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With eight wrestlers earning medals by placing in the top six, the Rockbridge County High School wrestling team placed sixth of 22 teams at the Titan Toughman tournament on Friday and Saturday at Hidden Valley High School in Roanoke.
The Wildcats, who placed third at the tournament last year before graduating four of their top wrestlers, scored 174.5 points in the prestigious tournament. Patrick Henry won with 252 points, Lord Botetourt (211) placed second, and Cave Spring (199) finished third. Rounding out the top five were William Byrd (180.5) and Salem (174.5). Following RC in the top 10 were Christiansburg (157), Blacksburg (144), Brookville (124.5) and Hidden Valley (121.5).
Two Wildcats, Aidan Williams (157-pounds) and Ryan Maxwell (132), placed second. Williams overcame Brookville’s Ethan Bryant in a 6-5 decision in the semifinals, but lost in the finals to Radford’s Taven Williams in 4:10 in a 16-0 technical fall (lead of 15 points or more). Maxwell defeated Patrick Henry’s Jerry Cardenas in a 10-6 decision in the semifinals, before losing 2-0 to Blacksburg’s Braden Henderson in the finals.
Other Wildcats earning medals were Sawyer Hattersley (fourth, 175), Hudson Ryan (fifth, 138), Markus Nelson (fifth, 150), Tucker Towle (fifth, 165), John Lindberg (fifth, 285/ heavyweight) and Wyatt Eisenbrown (sixth, 157).
Hattersley pinned Blacksburg’s Hudson Beeken in 1:27 in the consolation semifinals, but lost 2-0 to Lord Botetourt’s Seth Williamson in the third-place bout.
In the fifth-place bout at 138, Ryan defeated LB’s Canden Saunders in a 5-4 decision.
At 150, Nelson pinned William Byrd’s Brandon Hurley in 2:01 to earn fifth place.
In the fifth-place bout at 165, Towle pinned Bassett’s Yassir Llave in 4:26.
Lindberg pinned Brookville’s Jaydlen Pannell in 2:58 to earn fifth place in the 285-pound/heavyweight division.
At 157, Eisenbrown pinned two opponents in the consolation bracket before he was pinned by Patrick Henry’s Briton Mauck in three minutes in the fifth-place bout.
RC was scheduled to travel to West Virginia for a dual at Greenbrier East yesterday. The Wildcats will compete in the Turner Ashby Holiday Tournament in Bridgewater this weekend, starting at 5:30 p.m. on Friday and at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday.
The Wildcats will hold their first home competition of the season, with opponents to be determined, next Wednesday, Dec. 20, starting at 6 p.m.
