Preston’s Title Highlights County Championships For Northeast, Chesapeake Wrestlers

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There were five seconds separating Northeast’s Kyle Preston from a 1-0 defeat and a runner-up finish at the wrestling county championships on February 17.

Preston did something about it.

The senior 138-pounder scored a reversal of Arundel’s Trevor Gagnon with just two seconds remaining to get the two points he needed for a dramatic 2-1 win and a county championship all his own.

“I just remember when I got the takedown, everyone in the stands went wild,” said Preston. “It was a very intense match. We were about even the whole match. I would take a shot, he would defend it, he would take a shot, I would defend it. The whole time we were scrambling, trying to get leverage, and no one could. The last minute is when we started scoring and going full-out. I gave it all I had, and I pulled it out.”

Preston’s victory gave the senior his first career county championship after missing last year with an elbow injury and finishing third as a sophomore in 2016.

He is now 32-6 overall on the season and the No. 2 seed going into the region tournament.

“Since I’m ranked second in the region, I’d like to get an upset in the region final,” said Preston. “At states, it’s going to be a bloodbath, because there’s a lot of good kids. But my main goal is just to pull upsets.”

Preston’s finish highlighted the county tournament for Pasadena wrestlers, in which several Northeast and Chesapeake athletes placed high enough to advance to the region tournament.

For the Eagles, Billy Katzenberger defeated Chesapeake’s Victor Listorti in the 132 bracket and went on to finish fourth to automatically qualify for regions; Listorti finished fifth. Matt Doyle won two matches in the crowded 145 bracket to finish sixth. Thomas Gargano lost his opening bout at 152 but came back to win his next three in a row to place fifth. Corey Rush went 3-1 overall at 160 and placed fifth. Colin Cook placed sixth at 106, and teammate Gary O’Neill was sixth at 113. Lisa McChesney was eighth at 126.

Chesapeake’s Andrew Garcia lost in the 113 semifinals but came back to pin Broadneck’s Ethan Kanetzky in the first round of his next bout to place third and qualify for regions. At 195, Chesapeake’s AJ Richardson lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Vinny Facciponti of Broadneck, but came back to pin his next opponent and ultimately finish fourth, automatically qualifying for regions. Bobby Johnson was seventh in the 138 bracket. DJ Hoover was eighth at 152. Donovar Dredden placed seventh at 160. Chandler Booker was seventh at 170. Logan Peapos was eighth at 182.

Old Mill had four county champions and won the team title with 267 points, while Broadneck finished second with 223.5 points and had three individual county champs. Northeast was seventh as a team, and Chesapeake was 10th.

Update February 19: Preston will be the No. 1 seed heading into the region tournament. 

Update February 20: Chesapeake's Aiden Yost (106), Jacob Rosenbloom (126), Victor Listorti (132), Bobby Johnson (138), and Donavar Dredden (160) all qualified for the region tournament based on season point totals. 

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