Photo by Suzanne Witcher
The wrestling post-season has arrived, with the state championship tournaments for Class 1, 2 and 3 scheduled for the Salem Civic Center Feb. 19-21. James River wrestlers are looking to qualify for the state in Class 2 when they compete in the Region 2C tournament this Saturday at Liberty High School, while Lord Botetourt qualified six for the Class 3 state in the Region 3D tournament at Staunton River High last Saturday.
Cave Spring of the River Ridge District won the region, but Blue Ridge District teams took four of the next five spots. Host Staunton River was second, Northside was third, William Byrd was fourth, and LB was sixth, with Christiansburg of the RRD grabbing fifth place. There were 13 schools entered in the tournament.
LB qualified half a dozen wrestlers for the state and put two in the finals. Freshman Jackson Dean was second at 120 and senior James Dean was second at 126. Also qualifying were senior Tyler Butler with a third at heavyweight and three other seniors who placed fourth, Morgan Parr at 150, Angel Rigney aat 190 and Aaden Thomas at 215. Freshman Lucas Higgins, at 106, and sophomore Damian Perdue, at 165, both finished fifth and will be alternates for the state tournament.
“I thought going into the tournament that if we pushed six through to the state tournament we would be having a good day,” said LB coach Paul Craft. “That’s exactly what we did. We had guys out hurt and our backup guys stepped in at multiple spots and wrestled well for us. Overall we were pleased with our performance. We’ve got two weeks until the state tournament. The other regions will be wrestling on Saturday so we’ll be watching the results.”
The girls’ Zone Qualifier scheduled for last week was postponed and moved to this weekend. It will go Sunday, Feb. 15, at 1:30 p.m. and Monday, Feb. 16, at 9:30 a.m. at Franklin County High School. LB and James River will both have girls competing in the tournament with the top three in each class advancing to the state tournament.
“This is the third time it’s been moved due to weather and our girls are ready to get on the mat,” said Craft.
