Potomac Valley All-Star Challenge Cup
DeMatha High School
Hyattsville, Maryland
May 1993
Potomac Valley Freestyle Challenge Cup History
After loosing the high school division for the past four years, Maryland finally defeated Pennsylvania and Virginia to win the 1993 Potomac Valley Challenge Cup. The junior team lost for the first time in six years loosing a close contest to Pennsylvania.
As is always the case, there are so many other events going on, its hard to get a full team together. Virginia and Pennsylvania suffered worse then Maryland this year, leaving the door open for a strong Maryland high school team. Virginia did manage to provide five state high school champions including HS All- American Steve Sabo at 154, and Pennsylvania brought two including undefeated Scott Nestedder at 145. Maryland's team was led by National Prep Champion Todd Beckerman at 106.
Maryland's junior team wasn't prepared for the star studded roster Pennsylvania showed up with. Among their national freestyle champions included Joey Peretta at 50 lbs, Evan Sola at 60 lbs, Derik Sola at 75 lbs and Ryan Thomas at 80 lbs. Maryland countered with its own national champions Kevin Gabrielson at 70 lbs and brother Jason at 80 lbs, plus some newcomers to the major competition scene who haven't developed yet but have plenty of potential. These included Rudy Rudea at 50 lbs, Mike Patt at 75 lbs, and Mike Toro at 95 lbs.
Key high school wins were recorded by Todd, Nelson, Ron, Scott, and Bernie. Matt lost a big one to Nestedder and Carl had a tough one against Sabo. Nestedder subsequently was given the high school OW award. In juniors, the Jason Gabrielson vs Ryan Thomas match proved to be the most exciting with Jason dominating his national champion opponent and winning by an 11-4 score. Jason received the pre-hs OW award for this effort. Although only Kevin, Jason and Mike Toro won in juniors, the exposure showed our wrestlers what they need to do in order to win in the future. The 1993 Potomac Valley Challenge Cup Maryland Team is listed below:
Teams Entered - MD, VA, PA MD Coaches - Bruce Gabrielson and Mike Alexander Maryland Junior Team - 2nd 50 Rudolph Rueda 55 Derek McDermott 60 Aaron Herwig/Ryan Forman 65 Ryan Herwig 70 Kevin Gabrielson 75 Michael Patt 80 Jason Gabrielson (OW) 85 Tommy Free 90 Doug Gill 95 Mike Torro 100 David Plank Maryland High School Team - 1st 106 Todd Beckerman 115 Nelson Sanchez 123 Ron Alexander 132 Robert Alexander 143 Matt Allman 154 Mike Lowe/Carl Colston 165 Brian Simonson 178 Scott Wascavage 192 Bernie Apshago HWT Royal Howard i