With sophomore Brody Julian’s second-place finish at 126-pounds, the Parry McCluer High School wrestling team returned from last weekend’s Takedown the New Year tournament at Heritage High School in Lynchburg with only one medal, but that doesn’t tell the whole story.
In a stacked field of 26 teams on Friday and Saturday, only three from the Class 1 ranks, the Fighting Blues battled their way to 42.5 points and 19th place. At the same time, three other PM grapplers won at least two matches, and that was more than enough for the Blues to satisfy their goals for the weekend.
“We wanted to compete at a high level, and have the wrestlers put themselves in position to score points,” said PM head coach Jeremiah Brockenbrough. “I think they responded well. We’re still really young. It was a 32-man bracket, and [we] lost four guys in the blood round. That says a lot about them.”
Julian advanced to the championship match at 126 with three victories. In his first match, the sophomore scored a 16-1 technical fall (lead of 15 points or more) over Wilson Memorial’s Addison Hopewell, and he followed that by pinning Kolynn Eastman of Salem in the waning seconds of their quarterfinal match. Julian advanced to the finals with an 11-6 decision over Brookville’s Cole Anderson.
In the final bout, Julian squared off with Tallen Martin of Turner Ashby and took an early lead. But Martin scored a takedown and added four near fall points to pull away for a 13-3 major decision.
“He [could] have won that match,” Brockenbrough said. “He was in control of the match, but it was really good for him. That was the best he has looked all season long. He picked a good time to wrestle well.”
Wrestling at 138, Jordan Brockenbrough fell one match short of winning a medal. After advancing to the quarterfinals with a pin of Rustburg’s Ericka DeBlock in 49 seconds and a pin of York’s Matthew Tran in 1:17, Brockenbrough dropped an 11-5 decision to Salem’s Giuseppe Baudanza. The PM junior then fought back through the consolation rounds before being eliminated by Davion Wade of William Byrd, who scored a technical fall.
Also wrestling at 138, PM’s Isaiah Gilbert won two matches with a pin of Ethan Christian of Salem in 1:49 and by fall over Heritage’s Caden Terry in 1:23. At 132, PM’s Lucas Ramsey won his first match by pinning York’s Shawn Kelly in 2:24 and picked up another win in the consolation bracket with a pin of Broadway’s Noah Harris in 3:51.
Fighting Blue Timber Thomas (285/heavyweight) defeated Western Albemarle’s Nicholas Thomas 10-3 for his win in the championship round. PM’s Liam Long (150) and Brad Spinner (285/heavyweight) dropped both of their matches at the tournament.
With 11 medal winners, including two champions, Salem took the team title with 236 points. Turner Ashby placed second with 219, followed by William Byrd (166), Glenvar (163) and William Fleming (146.5) to round out the top five.
The Blues will hit the road for a tri-meet with Giles and Grayson County tonight, Wednesday, at 6, before traveling to Vinton for the prestigious Big Orange tournament at William Byrd High School on Friday and Saturday.
