The Paint Branch Wrestling Team headed into their tri-meet against Blake and Springbrook still hurting from a 48-24 loss to Whitman on December 9th. In this tri-meet, the young Panther team was missing a key wrestler as Gibbs Tinne was still dealing with a hand injury that left a hole in the 195 spot.

As the host team, the Panthers set the order of the matches and they chose to take on Springbrook for the first match of the meet. Although the Panthers have strong upper weight class wrestlers, they could not make up for the hole that the lower weights left them in. When 120 wrestler Kevyn Cuyun got pinned, the Panthers’ hope of winning were diminished, and the Blue Devils defeated the Panthers 40-25.

After Springbrook and Blake faced off, the Panthers had their shot at the Bengals. The Panthers finished off their night strong with a 54-24 win over Blake. This match included first round pins from Ryan Van Meers, Juan Canela and Cornell Wilson. The Panthers have a lot of potential and can be a top team in the county when Tinne returns. The Panthers head to Bladensburg High School this weekend to compete in the Dark Horse Dual meet tournament, which they placed second in last year.