By Alec Perez ‘14

Senior Chris Minor jumpstarted his wrestling legacy at Sherwood with one goal set in his mind: placing first in states.

A four-year wrestler on varsity, Minor placed second in regionals, fifth in counties and qualified for the Maryland 4A state tournament his first year of high school. During his sophomore year, Minor placed third in regionals, second in counties and qualified for states for the second year in a row. Last year Minor had a strong season placing fifth in counties, first in regionals and sixth in states. This year he is wrestling in the 138-pound weight class.

Not only is Minor hoping for a state ring, but he is chasing the record for most career wins at Sherwood. The current record of 137 wins is held by Josh Lowey (‘08). Currently, Minor has 121 wins  and has a record of 14-6 this season. Two of his losses came to Kyle Bollinger of Quince Orchard and the No. 1 wrestler in the county. With about 21 matches left, Minor needs 16 wins to get the record.

“My biggest competition this year is Corey Orbendorfer from Damascus and Kyle Bollinger. If I make it to states another tough opponent will be Brendan Colbert from North Hagerstown. It is going to be tough beating my biggest opponents but as long as I stay focused throughout the season, I think I have a really good chance at getting the record for most wins and placing first in the state tournament,” commented Minor.

Years of practices have attributed to Minor’s success, and one of the advantages that helped him have an edge over his opponents is his experience. “Wrestling before high school has helped me learn many moves that many kids never get the chance to learn in high school,” said Minor. Before high school Minor wrestled for six years for his club team, the Olney Outlaws, in which he wrestled the best wrestlers from many states including Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In addition to this club experience, his high school team and the coaches have helped Minor progress as a wrestler.

“The coaches at Sherwood push the players to their full potential. In practice you think you’re too tired to wrestle on, but the coaches find some way to motivate you to never quit,” said Minor. “As well as the coaches, my teammates are amazing and I could not ask for better teammates. They make me better every day of practice by pushing me to the edge of exhaustion. If it wasn’t for the hard work of my team and coaches I would be nowhere close to where I am today.”

This season the Warriors are currently 10-0, with four  matches remaining in the season. The team hopes to make it to state duals this year. The toughest opponent for Sherwood this year will be Damascus who is currently undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the county and finished in first place at last year’s duals. Sherwood does not wrestle Damascus in the regular season but will have to face them in duals.

Next fall Minor plans to go to college and study engineering. Currently, he has a couple offers from small Division III schools for wrestling, but he is hoping that later in the season he will catch the interest of larger colleges.

“I love wrestling. I have worked so hard over the years and can’t imagine not wrestling in college, but my education is really important to me and I would much rather go to a bigger school with better academics than a small school just for wrestling,” said Minor. “Unlike other sports, after college it is really hard to make a living as a wrestler. But right now I am worried about this season. We have a really good team and great coaches, and I think we can go far in state duals as well as having many individuals placing in states.”