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With its largest roster of grapplers in recent history, the Rockbridge County High School wrestling team looks to defend its Valley District title and be well-represented at the regional and state tournaments.
The Wildcats have 33 wrestlers out, most of whom are competing for a varsity spot and others who will wrestle in exhibition matches – an increase from 22 last year.
In his first year as RC’s head coach last winter, Mike Wood led the Wildcats to the district title by half-a-point over runner-up Broadway, a sixth-place finish in the Region 3C tournament and a 12th-place finish at the Class 3 state tournament. The Wildcats also set a program record by advancing wrestlers in all 14 weight classes to the regional tournament. Although the Wildcats graduated four key wrestlers, Wood, in his 32nd year of coaching, said they should be a stronger team in that they will be more balanced this year.
“What we have this year that we didn’t have last year, we were soft in about six weight classes last year, pretty weak, just inexperienced, not in a bad way, just weak,” said Wood. “This year, we honestly might be inexperienced in one.”
Last year, the Wildcats typically had one of their seniors, Brice Hall, in the finals in every tournament. “We may have a lot of kids in third and fourth, which will win you tournaments,” said Wood. “You don’t have to have anybody in the finals to win a tournament. It’s all about how many you place.”
Hall, who won individual district and regional titles at 175-pounds last winter before placing third at the state tournament, is now wrestling for Penn College of Technology. The Wildcats also graduated Zeke Mohr, who placed fifth at 150 at the state tournament last winter; Tom Maxwell, the district champion at 157 last winter, and Zac Huntsman, the district runner-up at 126.
Despite these losses, the Wildcats are not lacking in experience. They have 14 returning wrestlers, and there are 10 seniors on the team, eight juniors, eight sophomores and six freshmen.
Leading the way will be RC’s three senior co-captains: Sawyer Hattersley (175-pounds), Ryan Maxwell (132) and Tucker Towle (165).
Maxwell placed sixth at the state tournament last winter, then wrestling at 120, while Towle and Hattersley were both runners-up at the district tournament and regional qualifiers.
Maxwell said his role is to “just take charge of the guys and make sure they understand what they’re supposed to do and help to teach them how to do what they can’t do yet.”
He hopes the team will win the district tournament again and send seven wrestlers to the state tournament. “I think we can get five guys that’ll place [in the top six], and I think we could send two guys to the finals,” said Maxwell.
Towle, who got sick at the end of last year, hopes to be a state placer this year, and he hopes the team can win a couple of big tournaments during the regular season.
As a captain, Towle said his roles are “keeping everybody in form, keeping everybody communicating, making sure everybody knows what’s going on, keeping practices together.”
Other top returning regional qualifiers are junior Aidan Williams (157) and sophomore Hudson Ryan (138). Also returning after qualifying for the regional tournament last winter are seniors Caiden Cavazos (144) and John Lindberg (215) and sophomores Markus Nelson (150) and Graham Niebur (126).
Lindberg was wrestling in the 285-pound/ heavyweight division last winter, but he’s lost about 45 pounds since then to go down to the 215-pound weight class. “Wrestling sometimes helps you in other ways,” said Wood. “He had a good year last year, so he should have a good year this year, but he graduates, so he started late, but what it’s done for him, I don’t think he would’ve trimmed up and gotten healthier without it.”
The Wildcats also return junior Devin D’Antonio (175) and sophomore Chase Reynolds (165), along with their two female wrestlers, senior Stephanie Ross (132) and junior Mia Marando (144). Ross and Marando both competed in the inaugural Virginia High School League Girls State Open Wrestling Championships last winter, and Wood sees them getting more experience in practice and perhaps getting in some duals. The Wildcats are currently without a 120-pounder, so Ross could fill that void.
New to the varsity level are seniors Todd Caputo (163), David Castillo (138), Kerin Castillo- Romero and Jonathan Davis, while junior Kellan Dorey (190) comes back after wrestling as a freshman but not last year. Also new are juniors Wyatt Eisenbrown (157), Arron Sisk, Roman Wilhelm (190), sophomores Justin Bunker (165), Joseph Clements, Price Lunsford (285/heavyweight) and Aiden Meyers (138), and six freshmen: William Chittum (285/heavyweight), John Clements (144), John Davis (113), Pat Looney (144), Finn Miller (106) and Joshua Sperry (157). Several of the freshmen got experience wrestling in middle school.
Wood said the Wildcats will be strongest in their heavier weight classes, while they’re lacking experience in their lower weight classes (106, 113 and 120).
In duals last winter, the Wildcats went 13-4. This year, the Wildcats should have 20 to 24 duals, and Wood is hoping they’ll win at least 16 of them. Having the large roster should help with that, he said, as the Wildcats won’t have to give up points due to forfeits.
“We’re in a situation where we’re filling a roster and almost another roster,” said Wood. “This is the first time we’ve got close to a full JV team if we can get the kids spread out right. From 126 to heavyweight, every one of these kids projected to be starters have substantial mat time, and in that group we’ve got a few state qualifiers, a bunch of regional qualifiers.” Wood said the Wildcats are hoping to qualify 10 or 11 wrestlers or more for the regional tournament and send five or six wrestlers to the state tournament.
The RC coach is proud of the fact that, last year and this year, the roster is full of good students who are well mannered. “They’re good kids,” he said. “If we lack anything, we need to be a little meaner. That really gritty, mean mat sense. We’re trying to work on being a little bit tougher on the mats.”
Returning to serve for his second year as Wood’s assistant coach is Garrett Shultz, who wrestled for Wood for two years at Riverheads High School when Wood was coaching there and then wrestled at Virginia Military Institute. Wood is also bringing on Aaron Bruce as an assistant coach. Bruce was the Wildcats’ head coach for five years, leading them to two district titles and their first regional title in program history, before stepping down following the 2021-22 season, when Wood was his assistant. Also joining the staff is Bradyn Tuttle, a shop teacher at RC who wrestled for Southern Virginia University.
During practices, Bruce will focus on the upper weight classes, Wood will work with the middle weight classes, and Shultz will work with the lighter weight classes. Tuttle will help with the junior varsity squad.
In the Valley District, Wood expects Broadway, Turner Ashby and Spotswood to be the toughest opponents. In Region 3C, where the Wildcats didn’t do as well as they’d hoped. Defending champion Heritage is the favorite again, and Liberty Christian Academy, Wilson Memorial and Brookville should all be strong.
The Wildcats will have another challenging schedule this season, starting with a quad meet at William Fleming on Saturday at 10 a.m. They currently have two home competitions on the schedule, a tri-meet on Wednesday, Dec. 20, at 6 p.m. and a quad meet on Wednesday, Jan. 3, at 6:30 p.m.
