All thirteen Wrestlers place at Conference tournament
The wrestling team competed in the Blue Ridge Athletic Conference Championship at Fishburne Military School on Monday February 10th. After a series of delays due to weather we were finally able to get this tournament completed.
Hargrave entered the tournament with 13 wrestlers filling all the classes except 106 pounds. After the short quarter final round Hargrave still had all 13 wrestlers in the winners side and all 13 headed to the semi finals.
In the Semifinals rounds Hargrave picked up wins from Cadet Kerry Gray at 113 pounds, Cadet Lucas Lopes 138, Cadet Charles Meyers 144, Cadet William Sackett 150, Cadet Arjun Gopalakrishna 165, Cadet Joshua McGrail 190 and Cadet T J Hylton Hwt. These wins gave The fighting tigers 7 wrestlers in the finals, one quarter of the finalist field.
The third place matches found Hargrave grappling 6 times as all the wrestlers were still alive in the brackets. In the third place round the Tigers grappled to all wins as they swept every match either by win or by forfeits. Cadet Ethan Brantley 120, Cadet Alexander Gonzales 126, Cadet Thomas Vaughan 132, Cadet Levi Lentz 157 and Cadet Charles Rock all secured third place finishes.
On to the finals! Oh and at this point Hargrave had the lead in the team standing also!
At 113 pounds Cadet Kerry Gray started Hargrave off with the first Conference Champion of the night with a pin win over Roanoke Catholic School. Hargrave next took the mat at 138 pounds as Cadet Lucas Lopes became the second Conference Champion of the night with a pin over Fishburne Military School. Cadet Charles Myers continued the winning ways with a quick first period pin over Blue Ridge School to make it three Conference Champions. Cadet Willaim Sackett then continued the assault on the finals as he stepped in at 150 pounds. Cadet Sackett did a great match and secured second place in the bracket. Cadet Arjun Gopalakrishna took the steps onto the mat to face Fishburne wrestler Ryan Barone, a three time state winner. G12 gave it everything he had but Barone was just way too good. Cadet Joshua McGrail then took on the Fishburne wrestler that also was a returning state place winner McGrail fought to a technical decision which helped to keep the team score close. At Heavyweight Cadet TJ Hylton took the mat and finished up the night with a pin win over the Fishburne wrestler to become the fourth Hargrave Conference Champion of the night.
As all the matches were scored and the final team results were being compiled the totals were going to be very close. The final numbers were Fishburne Military School 185.5 points and Hargrave Military Academy 182 points. Which gave the Wrestling Tigers the runner up spot in the conference this year.
Other highlights for the night: Cadet Charles Meyers who went 2 and 0 with two pins had the least amount of time on the mat for the entire tournament with a total of 1 minute and 4 seconds Meyers had the second and third fastest pins of the tournament. All thirteen wrestlers placed in the tournament which is a great accomplishment as a team.
Following the wrestling, Hargrave Coach Joe Adams was awarded the Conference Coach of the year. Joe would like to thank the assistant coach Tris Vaughan and the entire team for their efforts.
