeMatha outlasted Brian Santoro from St. Mark's 2-0. And at 112 lbs., sophomore Dan Patterson of South Carrollwon his 2nd Hammond Invitational title after beating Curley'sTim Williams 9-3. Full results here. 2000 - St. Mark's High School of Delaware took home first place beating out second place Hodgson Vo-Tech, 269-234.5. St. Mark's crowned 4 champions, Bob Shaw (103), Pat Atkinson (119), and state champs Matt McConnell (125) and Andrew Donofrio (140). Hodgson crowned three champs in Mike Welch (130), Ryan Smith (152) and Derrick Davis (171). It was a clean sweep for Delaware teams as William Penn finished 3rd with 226 and crowned 2 champs with James Fromal (145) and the most outstanding wrestler of the tournament, Joe Ferrera (135). The highest placing Maryland school was Kent County from Maryland's Eastern Shore; they edged Mt. St. Joseph's 160-149 for fourth place. In sixth place was Archbishop Curley with 130.5 and in seventh was 1999 1A/2A State Champion Franklin with 128.5. Rounding out the top 10 was Gilman placing eighth with 125, South Carroll placing ninth with 112.5, and Salem from Virginia, placing tenth with 105 points. Host Hammond finished 13th with 99 points. View complete team scores here. |