FINCASTLE – The Lord Botetourt wrestling team took seventh place out of 19 teams at the Titan Toughman Tournament at Hidden Valley last weekend. Blue Ridge District rival Northside won the tournament.
“On the surface it looks like we didn’t compete as well as we should have, but our outstanding heavyweight, Mike Jones, was out taking the ACT test on Saturday and I didn’t think it would be fair for the others in his weight class to have him wrestle on Friday, knowing he wouldn’t be there on Saturday,” said LB coach Robert Haynie. “We also had two more of our best varsity starters out, which cost us big in the team score, and we were wrestling up in six weight classes. I am anxious to see how we do when we get everybody on the mat at one time and everyone in the right classifications.”
LB’s Aaron Gunter lost a close one to Quan Lee of Salem in the finals at 182 to take second. Dax Hodges, Jonathan Guessford, Trey Markvart, Matt Bower, Taylor Keller, and Brandon Winger also placed in the tournament.
“All in all we wrestled well on Friday and Saturday morning,” said Haynie. “I was not pleased with our effort at all Saturday afternoon. We wrestled like we didn’t care and even losing to people we dominated earlier. That’s a mental thing and long tournaments can put you in a funk. We have to rise above that and learn to finish strong.”
Botetourt will wrestle William Byrd tonight in the first dual match of the season. That’s scheduled to begin at 6 pm at LB.
The Cavaliers will participate in the “Topper Duals” near Bristol this Saturday.
