By: Joe Cicchino - Sports Information Assistant

BETHLEHEM -- Weeks before Germantown Academy traveled to Lehigh University for National Preps, Head Coach Solomon Fleckman said that he hoped the team could improve upon last year's performance -- a 12th place finish -- and get as far as they could with what they have. While they did not best last year's finish, the Patriots still finished 18th out of 95 teams, scored 41.5 team points and had a wrestler place in the top five of their weight. 

"It was a weekend where I think we had a lot of young guys that were really exited about the week before and their preparation," Fleckman said. "When they got there, they wrestled like young guys that need a little more experience and composure. The competition there is tough. The top guys there are top-shelf anywhere."

Christopher Kim '20 finished fourth in the 120 weight class and was the lone Patriot to place at Nationals. A year ago, Kim took fourth place in the 106 weight class and had the highest finish for the Patriots. As a freshman, he made it to the quarterfinals of the competition.

The junior made it all the way to the semifinal bout before suffering a close loss to Blair Academy's Trevor Mastrogiovanni, an Oklahoma State signee. Kim came back in the Consolation Semifinal with a 7-0 win over Emory Taylor of McCallie School before dropping the Third-Place Match to Chris Barnabae of Mount Saint Joseph. 

"I didn't end up achieving my goal to the fullest extent, but the part of my performance that I was most pleased with was my mental growth," Kim said. "The first match of the year, I wrestled Mastrogiovanni, and lost 5-0. Flash forward to Nationals, and I wrestled Mastrogiovanni again, this time in the semifinals, and it was a completely different match. Yes, I lost 3-2, losing my chance at becoming my goal of being a National Prep Champ, but I can honestly say I left everything out on the mat after it was over, and I fought at a level I hadn't known was in my ability before the season."

Christian Colman '21 and Harrison Levans '21 both made it to the fourth round of the consolation bracket, but were unable to upend their opponents. Colman was bested by eventual fifth-place finisher Chris Perry of Brunswick School, while Levans fell to David Harper of Baylor School, who finished seventh.

Luke Duthie '21, Mark Fasciocco '19 and Wyatt Hare '20 all fell in the second round of consolations. Jamie McGrath '21 and Deon Savage '20 were bested in round one of consolations.

Despite his individual finish and the top-20 finish by the team, Kim was not satisfied. However, he says it will serve as fuel to improve. 

"Overall as a team, we didn't perform as well as we all would've liked to," Kim said. "But this only gives us more fuel to our fire when we get back in the room, training and moving forward in the right step as a family.

FULL RESULTS

Christian Colman (GA)
Champ. Round 1 - Christian Colman over Blake Jury (St. Mary`s Ryken) (Dec 6-1)
Champ. Round 2 - Skylar  Smith (Liberty Christain School) over Christian Colman (Dec 5-4)
Cons. Round 2 - Christian Colman over Liam Kelly (Paul VI) (Fall 0:57)
Cons. Round 3 - Christian Colman over christian Morris (Mccallie School) (Fall 3:25)
Cons. Round 4 - Chris Perry (Brunswick School) over Christian Colman (Dec 7-1)

Luke Duthie (GA) 
Champ. Round 1 - Sean M. Scott (Mcdonogh School) over Luke Duthie (Fall 2:56)
Cons. Round 1 - Luke Duthie over Houston Crouch (Father Ryan) (Dec 5-2)
Cons. Round 2 - Sam Beckett (The Hill School) over Luke Duthie (Dec 8-1)

Mark Fasciocco (GA)
Champ. Round 1 - Mark Fasciocco over Cort Doyle  (Mckinney Christain Academy) (Dec 7-2)
Champ. Round 2 - Shane VanNess (Blair Academy) over Mark Fasciocco (Fall 3:00)
Cons. Round 2 - Jose Zamora (Kennedale Fellowship Academy) over Mark Fasciocco (Dec 7-3)

Wyatt Hare (GA)
Champ. Round 1 - Anthony Augustin (St. Benedicts Prep) over Wyatt Hare (Fall 1:51)
Cons. Round 1 - Wyatt Hare over Will Brooks (Northfolk Academy) (Fall 1:42)
Cons. Round 2 - Caleb Doyle (Mckinney Christain Academy) over Wyatt Hare (Fall 4:25)

Chris Kim (GA)
Champ. Round 1 - Chris Kim over Drew Baublitz (Archbishop Spalding) (Fall 0:45)
Champ. Round 2 - Chris Kim over Evan Benivedes (St. Thomas Catholic) (TF 18-3 4:36)
Quarterfinals - Chris Kim over Jake Shaifer (Northfield Mount Hermon School) (Dec 8-2)
Semifinals - Trevor Mastrogiovanni (Blair Academy) over Chris Kim (Dec 3-2)
Cons. Semis - Chris Kim over Emory Taylor (Mccallie School) (Dec 7-0)
3rd Place Match - Chris Barnabae (Mount Saint Joseph) over Chris Kim (Dec 3-0)

Harrison Levans (GA)
Champ. Round 1 - Harrison Levans over Saul Atwood (Georgetown Day School) (Fall 1:52)
Champ. Round 2 - Ethan  Stern (Mount Saint Joseph) over Harrison Levans (Dec 7-3)
Cons. Round 2 - Harrison Levans over Sean McCurdy (Academy of the New Church) (Fall 3:13)
Cons. Round 3 - Harrison Levans over Nicholas Clark (Lawrencville School) (Dec 3-2)
Cons. Round 4 - David Harper (Baylor School) over Harrison Levans (Dec 8-3)

Jamie McGrath (GA)
Champ. Round 1 - Brenden Barnes (Benedictine College Preparatory) over Jamie McGrath (Fall 2:00)
Cons. Round 1 - Alexander Gavronsky (Belmont Hill School) over Jamie McGrath (Fall 3:14)

Deon Savage (GA)
Champ. Round 1 - David Berkovich (Poly Prep) over Deon Savage (TF 16-0 2:54)
Cons. Round 1 - Matthew Mata (Dallas Christian School) over Deon Savage (Dec 9-6)