The Lord Botetourt and James River wrestling teams will compete in region meets this weekend, and James River will host the Region 2C tournament.

LB will compete in the Region 3D tournament this weekend in Christiansburg. The top four in each weight class advance to the state tournament at Churchland High School in Portsmouth the following weekend. LB wrapped up the regular season by defeating Salem in a dual match in Daleville last week.

James River will host the Region C tournament this Saturday in Springwood, beginning at 9:30 a.m. The tournament will run straight through with finals around 5 p.m. Nine teams are in the tournament– Glenvar, Floyd County, Radford, Dan River, Chatham, Appomattox, Martinsville, Fort Chiswell and host James River.

The top three wrestlers in each weight class will advance to the Group 2A state tournament. That will be held in Salem on February 17 and 18 at the Salem Civic Center.

The Knights hosted the River Ridge District tournament last weekend and finished third among six teams. Alleghany won the tournament with 227.5 points, followed by Glenvar with 135 and River with 108. Radford was next with 91, Carroll County had 88 and Floyd County had 65 points.

Levi Walker won a Three Rivers District championship for the Knights in the 220-pound weight class.

“Levi was on top of his game and I look for great things out of him,” said coach Bobby Stewart. “He’s just a sophomore so he and I have a lot of time together over the next few years. I am excited for him and what he can accomplish.”

Senior Jesse Carter finished second place in the 182-pound weight class and junior Ian Hester finished second in the 126-pound weight class.

“Jesse and Ian wrestled well but fell just short in the finals, both to Alleghany opponents,” said Stewart. “Alleghany is not in our region tournament so we will not see those guys again.”

Third places went to 106-pound freshman Chase Powell, 120-pound freshman Mason Stewart, 145-pound freshman Addison McCaleb and 170-pound sophomore Caleb Shipwash. Finishing in fourth were Kahlique White, Austin Miller and Cory Carson.

“We finished the day about where I felt we would, but lower than I wanted, of course,” said Stewart. “The team wrestled well. A big disappointment this week was missing my two seniors out of the lineup. Josh Ferguson tore his meniscus in practice this week, ending his season, and Tyler Meadows injured his shoulder at the Highlander Invitational Tournament the week before and missed the district tournament. We are unsure if he will be able to return for the regional tournament this upcoming weekend. These are huge losses to our team right here at the end of season and a big disappointment to the seniors who have trained hard all year for this moment and have to watch it pass by. My heart hurts for them. Those two guys in our line up change the team standing dramatically and puts us on top of the whole thing, or real close.”