Grant Johnson

Anne Arundel County's two-time Class 3A-4A state champion Old Mill and Baltimore County's Class 1A-2A Owings Mills' -- the Maryland State Wrestling Association's second-ranked teams -- are favored to win their respective classes in the state tournament today and tomorrow at Western Maryland College.The Class 3A-4A title should come down to coach Mike Hampe's Old Mill squad or Dick Bauerlein's North Carroll squad -- each of which qualified 10 wrestlers. Old Mill won the Jan. 4 dual meet between the two squads.

Maryland, which placed third in the Atlantic Coast Conference championships, will send five wrestlers to the NCAA Division I championships that start today at Northern Iowa University.The five Terps are led by captain Jim Guzzio, who dominated the 134-pound weight class with a 35-0 record. Arash Alizadeh was ACC champion at 158 pounds, Damon Stevens was runner-up at 167 and teammates Shane Mack (142) and Jeff Whalen (150) earned wild-card slots with third-place finishes.Coppin State senior Keno Brown qualified for the nationals by winning the NCAA East Regional at 190 pounds, as did 275-pound teammate Kenny Hunter, who is from Mount St. Joseph.

Even before his senior season began, the praise was coming in from virtually everywhere for Owings Mills wrestler Grant Johnson.That's what can happen when your final high school season is preceded by consecutive 2A-1A state titles and a seventh-place finish in the summer freestyle nationals, which qualifies you as an All-American.Former Clarion State wrestler and 16-time national champ Wade Schalles, a world champ in 1977, calls Johnson "a class act."Haswell Franklin, chairman of the Maryland State Wrestling Association, said, "Grant Johnson has as much or more potential to do well in Division I wrestling than any Maryland wrestler in the past decade."

Eight area athletes will be competing in this weekend's NCAA wrestling championships at the University of Minnesota.From local colleges, Coppin State's Keno Brown will compete in the 190-pound class, Maryland's Jim Guzzio qualified at 134 pounds and Maryland's Pat Flynn, a graduate of Annapolis High, will compete at 150 pounds.Five other wrestlers who attended area high schools are competing at the championships, including Mike Jenson, a 190-pounder at Rider College. A two-time state champion at Randallstown, Jensen is ranked 10th in the nation by Amateur Wrestling News.

As a 112-pound freshman, Owings Mills' Grant Johnson might have had trouble pinning the tail on a donkey, let alone pinning a wrestler."He wasn't really a grinder back then," said Grant's older brother, Gerard, a former state champ at Owings Mills. "I told him once that he'd pay the price for winning those 2-0 and 1-0 matches, and he'd walk off the mat crying."Today, Grant Johnson is a 171-pound All-American, and there are few who can last the full six minutes with The Baltimore Sun's 1992-93 Baltimore County Wrestler of the Year.

Maryland, which placed third in the Atlantic Coast Conference championships, will send five wrestlers to the NCAA Division I championships that start today at Northern Iowa University.The five Terps are led by captain Jim Guzzio, who dominated the 134-pound weight class with a 35-0 record. Arash Alizadeh was ACC champion at 158 pounds, Damon Stevens was runner-up at 167 and teammates Shane Mack (142) and Jeff Whalen (150) earned wild-card slots with third-place finishes.Coppin State senior Keno Brown qualified for the nationals by winning the NCAA East Regional at 190 pounds, as did 275-pound teammate Kenny Hunter, who is from Mount St. Joseph.

Kimberly Smith's strong performance in Big East games paid off as she was named the conference's Rookie of the Year for women's basketball, becoming the first Georgetown player to receive that award. Smith (Western), a point guard who started the last 13 games for the Hoyas, averaged 12.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and a team-leading 3.1 assists.WrestlingThree collegiate wrestlers with local ties qualified for next weekend's NCAA wrestling tournament by winning their conference tournament titles.

Eight area athletes will be competing in this weekend's NCAA wrestling championships at the University of Minnesota.From local colleges, Coppin State's Keno Brown will compete in the 190-pound class, Maryland's Jim Guzzio qualified at 134 pounds and Maryland's Pat Flynn, a graduate of Annapolis High, will compete at 150 pounds.Five other wrestlers who attended area high schools are competing at the championships, including Mike Jenson, a 190-pounder at Rider College. A two-time state champion at Randallstown, Jensen is ranked 10th in the nation by Amateur Wrestling News.

The University of Maryland's Jim Guzzio advanced, but three other wrestlers with local ties were defeated yesterday in the preliminary round at the NCAA wrestling championships in Minneapolis.Guzzio, at 134 pounds, defeated Adam Mickiewicz of Virginia Military Institute, 4-1, to advance to the second round. But teammates Patrick Flynn (Annapolis) and Shane Mack each lost in the opening round, at 158 and 142 pounds, respectively.And Coppin State junior Keno Brown (190) led 12th seed Rob Neidlinger of Penn State 9-1 before losing, 14-12, in overtime.

Every afternoon, no matter the weather, an 8-year-old Grant Johnson and his older brother, Gerard, were there.They would wait at the Crown gas station just below the Morningside Heights apartment complex in Owings Mills, for their junior-league wrestling coach, Guy Pritzker, to pick them up for practice in his station wagon.But Grant didn't want to be there."I was a little baby. A punk. Always crying and complaining," said Johnson, now a 171-pound Owings Mills senior. "I didn't want to sweat.

The University of Maryland's Jim Guzzio advanced, but three other wrestlers with local ties were defeated yesterday in the preliminary round at the NCAA wrestling championships in Minneapolis.Guzzio, at 134 pounds, defeated Adam Mickiewicz of Virginia Military Institute, 4-1, to advance to the second round. But teammates Patrick Flynn (Annapolis) and Shane Mack each lost in the opening round, at 158 and 142 pounds, respectively.And Coppin State junior Keno Brown (190) led 12th seed Rob Neidlinger of Penn State 9-1 before losing, 14-12, in overtime.

Kimberly Smith's strong performance in Big East games paid off as she was named the conference's Rookie of the Year for women's basketball, becoming the first Georgetown player to receive that award. Smith (Western), a point guard who started the last 13 games for the Hoyas, averaged 12.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and a team-leading 3.1 assists.WrestlingThree collegiate wrestlers with local ties qualified for next weekend's NCAA wrestling tournament by winning their conference tournament titles.

In many ways, Steve Kessler is an average teen-ager. He's "down" with popular clothing and haircuts, and has school work, social activities and a weekend job. And his musical tastes range from rap's Wu-Tang Clan to heavy metal's Pantera.But when it comes to wrestling, the Owings Mills student sets an entirely different tempo.The two-time All-Metro choice is a public school record 98-0 (45 pins, 29 technical falls) entering today's Baltimore County tournament, where he can reach 102 wins.In addition, the two-time state champ and the only freshman to go unbeaten, can attain some major milestones before hegraduates:* He can become the second four-time state champion -- Aberdeen's Matt Slutzky (122-5-1)

Some of the state's best high school wrestlers in recent years are back for college tournaments this weekend.Competing in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Championships at Navy are Syracuse's Matt Slutzky (Aberdeen), the state's first four-time champ, in the 142-pound class, Penn's Gary Baker (Old Mill) at 118 and Brian Eveleth (Chesapeake) at 126, Franklin & Marshall's Brendan James (Calvert Hall) at 150 and Harvard's Khris Reina (Mount St. Joseph) at 150.Former Gilman standout Gerard Harrison is representing Virginia 118 in the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships at Maryland and Grant Johnson (Owings Mills)

Television basketball analyst Dick Vitale of ABC and ESPN will be the guest speaker for the 53rd annual McCormick Unsung Heroes Awards Banquet on April 30.One male and one female, out of the 102 candidates from 68 public and private schools in Baltimore City and Baltimore County, will be honored as the 1993 Unsung Heroes.Each honoree will receive a $3,500-per-year scholarship for each of the four academic years of college.Going to GermanyMount St. Joseph's All-Metro sophomore Danny DeVivo (154 pounds)

Even before his senior season began, the praise was coming in from virtually everywhere for Owings Mills wrestler Grant Johnson.That's what can happen when your final high school season is preceded by consecutive 2A-1A state titles and a seventh-place finish in the summer freestyle nationals, which qualifies you as an All-American.Former Clarion State wrestler and 16-time national champ Wade Schalles, a world champ in 1977, calls Johnson "a class act."Haswell Franklin, chairman of the Maryland State Wrestling Association, said, "Grant Johnson has as much or more potential to do well in Division I wrestling than any Maryland wrestler in the past decade."

WESTMINSTER -- Oakland Mills and defending champion Owings Mills are locked in a battle for the top spot with Smithsburg and North Carroll after last night's quarterfinals of the Class 2A-1A state wrestling tournament at Western Maryland College.Oakland Mills stood in first place with 37.5 points after last night, Owings Mills was next with 32.5. Smithsburg took third at 31.5, while North Carroll was fourth at 28.The tournament finishes today. This would be its fourth state title since 1980 for Oakland Mills.

As a Carver junior last year, Ed Overton was at home on some of the most dangerous street corners of Baltimore.Now at Owings Mills, Overton (189 pounds, 19-1) is sixth-ranked, feels at home on the wrestling mats and is most dangerous when cornered.In yesterday's Gilman Duals, he was as good as gold. Overton trailed 1-0 when his second-period pin of Riverdale Baptist's No. 2-ranked Marcus Foran lifted the Eagles (14-1) to a third-place finish.It was the 11th pin for Overton, who was joined as a gold medalist by top-ranked, two-time state champion teammates Gregg Kessler (135, 20-0)

As a 112-pound freshman, Owings Mills' Grant Johnson might have had trouble pinning the tail on a donkey, let alone pinning a wrestler."He wasn't really a grinder back then," said Grant's older brother, Gerard, a former state champ at Owings Mills. "I told him once that he'd pay the price for winning those 2-0 and 1-0 matches, and he'd walk off the mat crying."Today, Grant Johnson is a 171-pound All-American, and there are few who can last the full six minutes with The Baltimore Sun's 1992-93 Baltimore County Wrestler of the Year.

A year ago, Dunbar's wrestling team finished 0-8.But when freshman Bruce Pendles won the season-ending Maryland Scholastic Association tournament, the youngest Poet to do so, first-year coach Damon Matthews decided to build on Pendles' effort.A season-opening tie with last year's C Conference champ, Carver, broke the Poets' losing skein and boosted them to a 2-1-8 record.And in their inaugural venture into the 2A-1A state tournament, the Poets were the city's most successful team, with three sophomores -- Martius Harding (160, second)