The Lord Botetourt wrestling team will open the season this weekend with an appearance in the “River Rumble” tournament at Staunton River High School. The Cavs are looking forward to another good year.

“As a team, we lost two key seniors last year in Luke Young and Jacob Booth,” said coach Chuck Burton. “Both have moved on to the college ranks and are wrestling at Bluefield College. Luke recently placed fourth in the Star City Open hosted by Ferrum College.

“But, even with those losses, we look to be better as a team this year than we were last year. We should be able to field all 14 weight classes with depth at most spots. We will still be rather young this season, only having four seniors on the roster.”

While LB still has a few boys on the football team, Burton has some talented kids working hard on the mats. Sophomore Nick Young returns as a regional finalist and state placer from a year ago at 106. Nick will hold down the 120 weight class this year. He has put in a lot of off-season work and looks to improve on his state placement from last year.

Senior Jacob Brown finished second in the region and third in the state last year at 170. He will return at 170 this season and looks to jump to the top of the podium. A tireless worker, Brown has logged to many off-season hours to count in preparation for his senior campaign.

Senior Hunter Sell finished as a regional placer and just missed the state podium last year at 145. He will look to bump up to 152 or160 this year and try to better his placement from last season.

Senior Josiah Grooten returns at 138 this year after just missing out on a trip to the state tournament last year in the same weight class.

“Coach Paul Craft is doing a great job of getting kids out and excited about wrestling at Read Mountain Middle and they are carrying over that excitement in coming to us at the high school,” said Burton. “They are doing a great job over there helping us build numbers.”