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In its first competition of the season, the Rockbridge County High School wrestling team went 3-0 in duals at a quad meet on Saturday at William Fleming High School in Roanoke.
The Wildcats took on three nondistrict opponents and defeated Blacksburg 38-35 before edging William Fleming 35-33. RC then earned a 51-27 win over Liberty Christian Academy.
“We wrestled well,” said secondyear RC head coach Mike Wood. “With this year’s team, it’s kind of a ‘let’s see’ process. We’re pretty well balanced, but we don’t have a superstar like we’ve had in the past. We have good, solid kids. Things went well.”
Wood noted that some of the Wildcats’ veteran wrestlers lost close matches, but some of the younger guys won to help the team finish 3-0. “We had a couple of tight ones,” said Wood.
Two Wildcats, junior Aidan Williams and sophomore Hudson Ryan, went 3-0 individually.
At 157-pounds, Williams pinned all three of his opponents, taking down Blacksburg’s Jacob Henricks in 1:17, putting away William Fleming’s Taquadri Johnson in 2:27, and defeating LCA’s Brock Starnes in 1:13.
At 138, Ryan beat Blacksburg’s Tyrique Nicholson in a 5-2 decision and defeated William Fleming’s Stephanie Noel in a 17-2 technical fall (lead of 15 points or more). He finished the day unbeaten by overcoming LCA’s Ben Hudson in an 8-2 decision.
In addition to varsity, the Wildcats wrestled about 25 junior varsity matches and won 75 percent of those.
“The backups got some mat time, and the varsity guys looked good,” said Wood.
The Wildcats will return to action this weekend in the Titan Toughman tournament at Hidden Valley High School. Wrestling starting at 2 p.m. on Friday and at 10 a.m. on Saturday. RC placed third in the tournament last year. “It’s going to be tough to match that, but we’ll give it a good shot and see where we stand,” said Wood.
On Tuesday, the Wildcats will travel to West Virginia for a dual at Greenbrier East at 6:30 p.m.
