ACGC's Bomstad is national champion

Two sophomore wrestlers from the Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City team competed at a national tournament at the end of March.

Maverick Whitcomb went 4-2 at 170-pounds and Larry Bomstad 6-0 at 145-pounds to win the championship during the National High School Coaches Association National Folkstyle Tournament (Sophomore Division).

The event held March 28-31 at the Virginia Beach, Va. National Convention Center deployed 28 mats. The open competition attracts state champions and state qualifiers from every state in the Union.

Whitcomb is a two-time state qualifier who finished 30-13 at 160 pounds this season. He won his first three matches at nationals, lost, won and then lost in the third-place match 11-1 to Travis Linton of Ohio. There were 35 in the bracket.

Bomstad competed in one of the most populated brackets with 65 sophomores in the 145-pound class. He won his first match 7-0 and then scored pins in 27 seconds and 1:41. He followed with a 4-1 decision in the quarterfinals, an 8-4 decision in the semis and a 7-3 win in the championship against Corey Rasheed of New York.

Bomstad was third at 140 pounds in Class A as a freshman and this year reached the 145-pound championship where he suffered his first loss, 4-3, in the third overtime. Counting nationals, his final sophomore record is 48-1.

Accompany the youths, who each made their first airline flight, were David Blom and Maverick's father Tony Whitcomb, both assistant coaches for the Falcons. Competitors pay their own entry fee ($45) and expenses.