Lord Botetourt finished in fourth place among 24 teams in last weekend’s Big Orange Classic wrestling tournament at William Byrd High School.
Independence High was the team winner in the annual tournament in Vinton, followed by Salem and host Byrd. The Cavaliers took 10 wrestlers out of 14 weight classes and were only nine and a half points out of third and 39 points out of first.
“To do that with only 10 guys means we wrestled very well,” said LB coach Paul Craft. “Since the middle of last week we’ve been rolling and we hope to keep it that way.”
Jackson Dean, a 120-pound freshman, finished second to Salem’s Derek Bush, a 2024 state champion. LB senior Angel Rigney also took a second at 190, losing to talented Jake Robie of Christiansburg in the final.
“Angel lost to a kid that has placed in some of the toughest tournaments in the nation, but our guys didn’t back down from a fight,” said Craft. “That’s the attitude we have to have.”
Photos by Suzanne Witcher
James Dean (126-pound senior), Morgan Parr (150-pound senior), and Tyler “Butchy” Butler (heavyweight senior) all finished in third place. Damian Perdue (175-pound sophomore) placed sixth.
“Even our guys that didn’t place got after it and were close to breaking into the top six,” said Craft. “We’re reducing the number of mistakes we’re making and it’s paying off.”
The LB “Pink Team” wrestled at Stuarts Draft in the Tough Girls Tournament. Serenity Shearer (145-pound senior) and Jasmin Andrade (165-pound senior) both won their brackets. Elizabeth Odell (165-pound sophomore) placed second.
The “Gray Team” was in Hillsville for a duals tournament on Saturday and placed third, beating host Carroll County and Hargrave Military Academy.
“Coach Burdette reported the guys are continuing to get better and the mat time is making a huge difference,” said Craft.
The Gray Team was scheduled to wrestle at George Wythe on Tuesday for a quad with Radford and Abingdon. The whole team will be together tonight, Wednesday, at William Byrd for matches against the host Terriers and William Fleming. Start time is 6 p.m.
On Saturday the girls are at Orange County High School for a tournament and the Red Team is in Big Stone Gap for a duals tournament at Union High School.
“We’re in the meat of our schedule and it’ll be a lot of wrestling over the next few weeks,” said Craft. “We’ve just got to stay healthy.”
