Three local high school wrestlers will compete at this weekend’s Maryland State Wrestling Tournament to be contested at the University of Maryland’s Cole Field House in College Park.

Aberdeen’s Shayduan Velez will compete in the Class 3A-4A portion of the event, while Perryville’s Amos Harlan and Zach Rohde will compete in the 1A-2A tourney.

All three qualified by placing fourth or better at last weekend’s regional events.

State tourney wrestling will begin today (Friday) with the preliminary round of wrestling beginning at 2:30 p.m. and running through to 6:30 p.m. Quarterfinals will run from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. and the consolation preliminary round will close out the Friday session from 8:30 to 10:15 p.m.

Wrestling will resume Saturday at 9:30 a.m. with consolation action, while championship semifinals will begin at 11 a.m and run until 1:15 p.m.

Consolation quarters, semis and finals will run consecutively from 1:15 to 6 p.m.

Championship finals will be wrestled at 6:30 p.m. on two mats.

The 1A-2A finals will be wrestled from 103 pounds to 285 pounds, while 3A-4A finals will begin at 285 and work backwards to 103.

At the 3A-4A east tourney at Meade last weekend, Aberdeen junior Velez ended with a 2-2 record and finished fourth at 112.

Velez opened with a pin and then got pinned in 3:40 by eventual region champion Nathan Kraisser of Centennial.

Velez then won a 10-1 major decision in the consolations, before losing a tough 3-1 decision in the battle for third place.

Velez (25-4) will open his state tourney action against Eli Bienstock (30-2) of Quince Orchard.

At the 1A-2A east meet at Kent County, Perryville’s Harlan and Rohde each bettered their fifth place seeding by placing third.

Harlan, a sophomore, won his first region match, 4-2, in overtime, but was pinned by region champ Brandon Gain of Harford Tech in the semifinals at 125.

In the consolations, Harlan won a 21-9 major decision and a 16-13 battle over Joppatowne’s Eric Sanders in the consolation final.

Harlan’s (26-10) first match in the state tourney will be against Brunswick’s Tyler Bartholomew (24-2).

Rohde, a sophomore, lost his first bout by pin last weekend, but the reeled off three straight wins to place third at 160.

Rohde won a 12-0 major decision and then a 1-0 decision to get him into the third-fourth match.

In that final, Rohde dominated Bel Air’s Blake Calligaro for a 10-4 win.

Rohde (17-11) will open state tourney action with a match against Billy Kuczarski (35-9) of Glenelg.

Havre de Grace freshman Michael Vega missed the state tourney and finished sixth at 215 in Kent County. Vega (25-11) was pinned in both losses, while winning by pin and decision in his two wins.

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