The James River wrestlers will be one of 14 teams scheduled to attend the Highlander Invitational at Glenvar High School this Saturday. The individual tourney will begin at 9 am and wrestle straight through to the finals, which are expected to start around 5:30 pm.
Last Saturday the Knights hosted a quad with Bath County, Stuarts Draft and Alleghany for “Senior Day.” River has two seniors on the team this year, Elias Echavarria at 190 and Ethan O’Quinn at 144. The Knights beat Bath and Stuart’s Draft but lost to Alleghany in dual competition.
“We had a good day overall,” said River coach Bobby Stewart. “It was a day that even our back up guys and girls were able to get some mat time. Stuarts Draft is a state competitor and Alleghany is a regional competitor. It was good to see what each team has as we move into the postseason.”
The Knights forfeited four weight classes to Alleghany, so they were down 24-0 before the first whistle blew. The final score was 48-36, so River held the advantage in matches actually wrestled.
“Alleghany always has a sizable team and the numbers get us when we lose a couple other matches,” said Stewart. “ Had we had the other four weight classes filled we may have changed that outcome. We need to get these classes filled out. Unfortunately the team accomplishment aspect is a numbers game. You don’t win tournaments and tough duals without the numbers in the line-up.”
This week at Glenvar the Knights will join the host Highlanders along with a mix of Class 1 through 4 schools including Blacksburg, Cave Spring, Central of Woodstock, Chatham, Floyd County, Graham, Grundy, Hidden Valley, Northside, Parry McCluer, Princeton of West Virginia and Salem High.
“We will get to see some other regional and state competitors that will give us a good test for the postseason for regions and states,” said Stewart.