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Sports & Recreation www.oceancitytoday.com Mar. 11, 2022 Page 51
Six SD wrestlers win medals duing Md. championship
By Lisa Capitelli Managing Editor (March 11, 2022) Twelve Stephen Decatur wrestlers – seven boys and five girls – competed in the MPSSAA 1A/2A state championship meet last weekend at The Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro, and six came home with medals.
Senior captain Alex Koulikov won the state title in the 195-pound weight class.
“It’s really exciting. I think it’s even more exciting since I haven’t been able to participate in the state championship up until this year [because] I was injured last time I qualified,” he said. “I think I wrestled pretty good. I just kind of made sure I got a good warmup and had my mind right. I showed what I know and the knowledge Ive gained. I showed everybody who Alex Koulikov really is.”
Koulikov pinned his first opponent in 56 seconds and the second in 47 seconds. He pinned his semifinals opponent in 2:56. In the finals, he scored a pin in 3:52.
“I don’t want to say I expected it, but that was definitely my goal. All season I’ve been undefeated and every match has been a pin except for two times,” Koulikov said. “It feels pretty good. I think I always knew I was going to be a state champion. I just finally had the chance to prove it. It feels great, especially since Coach [Todd] Martinek is retiring, I was his last state champion.”
He finished the season undefeated, 27-0. He is also regional champion at 195 pounds and Bayside Conference champion in his division.
“Overall, the season went pretty good. I was out up until before winter break [with an injury]. Once I came back though I was ready to go. I was hungry,” he said.
Senior captain Noah Reho came in second place in the 160-pound weight class.
“I wouldn’t say it was the best tournament I’ve ever wrestled, but I do think I went out and I showed my ability,” he said. “The first day I pinned both of my guys in the first period [52 seconds and 1:24, respectively], second day I teched my guy [21-6] in the second period.”
Reho said has finals match against South Carroll’s AJ Rodrigues was expected and anticipated.
“I feel that both of us are No. 1 and No. 2 pound-for-pound in the entire state of Maryland and I wanted that match and so did he, and I’m not ashamed that I lost that match,” Reho said. He lost 3-1. “AJ’s a great competitor. I was very happy how I wrestled. I wrestled a pretty good match. A 3-1 match, just a one takedown match. Everybody knew that’s how it was going to be. It was 50-50 who was going to get it.”
Reho finished the season with a 38-1 record. He won a Bayside Conference title this year and captured his third consecutive regional championship.
“I’m very happy with my career. I hit every tick that everybody tries to hit. I think I’ve built a resume that everybody else wants to have when they’re done with high school wrestling,” he said. “I’m not devastated that I didn’t get a third state title – I already have two. I’m more happy Alex Koulikov got his state championship after three years.”
Reho has committed to wrestle for Division I Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania.
“I’m pretty excited for [Division I] wrestling. I’m just curious how I’m going to do,” he said. “[It will take] commitment to the sport, wrestling to my ability all year and just putting in max effort. Everybody at that level they all buy into it, it’s just who buys into it more and that’s what it’s going to take.”
Sophomore Gavin Solito took second in the 145pound state weight class division.
He won his first three matches by decision, 9-3, 16-9 and 9-7. He lost in
the finals, 7-4.
“Every kid did something different that I had to figure out,” he said. “I feel like overall I did pretty good. Obviously I wanted to win, but second is not too bad. My first time at states it was pretty fun being with the team all weekend and just bonding with everybody.”
Solito went 27-4 this season. He won a Bayside title and regional championship at 145 pounds.
Solito said he is already looking forward to next season.
“I’m excited. I can’t wait to get back into the [practice] room so we can start working for next year,” he said. “Overall, I think the season went pretty good. I only had a few losses, so that’s pretty good.”
Sophomore Reid Caimi finished in sixth place in the 126-pound division.
“I’m honestly really happy with it. I think I wrestled a pretty good tournament. I don’t think many people were expecting me to place sixth,” he said. “It was pretty cool. Being in the arena, it’s a big place. I wasn’t really nervous. I felt like I made it there and I had nothing to lose. I was just there to wrestle.”
He lost his first match, 14-2, but won the next three by decision, 10-6, 7-4 and 9-2.
Caimi was pinned in the consolation semifinals, then lost the fifth/sixth-place match, 3-2.
“We were pretty close, back and forth in the [finals] match. He’s better than me, he’s a senior so I won’t see him next year,” he said. “I’m pretty happy with my performance at states.”
Caimi finished the season with a 24-11 record.
“I had a great season. I made lots of memories and we had a great team,” he said. “I’m looking forward to next year. It’s going to be pretty sad [with Coach Martinek retiring]. He really helped a lot. He worked
LISA CAPITELLI/OCEAN CITY TODAY Six Stephen Decatur wrestlers earned medals for placing sixth or better during the MPSSAA 1A/2A state championship meet, last weekend at The Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro. Pictured, from left, are senior Danera Collick (fifth, 235-pound weight class), junior Mia Stubblebine (fourth, 190), sophomore Gavin Solito (second, 145), senior captain Alex Koulikov (state champion, 195), senior captain Noah Reho (second, 160) and sophomore Reid Caimi (sixth, 126).
Continued from Page 51 with me and helped me go into matches with certain ideas and what I was supposed to do. But, we also got plenty of other great coaches. All of our coaches are phenomenal.”
Seniors Henry Brous (220 pounds) and Cody Drummond (138), and junior captain Logan Intrieri (132) also participated in the state tournament.
Two of the five Decatur girls who competed won medals.
Junior Mia Stubblebine took fourth in the 190-pound division.
She received two byes then pinned her quarterfinals opponent in 3:01. She lost by pin in the semifinals but battled back, winning 6-0 in the consolation semifinals. She was pinned in the third/fourth-place match.
“It wasn’t the place I was expecting, but overall I wrested some tough kids and did the best I could,” she said. “It was fun. It was a good learning experience and now I know what I need to work on when I get back in the room.”
It was Stubblebine’s second state appearance. Overall, she enjoyed her wrestling season.
“It was a really good season and I feel like I really grew as a wrestler, as a person and I’m excited to see what next season has [in store],” she said. “Maryland wresting is growing for girls and all the girls who want to come out should because now is the best time. It’s being part of something that’s basically never been done before. You’re making history. I feel like if you want to be a part of something bigger than yourself now is the time to do it.”
Senior Danera Collick placed fifth in the 235-pound weight class.
“It was a great opportunity. Lot of good chances, lot of great wrestlers to go up against,” she said. “You get the nervous feeling at first but then the second you touch the mat it’s a whole game changer.”
Collick received two byes, then pinned her quarterfinals opponent in 3:38. She was pinned in the next two matches, then won by pin (4:49) in the fifth/sixth-place match.
“It felt great, exciting [to get two pins],” she said. Collick enjoyed her first season wrestling for Decatur. “It’s been a life changer. I pushed through it because I thought it was a great opportunity, and I’m glad I did it,” she said. “If I wasn’t a scaredy-cat I would have did it my freshman year instead of waiting so long. It’s a great opportunity, girl or boy.”
Juniors Jenna Danner (120) and Madeline Reed (110) and sophomore Hailey Smith (170) also competed in the tournament.
Martinek knew at the beginning of the season with so many young, inexperienced varsity wrestlers that he would have to teach, coach and manage more than in past seasons.
“The last two years we really didn’t necessarily teach a lot, we managed a lot, because the kids were pretty top tier. We just had to keep them in shape and healthy and improve on little things,” he said.
At the start of the season, he said, “These guys, we have to really start from the beginning, so that’s kind of been refreshing going back to your roots as a coach and what got you here. It makes practice new.”
Martinek thought the season was “awesome.”
“I did more teaching in the last three months than I did in the last three years,” he said. “I feel like it showed. There was a nice jump in ability.”
He was named Bayside Coach of the Year.
“It’s nice to be recognized. I’m proud of all the hard work the kids and coaches put in,” he said. “When I get recognized they get recognized.”
The squad went 14-1 during the regular season (26-1 overall), and captured its third consecutive regional dual and state dual titles.
“Stephen Decatur has been recognized as a wrestling school. It’s nice to have a reputation like that,” Martinek said. “Winning states solidified that reputation.”
Decatur also won the Bayside Conference championship title by more than 100 points this year. Decatur took home the Bayside Conference championship 10 consecutive seasons (2002-2011), then again in 2017, 2019 and 2020. There was no wrestling season last year because of covid.
Martinek, who was recognized in November for lifetime service to wrestling during the 2021 National Wrestling Hall of Fame Maryland Chapter induction ceremony, announced at the beginning of the season that after 29 years, this would be his last coaching the Decatur wrestling team.
Martinek was head coach at James M. Bennett in Salisbury for eight seasons (1994-2002). During that time the team went 73-38.
Martinek started the prestigious annual War on the Shore tournament in 2002 with then-Decatur Head Coach Kevin Gilligan.
He was an assistant coach at Decatur for the next five years (20032008; 80-4 record, five Bayside Conference titles). The next three years he was a wrestling official.
Martinek returned to Decatur for the 2011-12 season as head coach.
He has coached 10 individual state champions, 73 state placewinners, and 22 100-match winners.
He was named Bayside Coach of the Year three times - 1994, 2019 and for the 2021/22 season.
His Decatur coaching record is 193-33 (four Bayside titles head coach); and overall record is 266-71.
“After we won states I said I was going to do one more year, but with covid we didn’t get that year last year,” he said in November. “I certainly would not have been as successful if it weren’t for Kevin [Gilligan] and the groundwork he laid here and me and him worked really hard together. He showed me the offseason sacrifices that he made … I knew I needed to do more as a head coach.”
This week, he added, “I had big shoes to fill when Coach Gilligan left. It was going to be my way. And the next coach, it will be their way.”
Martinek has been so successful over the years because of community support, continuing to learn and surrounding himself with good people.
“I’m a student of the sport. This sport changes like every other sport does,” he said earlier in the season. “I’m trying to learn from the best and show the kids the best technique and also trying to use my experience has helped me in keeping them healthy, making weight, just making it a good environment for them to be successful. I feel like I’ve learned a lot about creating environments that win and making them realize they can push themselves further then they ever could.”
The Decatur history teacher plans to retire at the end of next school year, after 30 years in the classroom.
As he steps down as head coach, Martinek said the Decatur wrestling program has a bright future.
“I certainly put my time in. I think I’m leaving it in a good spot,” he said. “It was a good run. I enjoyed it.”
Todd Martinek
LISA CAPITELLI/OCEAN CITY TODAY The Stephen Decatur girls’ basketball team captured the MPSSAA 3A South Region championship last Thursday on its home court in Berlin. Decatur came out on top, 49-46, over Crofton to win the program’s fifth regional title.
Decatur girls’ basketball regional champions
Lady Seahawks fight hard and battle back, but fall in 3A state quarterfinals
By Lisa Capitelli Managing Editor (March 11, 2022) The Stephen Decatur girls’ basketball team enjoyed much success this season after a year sidelined because of covid, advancing all the way to the MPSSAA 3A state quarterfinals.
“We’ve been trying to prepare for this for two years because they took the season from us [last year],” said Decatur Coach Scott Kurtz. “We bring in a couple freshmen, but we’ve been together waiting to play basketball for two years and we knew what we had. We knew the talent we had. We knew the heart and effort. These girls will come in any opportunity they can to get in the weight room, to run, to do whatever they can to be ready and you just want to see them succeed because they work so hard.”
And the coaching staff worked just as hard and was as dedicated as the players.
“We just want to be able to put them in positions where we don’t let them down. We make every call we can for them just to see them go out there and just continue to play at a higher level each week, each game,” Kurtz continued. “It’s all we ask for and it’s such a great feeling as a coach to watch your players go out there and execute and get the success they work so hard for. It’s such a blessing.”
The Lady Seahawks went 19-0 during the regular season. Despite losing in the Bayside Conference championship game to Queen Anne’s, Decatur focused on the positives of the season and bounced back for the 3A South regional tournament.
The top-seeded Berlin squad edged out the fifth-seeded Chesapeake Cougars, 61-59, in a back-andforth battle last Tuesday on its home court to advance to the regional championship game.
Decatur hosted the 3A South Region finals last Thursday against the third-seeded Crofton Cardinals.
The score was tied 10-10 at the end of the first quarter. At halftime, Decatur led 23-17. After three, the Seahawks held a 34-32 advantage. Decatur won, 49-46.
Senior captain Nadia Bullock was Decatur’s top producer with 27 points. She also had the job of guarding Crofton’s Cora Shafer, who scored 27 of her team’s 48 points in the game prior.
“We held her to 11. Nadia’s job was to limit her shots and to get on her so she could not get comfortable,” Kurtz said. “If she started shooting threes and hitting them we’d be in trouble. Our game plan was to not let that happen. We had some breakdowns every once in a while, but schematically it worked.”
Freshman Sam Boger chipped in with 10 points. Junior captain Mayah Garner scored seven.
The last time the girls’ basketball program won a regional championship was in 2004 – 18 years ago, which was before most, if not all of the girls on the current team were born.
“I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel. I’ve never been here before,” Kurtz said after the championship game.
“I didn’t know [the last time the team won a regional championship was in 2004],” he said looking at the banner hanging on the gym wall behind him. “That’s amazing. So it’s been 18 years? We say team every time we’re together, but you put in so much time and you create such a family atmosphere.”
“It’s just a great feeling,” Bullock said of winning a regional title. “We didn’t even think we would make it to regionals. We haven’t had a regional championship since 2004, so now we have our names on a banner. That’s pretty exciting.”
The C. Milton Wright Mustangs came to Berlin to take on Decatur last Saturday in the 3A state quarterfinals.
The visiting Mustangs led 17-6 at the end of the first quarter.
“It took a quarter for us to get our feet wet and adjust to what they were doing,” Kurtz said.
Decatur outscored its opponent, 15-8 in the second quarter, but trailed at the halftime break, 25-21. After three, C. Milton Wright held a 44-38 advantage.
Decatur took the lead by one, 4746, with a freshman Allison Swift free throw, with about three minutes remaining in the game. C. Milton Wright pulled ahead by one, but junior Jessica Beck tied it up, 48-48, with 1:47 on the clock.
The Mustangs won, 57-52.
“We showed we belonged there and that we were able to compete at that level on that stage. It could have gone either way,” Kurtz said. “At times, we couldn’t get stops on No. 22 [Maddie Nimmo, who scored 38 See DECATUR Page 54
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LISA CAPITELLI/OCEAN CITY TODAY Stephen Decatur freshman Sam Boger shoots a three during last Thursday’s MPSSAA 3A South Region championship game against Crofton in Berlin. Decatur won, 49-46.
LISA CAPITELLI/OCEAN CITY TODAY Stephen Decatur junior captain Mayah Garner shoots while guarded by three Crofton players during last Thursday’s MPSSAA 3A South Region championship game.
Decatur girls’ squad goes 19-0 during regular season
Continued from Page 53 points]. We told the girls you’ve got to go straight up on her and don’t give her contact. She was good on defense and on the offensive end … [And also] that big three at the end hurt us. We fought our way back, we just couldn’t finish it in the end.”
Junior Shelby Rosemond led Decatur with 18 points and seven rebounds. Bullock scored 12.
“Three nights we packed the gym [during playoffs]. To see students, teachers and the community come out to support these girls was nice. It meant a lot to them and me,” Kurtz said.
Kurtz said he was proud of the girls’ effort.
“The team has only won the [regional] title five times [1977, 1989, 2001, 2004 and 2022]. Most years we weren’t even in the conversation, but now that’s the expectation, the regional finals,” he said. “They understand the type of basketball we need to play. They know how close they were and what it takes to get to the next step.”
Decatur went undefeated, 19-0, during the regular season. There were a few close games, but overall, the Seahawks were pretty dominant.
“It’s rare to get through an entire 19-game season without a hiccup,” Kurtz said. “We had a good team dynamic. Everyone contributed in their own way. They were a close team, good chemistry. This team has really spent so much time together. They created memories.”
The team finished with a 21-2 overall record.
Kurtz said the group was a true basketball team.
“In my four years of being here, I’ve had every season some really hard-working girls, but I’ve usually only had a handful of true basketball players where that’s their numberone sport,” Kurtz said at the beginning of the season. “I’ve had a lot of really good athletes that play lacrosse or track or something else … I would say this is the first time I’ve had more than five girls that basketball is their number-one sport.”
After the state quarterfinals, Kurtz spent the next couple days talking to each of his players, discussing how they can elevate their individual games.
“There’s a lot of ways those girls can put in the work to take their game up a notch,” he said. “I believe they have it in them.”
The team will graduate two players – Bullock and Malery Andrews.
Bullock, who averaged 16 points per game, was named Bayside South co-Player of the Year with Parkside’s Amanda Ballard. She also earned a spot on the Bayside South First Team and Defense First Team.
“We asked her to do a lot of things. She was a complete player,” Kurtz said of Bullock. “She filled the stat sheet … she was a leader and a highquality player.”
Garner was named co-Defensive Player of the Year with Ballard. She also made First Team Bayside South and First Team Defense.
“She’s very tough on herself. She’s a perfectionist. The coaches recognized the good defensive player that she is,” Kurtz said.
Boger, who Kurtz said is a phenomenal outside shooter and smart player, was presented Bayside South Second Team honors.
Rosemond also earned a spot on the First Team Defense. She and Swift received Bayside South honorable mention accolades.
“I think Shelby is not only one of the top five defensive players in the Bayside South, but in the entire conference,” Kurtz said. “Allison started off slow and was playing her best basketball at the end of the season.”
Kurtz was named Coach of the Year.
“It’s a nice recognition. The coaching staff really gets the recognition. I couldn’t have done it without them,” Kurtz said. “I want to do it. I want to put in the time to see the team succeed. That’s the reward.”
With Bullock graduating, there will be big shoes to fill, but an experienced, core group will be returning next season. Hopefully, the team will pick up right where it left off.
“They were a team that really competed. They were only a few shots away from being in the final four,” Kurtz said. “The girls want to get back in the gym … and I think they’ll be more interest in Stephen Decatur basketball, so that’s exciting.”
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