Blair hosts Eastern's annual "Main Event"

Montgomery Blair High School hosted Eastern Middle School's annual "Main Event" wrestling tournament on Wednesday, Dec 19. The tournament was suspended by a fight (see related story, Student fight interrupts wrestling match) that broke out between two Eastern students, but overall the event was a success.

This year's tournament marked the 16th year in which Eastern sponsored the "Main Event," which provides an opportunity for Eastern's best wrestlers, both male and female, to demonstrate their abilities against each other on the mats. The action took place before a gym filled with Eastern students and representatives from the Montgomery County Police Force, Army, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard.

Match after match was wrestled, yielding remarkable wins and surprising upsets. In the minor heavyweight division, 8th grader Nathan Drew gave fellow 8th grader Herman Ramirez no chance at all, as he earned an easy pin merely 21 seconds into the match.

Eighth grader Peter Cadet pulled an unexpected upset in the unlimited weight class to an opponent who outweighed him by a whopping 130 pounds. The determined Cadet defied the odds and dominated his match for the win.

Another upset came from Theresa Dipeppe. She triumphed over the highly favored Delmy Pinto, who had hospitalized a girl in a wrestling match earlier in the season.

The wrestlers who won their matches received medals for their accomplishments. Eastern's Ed Ryan, and sports reporter Chick Hernandez, who graduated from Blair in the 1980's, presented the awards.