ONE-ON-ONE: River Hill's two-time state champion Scott Mantua (left) and Urbana's state champ Adam Krop (right) have split victories during their careers.
HANDS-ON: Glenelg's state champ Chris Stinnett (standing) and Sherwood's three-time state runner-up Steven Gamble went at it during Tuesday's Team Penguin Wrestling Club practice.
DigitalSports
visited a recent practice of Team Penguin, a Howard County-based
wrestling club which operates out of River Hill High School a couple
of times, weekly, under the watchful eye of Brandon Lauer.
On
Tuesday, 112-pound state champs Adam Krop of Urbana in Frederick County
and Scott Mantua of River Hill wrestled around with the likes of
103-pound state runner-up Cameron Kirby of River Hill and 103-pound
Montgomery County runner-up Jordan Tolbert of Magruder.
In
another part of the room, Urbana's 130-pound state champ, Peter
Tatanish tangled with River Hill's 130-pound state runner-up, Nathan
White, and Glenelg of Howard County's 135-pound state champ Chris
Stinnett -- albeit, a much larger version -- tussled with Sherwood of
Montgomery County's 152-pound three-time state runner-up, Steven Gamble.
"It's
a wrestling club that's been around since about 2000," said Lauer, a
former three-time state champion who earned All-American honors at West
Virginia. "And it's an opportunity for wrestlers to learn high-quality
technique, and to grow."
Also present at the practice was Atholton's Kevin Beck, winner of a 103-pound state title.