William Byrd came out on top at the Titan Toughman wrestling tournament, held at Hidden Valley High School last Saturday. The tournament was scheduled to be a two-day affair but inclement weather on Friday postponed the early rounds and the entire tourney was held on Saturday.
Lord Botetourt took sixth place in the tournament. The Cavaliers had one wrestler in the finals as Nick Young took a second place at 145, falling to Chauncey Wilson of Patrick Henry. Young went 3-1 on the day.
Colin Sell took a third place at 126, winning the consolation final against Tayzon Nicholson of Blacksburg, 9-2. Sam Francis made it to the consolation final at 152 but lost to Sam Baker of Blacksburg.
Conner and Spencer Shiflett both had fifth place finishes and Andres Arellano took sixth.
“We’re wrestling about where I expect us to be at this point,” said LB coach Chuck Burton. “Our conditioning needs to improve and the more mat time we get the better we will get in all aspects. I always tell the kids it’s not about where we are in December, February is what is important.”
James River finished 11th and had one wrestler in the finals, Levi Walker at heavyweight. He was pinned by William Byrd’s Hunter Richards and had to settle for second place.
Sophomore Hunter Forbes finished fifth place at 152 pounds while junior Mason Stewart finished sixth place at 138 pounds and freshman Timmy Bennett finished sixth at 106.
“The team performed well,” said coach Bobby Stewart. “We are still getting honed in. I saw some positive things out of the kids and I saw things we need to improve on. Coming out of the 2A division and stepping up into a large tournament with 3A, 4A, 5A, and 6A like that with increased competition is good but you take your lumps.
“We will see the same competitors again as we wrestle in the Big Orange and the Big Blue. When we start holding our own in those tournaments it’s going to make us even better towards the end of the season in our 2A sector.”
River will host a quad tonight with Alleghany, Parry McCluer and William Fleming beginning at 6 p.m. Saturday River is at Madison County High School for the Mountaineer Classic team duals with a dozen teams competing. Wrestling starts at 10 a.m.
Lord Botetourt will be competing in the Turner Ashby Holiday Classic on Friday and Saturday.
