Photo courtesy of JR Wrestling
Four Botetourt County girls competed in the state wrestling tournament in Richmond last week. Serenity Shearer, Jasmin Andrade and Elizabeth Odell of Lord Botetourt competed along with Janiya Falls of James River. Shearer took a fourth in the tournament for girls of all school classifications in Virginia.
At 145 pounds, Shearer won the Round of 16 by forfeit, then won her second match in the quarterfinals to put her in the semifinals. She dropped that match to the girl that ended up winning the whole thing. Shearer then bounced back and won her next round by pin fall, allowing her to wrestle for third and fourth place.
“She wrestled hard and aggressively but came up short in that match,” said LB coach Paul Craft. “Finishing in fourth place was a huge accomplishment for Serenity. She worked very hard in the off season and mainly practiced with guys in season. The matches that Serenity lost in the state tournament were to girls that have been wrestling a long time and Serenity didn’t start until she was in eighth grade. For her to have closed the gap over the last two seasons and end up on the podium is a testament to her hard work.”
Andrade, Odell and Falls also competed but were eliminated on the first day of the two-day event.
“The final match of her season was her best,” said River coach Warren Carswell of Falls. “She was up in points and controlled the match for the three periods. With 10 seconds to go, her opponent capitalized on a mistake and pinned her with a few seconds to go.”
Georgia Miller of James River did not compete but finished with a 21-13 overall record.
