The Bishop O'Connell Knights turned in an impressive 18th place overall finish at the recent prestigious National Prep Schools Wrestling Tournament. The annual event was held at Lehigh University. Approximately 130 schools participated, primarily from the East Coast but as far away as Texas.

Senior Kris Park placed second overall (tying the highest finish by any Knight in recent memory).

"Reed [Carpenter] also placed second in the National Prep Tournament in 2000," said Knights head coach Bill Carpenter.

Park (145 pounds) won his first four matches and finished with a 4-1 record, only bowing out in the finals to his opponent from Blair Academy, N.J.

"It was a great tournament for Kris. He finished as well as anybody that we've had here (in my tenure)," said Carpenter.

Drew Carpenter (sophomore - 119 pounds) placed eighth overall and finished with a 4-3 record.

Team points were accrued by anyone that won one or more matches whether or not they placed in the top eight. Consequently, the Knights were also buoyed by senior Kyle Hastings (won two matches at 160 pounds) and senior Shane Hayre (won one match at 171 pounds). Freshman Erik Kurtzke (112 pounds) also participated, but failed to win a match.

The Knights finished the season with a dual match record of 10-7.

"It was somewhat of an unusual season in that we didn't have a full lineup this season [we had to forfeit one or two weight classes each match]. The guys that we did have wrestled very hard," said Carpenter.

Ireton and Paul VI placed in the middle tier at Lehigh University.

Spearheading the Cardinals was senior Nick Dight (140 pounds). Dight, one of Ireton's most consistent wrestlers all season, finished in the "top 12" - merely one match away from the seventh/eighth place match.

Dight finished the tournament with an overall record of 3-2 and the second highest finish by any Ireton wrestler in the "new millennium." Brendan Pauls (class of '03) placed eighth two seasons ago.

"Had Nick won one more match he would have finished no worse than eighth," said Ireton associate head coach Don Dight. The two matches that Nick Dight dropped were two opponents from the "Free State" of Maryland - one match to an opponent from McDonough H.S. and one match to an opponent from Mt. St. Joseph's H.S. (both from Greater Baltimore).

"Nick wants to wrestle in college. Right now, he's not sure where he is going, but he is keeping his options open," said Coach Dight.

Kwinten Brown (senior, 130 pounds) didn't fare anywhere near as well as his fellow senior co-captain. Brown (2005 WCAC Champion and 2005 St. Alban’s Tournament Champion) dropped his first match and concluded his senior season on a down note.

The Cardinals ended up only taking two wrestlers to Pennsylvania.

Senior Mark Wu (215 pounds) had other commitments; junior Ray DiNunzio (119 pounds) was sick with the flu and sophomore Tim Dean (160 pounds) was dinged up with "water on the knee."

DiNunzio and/or Dean are likely to be team captains next season. Ireton concluded its campaign with an overall record of 20-4.

"We had a strong season. The only team to beat us from Northern Virginia was Episcopal High School," said Coach Dight.

Paul VI didn't fare quite as well at the National Prep Tournament. The Panther’s junior wrestling/football standout Josh Gadell (215 pounds) won the squad’s lone match in Pennsylvania and finished the tournament with a record of 1-1.

Seniors Conrad Andrews (140 pounds), Anthony Soltis (152 pounds) and Jonathan Kodadek (160 pounds) - as well as junior Kevin Welcher (135 pounds) and sophomores Max Benson (112 pounds) and Alex Soltis (189 pounds) - all finished with an 0-1 record.

The Panthers were at a disadvantage without the services of junior heavyweight Dan Matheny. He was injured in the title match of the recent WCAC Championships and did not participate at Lehigh University.

The Panthers wrestled a limited number of dual matches during the season and finished with a dual match record of 3-8.