Page 100 - ThePhoenix1992-93

Spot:ts March 9, 1993 Page 12 Welch WMC'S Wrestling On the Rise From page 11 Welch brothers that play basketball. By HOPE FILER Credit them for getting "Ro," as he is s"'ffw,.;"" known by family and friends, into bas- ketball. '" started playing with my broth- Following a season of setbacks and ers, and then I just started playing all the injuries, the Western Maryland wres- lime." As the youngest of the three, tling team has found hope in a respect- Welch says "I was and still am in the able finish. shadows army brothers. When we play, After a very disappointing 3-12 sea- they are always noticed; I'm still the son last year, the Green Terrors started young guy on the court." this season 6-0. They ended the year Welch grew up playing backyard onc- with a record of 8-10. The drastic im- on-one, and quickly learned his brothers' provement is credited to a strong class of moves and emulated their style of play. recruits and a lot of determination. "I felt like I had to improve, and they re- The additions of freshmen Nick ally helped me." Stafford and Justin Mikulski, Division I Local gyms and playgrounds in the transfer Greg Welch, and the return of suburban Washington, DC area grew fa- junior co-captain J. Black have had a miliar seeing the three Welch brothers major impact on the team. stride onto the court. "We always play Of Stafford and Mikulski, junior co- on the same team, and it would be like, captain Ray Pickersgill says, "They add team. "These are all my recruits because this 'Here come those brothers again'," a spark to the beginning of the lineup. "We finished the season banged up," is my fourth year coaching here. That laughed Welch. On occasion, the Nick and Justin are the first two to said coach Paul Johnson. "We had makes it a lot more fun than the last three Welch's would drive down the DC wrestle in a meet and they usually come some matches we should have won but years," said Johnson. And it seems as if beltway to College Park, where they off with two victories. Thatreally does a that gets to be difficult when you have his work is finally paying off. would play pickup games with the Uni- lot to get the rest of the team going. to forfeit. Toward the end of the year, "After an off year last year, P.J. [Paul versity of Maryland varsity basketball They're both MAC place winner hope- we were forfeiting several weight Johnson) has done a great job to build us squad, including All-American and At- fuls." classes. That hurts." intoa contending team in the conference lantic Coast Conference All-Star Walt Pickersgill himself was out for most But this was a building season. Next again," said Pickersgill. Williams. "That kind of competition re- of the season due to a knee injury. His year they should see an even bigger im- And proudly, they were a contending ally helped me improve, and developed and other key injuries have been the big- provement in their record. Witb only team this year. At the MAC tournament my skills," said Welch. gest setback for the "team. There has not one graduating senior on the team, co- February 25-27 at Elizabethtown, two Now Rolando Welch waits for next been a time during the year that they captain Mike Flemming, the Terrors wrestlers placed in the top five in their season, and hopes that the play of the were able to wrestle the whole lineup. should be just as strong next year. weight classes, Stafford finished fourth entire team, and some more frequent vic- Welcb, who Pickersgill said was "a lock They will beleaving the Middle At- in the 126 pound class and sophomore tories will take the spotlight away from to go to nationals," suffered a hamstring lantic Conference and entering the new Ted Spears fifth in the heavyweights. him. "I think next year could be differ- pull, as did junior John Hampton, Other Centennial Conference and coach and Overall, the team finished 13th out of a ent, and it could be real promising." injuries were equally damaging to the teammates say that they're ready to field of 17 teams, rising up from 16th make an impact. place their previous season. "I think we're a real young team and The improvements are evident al- we're looking forward to the Centennial ready. Conference next year," says Black. "A Even through frustration and inju- lot of older guys got hun and the ries, the Green Terror wrestlers have younger ones were there to step up and battled back into contention. do the job." Through frustration and injuries, the Many of these "younger ones" have Green Terror wrestlers have battled come from South Jersey, Johnson's back into contention. home turf. He has done a lot to estab- "We've had such a vast improvement lish recruiting connections in high over last year," said Johnson. "This is schools there as well as Pennsylvania, a very tight group and just a really ex- New York, and Maryland. citing bunch of guys, We're looking forward to next year." The Phoenix is still looking for a talented artist. Freelance work is accepted and welcome!