Young RC Grapplers To Start Season Saturday
Fielding perhaps its youngest group of athletes, the Rockbridge County High School wrestling team is looking to gain more experience as the season gets underway this weekend.
The Wildcats, under the direction of fourth-year head coach Mike Wood, return 11 grapplers, but they have just two seniors and two juniors who are joined by 10 sophomores and eight freshmen. With a total of 22 grapplers, down from 32 last year, Wood said this is the first time in his 34 years of coaching high school wrestling that he can remember having just two seniors and two juniors.
“This is a young team, predominantly focused on duals so that they can get more mat time,” said Wood.
From last year’s team, the Wildcats graduated seven seniors, led by state qualifiers Gabe Wade, Wyatt Eisenbrown and Mia Marando. Wade was the Region 3C champion at 215-pounds last year and went 1-2 at the Class 3 state tournament, while Eisenbrown placed fourth in the regional tournament before going 1-2 at the state tournament. Marando was the winner of the Zone 3 Girls’ Qualifier before placing sixth at 138-pounds at the Virginia High School League Girls State Open Championships.
Also gone from last year’s squad is Hudson Ryan, who is a senior but is not wrestling this season. Ryan was a Region 3C runner-up at 144-pounds as a junior before going 1-2 at the state tournament.
Last season was a solid one for the Wildcats, who went 14-6 in duals and placed second to Turner Ashby in the Valley District standings, with 12 Wildcats qualifying for the Region 3C tournament, where RC placed fourth. At the state tournament, with five Wildcats competing, RC finished 35th of 45 teams.
Leading the Wildcats this season are three returning wrestlers who will serve as co-captains: senior Markus Nelson, junior Finn Miller and sophomore Davis Welsh. Nelson was a state qualifier at 150-pounds, while Welsh qualified as a freshman at 113. Miller was a regional qualifier at 113. All three are starting the season at higher weight classes.
Joining Nelson in the senior class is returning grappler Graham Niebur, a regional qualifier at 132 last winter. Returning and looking to gain more experience is junior John Clements, who competed at 144 last year.
Joining Welsh as returning wrestlers in the sophomore class are Cole Fine, Kayleb Glassford, Harvey Presnell, Logan Rudine, Tasha Shorter and Shayde Tomlin. Shorter, the Wildcats’ only female grappler this season, wrestled at 152 last winter and placed fourth before going 1-2 at the girls’ state tournament. Sophomores new to the team are Bryson Brown, Hendrick Colvin and Augustin Daigneau.
Making up the freshman class are Keaton Ashcraft, Marquise Beverly, Wyatt Camden, Emmett Forman, Lucas Mays, Ethan Santos, Evan Sturtz and Taylan Tyree, who might be the most recognizable freshman to RC fans because he was the starting quarterback for the football team this fall.
In addition to the large group of underclassmen, the Wildcats have promising seventh-graders and eighth-graders getting experience at the middle school level. “In a couple years, we’ll be pretty legit,” said Wood.
The RC coach said the Wildcats are strongest in their middleweight classes. “Our middle’s gonna be pretty good,” he said. “We’re gonna be young in some of those spots, but I’m OK with that because we’ve got time to get better.”
Wood returns his staff from last year, with Aaron Bruce, Logan Davis and Kage Tomlin continuing to serve as assistant coaches.
After seven years in the Valley District, the Wildcats have joined the Shenandoah District this year, with shorter travel distances between opponents. Wood said Riverheads should be the team to beat in the Shenandoah, and district newcomer Alleghany should be a contender as well.
For the Wildcats, Wood said, “The youth is gonna determine whether we wrestle well or show our youth.”
“Most of the other teams, we should be OK with,” added Wood. “We’ll be in the mix. There are a lot of factors this year. Some of these other teams had some kids that are really good that didn’t come out this year. We’ll have some kids that’ll be really good.”
The RC coach said he hopes four or five of his wrestlers will qualify for the state tournament.
The Wildcats will start the season with the Hornet Duals Invitational on Saturday at 10 a.m. at Wilson Memorial High School in Fishersville. RC’s first home competition of the season is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 14, at 6 p.m. against district rival Buffalo Gap.
