Photo by Brian Hoffman
The Lord Botetourt and James River wrestlers will be competing in the annual “Big Orange Classic” wrestling tournament at William Byrd High School this weekend.
The Big Orange is the longest continuous annual wrestling tournament in the Roanoke Valley and draws most of the top teams in the area. The tournament is back in the high school gym this year after being held in the middle school last winter while renovations were being made to the high school. Wrestling begins at 9:30 a.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. on Saturday.
The Cavaliers competed in a quad match at Glenvar last week and swept three opponents. Botetourt defeated Cave Spring, 46-30, host Glenvar, 49-29, and Hidden Valley, 51-30.
Last weekend LB freshman Serenity Shearer wrestled in the Radford Lady Cats Invitational for girls. Serenity placed fifth at 145 pounds.
Also last weekend, James River competed in the 11th Annual Bobby Bates Classic Wrestling Tournament at UVA-Wise in Wise, Va. Xaiden Wynn and Brayden Forbes won individual titles and Nate Stewart was runner-up.
A total of 35 teams from four states were entered in the two-day Bobby Bates tournament. James River had 10 wrestlers entered, covering eight of 14 weight classes. The team finished 13th place on the weekend out of the 35 teams.
The Knights put three wrestlers in the championship finals and had five wrestlers earn medal placements overall. Wynn won at 106, Forbes was the 120-pound champ and Stewart made the finals and took second at 138. Other Knights who placed were Jayden Alston with a sixth place at 175 and Caiden Martin, who took eighth at 106.
