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The Lord Botetourt wrestlers traveled to Rural Retreat last Saturday for a tournament and came out on top. LB’s closest rival finished 44 points behind the Cavaliers in a dominating performance.
“That gym was cold, but it warmed back up after a couple rounds,” said LB coach Paul Craft. “When we got off the bus it was minus eight, and I think it was minus two when we got back on at the end of the day.”
It was the first time LB had participated in the Rural Retreat tournament and it included mostly smaller schools from Southwest Virginia.
“Size of the school doesn’t mean much in wrestling and there are some very tough kids and teams in that part of the state that we never get to see,” said Craft. “I explained to our guys that we were the biggest school there and everyone wanted a shot at us. We were going to get their best. We talked about not taking anyone lightly and to wrestle every match like it’s a state championship.”
Botetourt had four champions, Gray Arnold at 144, TJ Piluso at 165, Ty Hensley at 175 and Aaden Thomas at 215. Second places went to Jacob Spence at 113, Morgan Parr at 132, Canden Saunders at 138 and Cooper Roberts at 157. Winning consolation finals for third place were James Dean at 120, Declan Sullivan at 126, Kevin Gergely at 150, Preston Carter at 157, Kayden McClure at 165 and Tyler Butler at heavyweight. Landenn Crawford, at 150, and Alex Clarke, at 190, placed fourth.
“Our guys wrestled well,” said Craft. “There are 14 weight classes and we medaled in 13. Some of our backup guys medaled as well. That tournament certainly made us better and we’re glad we went.”
This week the Cavaliers will wrestle a tri-match with Carroll County and host Pulaski County, then head to Staunton for the “Big Red” tournament at Riverheads High School on Saturday.
