After honoring its three seniors, the Rockbridge County High School wrestling team defeated Shenandoah District rivals Buffalo Gap and Staunton in its only home meet of the season on Wednesday night in Lexington.
The night started with a dual between Staunton and Buffalo Gap, with Staunton winning 69-12. The Wildcats then honored seniors Markus Nelson, Graham Niebur and Carlos Reynolds. RC cruised to a 72-12 victory over shorthanded Buffalo Gap before overcoming Fort Defiance 42-37.
With the victories, the Wildcats improved to 8-6 in duals.
The Wildcats were wrestling without Niebur, who was out sick, so freshman Emmett Forman stepped up for him at 138-pounds. Forman won by forfeit over Gap before he was pinned by Staunton’s Hudson Powell in 3:13.
Due to Niebur’s absence, several Wildcats moved up a weight class. One of them was Nelson, who pinned Gap’s Jude Louk in 3:34 at 157-pounds before pinning Staunton’s Riley Cook in 3:09 at 165.
At 113, Reynolds won by forfeit over Gap before he dropped a 9-7 decision to Staunton’s Alex Ruiz Moreno.
RC junior Finn Miller went 2-0 at 132. He pinned Gap’s Carter Bowman in 1:11 and then struggled with a knee injury against Staunton’s Omni Slagle but pulled through for a pin in 5:06.
At 126, RC sophomore Davis Welsh went 2-0, winning by forfeit over Gap before pinning Staunton’s Malachi Bennett in 3:28.
Also going 2-0 for the Wildcats was freshman Taylan Tyree, pinning Gap’s Paul Yoder in 1:40 at 144 before pinning Staunton’s Henry Todd in 1:59.
Stepping up in the dual against Staunton for RC were sophomore Harvey Presnell, pinning Niall Hurt in 1:38 at 175, and sophomore Shayde Tomlin, pinning Elijah Fimple in 1:07 at 190.
After the varsity duals, there were several exhibition matches. The last one was between RC’s only female wrestler, sophomore Tasha Shorter, and Staunton female wrestler Caylaih Chandler, a junior. Shorter took an early 3-0 lead before pinning Chandler in 3:52.
The Wildcats will travel to Strasburg on Saturday to compete in six duals, starting at 10 a.m. Shorter will compete in a girls’ tournament in Orange County.
For the full story on this week’s action, with photos from the home meet and comments from RC head coach Mike Wood, Nelson and Reynolds, please see our Jan. 21 newspaper.
