Over the past year, Severn Athletics has made a dominant name in the community surrounding the school. However, a relatively quiet sport in the community of Severn Athletics is looking to return to states for the second year in a row. The Admiral’s wrestling team has established a future dynasty of dominance by winning last year’s MIAA B Conference Championship and second in the Maryland State Wrestling Championship. Last year’s major players for the Admirals were Ryan Money, Reid Gills, and Nicky Melfi, who finished 1st, 3rd, and 4th in last year’s championship meet. However, this year the Admiral’s team lost Maryland commit Ryan Money, which led the team to find new key players to help the team hoist another trophy. Overall, the team wraps up another season with 4 wins and 4 losses, placing fourth in the conference.
The Admiral wrestlers have been training intensively throughout the season to beat the competitive teams in their conference. To stay in their weight class, the wrestlers have to constantly fight the battle against themselves to either bulk up or cut weight. Even during school, I would see the team’s players either getting multiple entrees for lunch or sometimes not even eating. Furthermore, wrestlers cutting weight in the gym often run on the treadmill for numerous miles, dressed in full sweats. This preparation and battle with themselves is all to create better results on the mat. As the Admirals started the season, they set the tone with a decisive 60-0 win against Glenelg School. Following this, they lost their next two matches in extremely close manners to their opponent. Since then, they wrapped up the end of their season going 3 and 3 with an overall record of 4 and 4. With the Admiral’s 4-4 record, they finished in 5th place in the conference. I interviewed Admirals’ wrestler Nick Melfi, 25′, about the season and upcoming future. Nicky described the season as a “mediocre season filled with ups and down”. He reminisced on the memorable season and said, “The group of guys we had this year truly came together; win or lose, we always had each other’s backs. I am excited to continue to better the culture of Severn wrestling next year as I will take on more of a leadership role within the team. I asked Nicky to describe the team in one word; he paused for a moment and pondered the question and said, “resilient, we bonded closer
towards the end of the season and especially during times of distress.” These words encapsulated the true essence of the team and the season.
With the admirals ending a relatively successful season, they headed to the MIAA individual tournament at Gilman School. In the tournament, the admirals finished in second place overall in the MIAA B Conference Championship. After the conference tournament, they went on to states. The team placed 5th place in the B Conference at states, the season’s final meet. At states, the Admiral’s top finishers were Nicky Melfi, who finished 5th in the 126-pound division, and Luke Layden finished 7th in the 106-pound division. However, only one of the wrestlers, Nicky Melfi, will go on and prepare for National preps, where he will compete against other highly talented wrestlers around the country. Although the admirals could not have the successful season they did last year, they still proved they are a team to look out for in the next season. With a quite young roster on the team, the admirals look to have a bright future ahead of them. GO ADMIRALS!
