D6 EZ M2 THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 13 , 2022
BY ALEXANDER DACYSouth River’s Racheil Coney
finally had Churchill’s Michael
Assaf under wraps early in the
third period of their 285-pound
bout. The Seahawks’ senior
heavyweight had fended off the
scrappy Assaf and registered his
third takedown of Saturday’s
match, and this time Coney kept
him down for the pin.
When he rose from the mat, so
too did his South River team-
mates on the bench, who erupted
in cheers and hugs knowing
Coney had just secured them a
state title.
“Best feeling in the world,”
said Coney, who sprinted to the
sideline in Waldorf and wrapped
Coach John Klessinger in a bear
hug after the referee raised his
arm.
The moment — an eventual
46-24 Seahawks win over the
Bulldogs that landed them their
first Maryland Class 4A dual
meet championship — was four
years in the making for Coney.
Klessinger had to wait even lon-
ger.
Klessinger took over the Sea-
hawks in the 2000-01 season and
slowly built the program into an
Anne Arundel County contender,
producing a handful of individu-
al wrestlers who competed for
state titles and two teams that
made appearances at state dual
meets.
He and his wrestlers had been
to this spot in 2019, losing in the
championship match against
MARYLAND WRESTLING
Seahawks
finally get
team dual
vindication
ry that added the requisite points
for a win. The biggest inner-moti-
vation might have been a slight
change to their mascot’s name.
Gonzaga, with its first-place fin-
ishes, broke the meet record in all
three of the day’s relays. Multi-
event individual winners on the
boys’ side included Gonzaga sen-
iors Collin McKenzie (100 breast-
stroke and a meet record in the
200 individual medley) and Mac
Marsh (50 and 100 freestyles) and
Richard Montgomery senior Ever-
ett Oehler (200 freestyle and
100 butterfly).Stone Ridge wins again
Stone Ridge (390.5 points), the
top team on the girls’ side, didn’t
entertain the possibility of an up-
set. Its win was the program’s sec-
ond major title of the champion-
ship season after the Independent
School League meet. Holton-Arms
(349 points) and Walter Johnson
(324 points) took second and third
place.
The Gators became the first to
win consecutive titles on the girls’
side since 2015, with Erin Gem-
mell, the team’s top swimmer,
again leading the way.
Gemmell (100 and 200 free-
styles) and Holton-Arms’ Sophie
Duncan (200 IM and tie in the
100 fly) won both of their individu-
al events, as did Damascus swim-
mer Carly Sebring (100 back-
stroke, tie in the 100 fly).
In the day’s tightest race,
Sebring and Duncan finished in a
tie in the 100 fly; the board read
54.49 for both swimmers. Other
winners included Good Counsel ju-
nior Madison Smith in the 500 free-
style, Walter Johnson junior Sien-
na Karp in the 100 backstroke and
Bethesda-Chevy Chase junior Nina
Allen in the 50 freestyle.BY SPENCER NUSBAUMNone of the boys on the
Churchill swim team won a race at
the Washington Metropolitan In-
terscholastic Swimming and Div-
ing Championships on Saturday
evening in Germantown, and with
powerhouse Gonzaga on the other
side of the deck, they entered the
meet with hopes of a second-place
finish. But as more races finished,
the Bulldogs continued to perform
well, and it became clear they
didn’t need to win any single race
outright.
Even in the final race, when
they placed second to Gonzaga in
the 400-yard freestyle relay, the
Bulldogs cheered, securing just
enough points to win the first-
place team medal.
“I think it was the most amazing
feeling I’ve ever felt,” said sopho-
more Brady Begin, who finished
second in the 500 freestyle. “Being
able to be part of a team and boost
each other up, jumping in the pool
at the end, screaming, laughing, it
was the best thing I’ve ever experi-
enced.”
The 2.5-point victory, with
Churchill at 464.5 and Gonzaga at
462, was an abnormally close mar-
gin for a championship event
(Whitman, at 288 points, finished
third). In 2020, the last time the
Metros were staged, Gonzaga won
by 90 points.
Private schools have long domi-
nated the Metros meet, with Gon-
zaga and Georgetown Prep com-
bining for 19 of the past 21 champi-
onships. But the other two, in 2018
and now 2022, belong to
Churchill, a public school.
Coach Kevin McKenzie and his
swimmers reiterated that their
team’s victory was a testament to
its depth, as well as a diving victo-METROS SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPSChurchill boys don’t winany races — just the titleASSOCIATED PRESSS am Ryder brought down the
house with a hole-in-one on the
stadium 16th hole Saturday in the
Phoenix Open, where newcomer
Sahith Theegala topped a leader
board as crowded as the course in
Scottsdale, Ariz.
Ryder’s wedge shot on the 124-
yard hole landed just right and
short, bounced a couple of times,
spun left and tumbled in. The row-
dy fans on the 17,000-seat hole
threw drinks in the air in celebra-
tion and littered the turf with bot-
tles, cans and cups, leading to
about a 15-minute delay.
“I don’t know how I could pick a
hole over this one,” said Ryder,
eight strokes behind Theegala af-
ter an even-par 71. “I don’t think
there’s any hole that has the elec-
tricity that this one has.”
Ryder’s first tour ace was the
10th at No. 16 since the tourna-
ment moved to the course in 1997
and first since Francesco Molinari
in the third round in 2015.
“It just ended up being a perfect
54-degree wedge,” Ryder said. “Ev-
erything always plays a little
shorter in there, adrenaline or
whatever it is.”
With around 200,000 fans
packing firm and fast TPC Scotts-
dale, Theegala overcame a double
bogey on the par-4 second to shoot
a 69.
“What a day,” Theegala said. “So
many ups and downs. I mean, it
was wild.”
Making his event debut on a
sponsor exemption, Theegala had
a 14-under 199 total for a one-
stroke lead over defending cham-
pion Brooks Koepka. FedEx Cup
champion Patrick Cantlay, Xander
Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler and
Talor Gooch were another stroke
back.
Scheffler flirted with his second
59 before settling for a 62. Schef-
fler played his first nine in 7-under
27 and added two birdies on his
second nine.
l DP WORLD TOUR: Ryan
Fox will take a six-shot lead into
the final round of the Ras Al
Khaimah Classic in the United
Arab Emirates as he goes in search
of his first win on the European
tour.
The 211th-ranked New Zea-
lander shot 7-under 65 in the third
round for a 54-hole total of 19-un-
der 197. Pablo Larrazabal (68),
Adri Arnaus (66), Adrian Meronk
(64) and Scott Jamieson (65) are
tied for second place at Al Hamra
Golf Club, the latest stop on the
tour’s “Desert Swing.”
GOLF ROUNDUP
Ryder’s ace
thrills fans;
Theegala
leads pack
Chesapeake wins 3A title
Chesapeake’s Collin Lewis was
caught in a tough position by
Springbrook’s Grayson Wendel
in their opening 160-pound bout.
Wendel, the Blue Devil who had
notched his 100th career win
earlier in the day, was dominat-
ing.
Then Lewis reversed. Seconds
later, he got a takedown, and it
was over. That set the tone for
Chesapeake as the Cougars
rolled to the Maryland
Class 3A dual meet champion-
ship with a 54-14 victory over
Springbrook.
Chesapeake returned to North
Point following a disappointing
2020 state championship ap-
pearance that ended in a semifi-
nal loss to Damascus. This time,
the Cougars left no doubt, notch-
ing six pins plus a technical fall
as the Blue Devils could not hang
with them.decision over Steven Wang at
138 pounds. Nolan Lunsford
(145) and LaLa Titow (152) both
pinned their opponent. Austin
Johnson (160) and Jamison Bal-
lard (182) both took tight deci-
sions.
Next came Coney’s match, the
third-to-last of the evening and
one of the last of his high school
career. Though Assaf battled,
Coney asserted himself with one
takedown, then another, then the
ultimate third.
When the referee’s whistle
blew, Coney stood with his arms
raised, knowing the struggle to
get to the moment and the
magnitude of it all. Then he
found his coach.
“It was excitement from me,
from him, from our team,”
Klessinger said. “I was glad he
did that. I was kind of worried he
was going to knock me over, but
he held back at the last second.”Springbrook. Then the pandemic
complicated a return bid. But
Klessinger’s squad was not de-
terred.
“We’ve had some adversity,”
Klessinger said. “They’re great
teammates, and they really pull
for each other. They’ve gotten
better each week.”
South River steamrolled its
competition, registering just one
dual meet loss all season and
cruising back to the mats at
North Point High. The Seahawks
held off a feisty Blair squad in the
semifinals to get to Churchill,
which entered the final unde-
feated.
The Bulldogs did not make it
easy at first.
South River fell behind early
as Churchill’s Ethan Nasvadera-
ni pinned Jon Titow at
126 pounds. But then the Sea-
hawks made their statement.
Sam Ditmars secured a majorCRAIG HUDSON FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
R acheil Coney of South River handles Michael Assaf of C hurchill t o clinch the Maryland C lass 4A t itle.BY NOAH SMITHKelly Slater is somehow still on
top. The iconic surfer has won
11 world titles, 56 pro events and
832 heats in his three decades of
competing, and in some ways,
nothing has changed.
“I just know how to win,” he
says matter-of-factly. “I know
what it takes.”
Still, everything is a bit differ-
ent — for Slater and for the sport
he helped popularize and carry
into the mainstream. Slater cel-
ebrated his 50th birthday Friday,
and though he remains among
the world’s best competitors, he
acknowledges retirement is
around the corner. This probably
will be his last year competing full
time on tour, and Slater is espe-
cially reflective on what that
means.
“I think it’s easy to mistake
continuing with not having satis-
faction. If I never surfed another
contest right now, I’d be more
than satisfied with what I’ve
done,” Slater said in a wide-rang-
ing interview with The Washing-
ton Post. “And I’m content with all
of that... You know, there’s al-
ways going to be another chal-
lenge if you want it. It doesn’t
mean that I’m not satisfied with
what I’ve done.”Slater will wear the yellow jer-
sey at this week’s World Surf
League event as the tour’s top-
ranked competitor, the first time
he has held the honor since 2014.
He won last week’s Billabong Pro
Pipeline event in Oahu, Hawaii,
and not that anyone needed a
reminder, but Slater made clear
that he’s still plenty capable of
keeping up with the young kids on
their boards.
Slater’s body has maybe
changed a bit, and his approach to
the sport has probably evolved a
lot. But as long as he’s on his board
and in the water, there’s an un-
mistakable competitive fire, one
that doesn’t suddenly extinguish
at 50.
“I feel like something kind of
overtakes me and it’s almost like
my avatar, when I really get in the
zone. I get such an intense focus
that it almost feels out of body for
me,” he said. “I guess it feels like
my evil twin. To some degree, I
feel like it’s this different sort of
alpha male inside of me that
comes out that has a lot less fear
and inhibitions about choices and
decisions and stuff.”
“And I think in my normal daily
life, I’m a lot more sort of thought-
ful and aware of other people’s
feelings and that kind of thing,”
Slater continued. “But this eviltwin gives me a super high inten-
sity, focus and awareness of every-
thing that’s going on.”
The world has seen it since
Slater won his first pro event at
age 20, but that competitive hun-
ger was born even earlier. Grow-
ing up in Cocoa Beach, Fla., a city
known more for its sharks than its
waves, Slater started surfing at a
young age. But he also played
other sports. He recalled being an
undersized nose tackle on the
football field, using his quickness
and small frame to maneuver
around offensive lineman. He
uses that same fearlessness and
mental strength to tackle giant
waves.
“As a kid I figured out how to
win. I had a chip on my shoulder
and an inferiority complex or
something,” he said. “I wanted to
make something of myself. And
surfing became that thing... that
was going to allow me to channel
my inner demons.”
All those victories and all those
years at the top weren’t a product
of simply being physically better
than the field. Surf legend Shaun
Tomson has studied Slater his
entire career and is consistently
amazed at Slater’s ability to con-
nect with his field of play.
“I have never ever seen a
sportsman that can connect withhis art form with his physicality
and with the spiritual aspect of
this sport at the absolute
11th hour when it’s all absolutely
necessary,” said Tomson, who is
credited with helping revolution-
ize tube riding in the 1970s.
“When you compete against
him, you can’t just kill him. You
have to kill him twice because he
will come back like a zombie. He
comes back with this, not aggres-
sion, but this pure passion and
power. He is this enlightened be-
ing, like a Buddhist monk, Zen
master and ninja warrior all
rolled together.”
Slater has grown along with the
sport, sometimes forcefully push-
ing it along and more recently
impressed by what the younger
generation can do. The skill level
of today’s top surfers, Slater says,
exceeds anything his generation
could have imagined.
Even though he’s still capable
of wrangling any wave and win-
ning any week, Slater is starting
to acknowledge that the end is
nearing. He already retired once
before, stepping away from com-
petition in 1999 before returning
three years later. This time
around he doesn’t want to make
his retirement a big show or take
on any extra pressure from com-
petition to competition.And even if he retires from the
pro tour, Slater doesn’t rule future
competitions, including the
Olympics. He just missed the U.S.
team for the Tokyo Games, where
surfing made its debut, but isn’t
ruling out the 2024 Paris Games.
However, to qualify for the U.S.
team, he would have to remain on
tour, so he raised the possibility of
competing for another country.
Regardless, Slater will remain
an important face of the sport and
probably won’t disappear from
the public eye. He has a popular
clothing line and heads up the
industry-leading wave pool com-
pany, which he developed before
selling a majority stake to the
World Surf League.
His passion for surfing will cer-
tainly continue, even if at times
Slater finds himself wrestling
with his exact role in growing the
sport’s popularity and introduc-
ing it to so many new people.
“Part of me likes surfing being a
mystical, secret thing,” he said.
“The more popular I see it becom-
ing, the less good I feel about
being a part of it.... We all like to
surf by ourselves. There’s a solace
in the water that comes from
being by yourself or just with your
friends.”
“I long for that peace in the
water,” Slater said.At 50, surf legend Slater still has waves to conquerThe 11-time world champion continues to beat younger rivals he inspired even as he contemplates his future in the sportBRENT BIELMANN/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kelly Slater, right, is embraced by Seth Moniz after Slater won the Billabong Pro Pipeline on Feb. 5. Slater, ranked first in the World Surf League, turned 50 on Friday.