RC Stellar On Senior Night

Wildcat Wresters Defeat District Rivals At Home

Led by seniors who were honored before competing, the Rockbridge County High School wrestling team went 3-0 against Valley District rivals Spotswood, Harrisonburg and East Rockingham last Wednesday night in Lexington.

Ignited by a spirited home crowd in the RC gym, the Wildcats cruised to a 72-4 win over Spotswood before beating Harrisonburg 71-9. They ended the night with a 61-17 win over East Rockingham. With the victories, the Wildcats improved to 8-6 in duals this season.

Before the duals, the Wildcats honored their seven seniors: Kellan Dorey, Wyatt Eisenbrown, Mia Marando, Gabe Wade, Roman Wilhelm, Aidan Williams and Isaiah Woolfrey.

All of the seniors got to wrestle, and three of them – Williams (165-pounds), Dorey (190) and Wade (215) – went 3-0. Wrestling two bouts and going 2-0 was Woolfrey (175), pinning both his opponents. Also going undefeated for the Wildcats was sophomore Billy Chittum in the 285-pound/heavyweight division.

Chittum won his first two bouts by forfeit before facing East Rockingham’s Blayne Gooden in one of the most exciting showdowns of the night. Chittum built up a 7-0 lead in the second period and, fueled by loud cheers from the crowd, pinned Gooden in 3:05. At 106, freshman Kayleb Glassford went 3-0, with one win by forfeit, one by technical fall (lead of 15 points or more) and one pin. RC junior Hudson Ryan (144) also went 3-0, as did junior Markus Nelson (150). At 120, sophomore Finn Miller went 3-0, pinning two opponents and winning his other bout by forfeit. Junior Aiden Meyers (138) also went 3-0, with two wins by forfeit, and he pinned East Rockingham’s Eli Ward in 37 seconds.

Marando (138), RC’s lone female senior, wrestled in an exhibition match against an East Rockingham opponent and pinned him in 3:18. Reflecting on the win, Marando said, “For me, it was a bittersweet moment, considering that it was nice for senior night in my win, but it’s kind of sad to see wrestling go in high school.”

Proud to see all of his seniors wrestle in front of their home crowd, third-year RC head coach Mike Wood, who was an assistant coach to Aaron Bruce when this year’s seniors were freshmen, said, “We got them all matches, which is what I try to do on senior night, even if they’re not starters.”

Wood said the Wildcats wrestled much better as a team than they did the previous week, when they struggled at Turner Ashby on Jan. 15, losing a close dual against East Rockingham and falling to TA. The Wildcats then went 0-3 in duals at Strasburg on Jan. 18. Of the slump, Wood said, “Every season, you have that. Unfortunately, it hit us at a bad time.”

Wood added that the home meet was the first time in a while the Wildcats had a complete lineup. “Up until today, we’ve not been 100 percent in our lineup,” he said. “We had guys out injured, out of town. We just weren’t firing a complete lineup.”

The RC coach said the wins should allow the Wildcats to place second to defending district champion Turner Ashby in the final regularseason district standings.

Other Wildcats who earned wins last Wednesday were freshmen Davis Welsh (going 1-2 at 113) and Asher Wells (win by forfeit at 175) and juniors Carlos Reynolds (2-1 at 126), Graham Niebur (2-1 at 132) and Eisenbrown (2-1 at 157).

Today, Wednesday, the Wildcats will travel to Elkton for district duals at East Rockingham, starting at 6 p.m. On Thursday, they’ll play host for a dual against district rival Rocktown at 5:30 p.m. at Doremus Gym at Washington and Lee University. Following the high school dual, the Wildcats will watch the W&L wrestling team take on Shenandoah University at 7 p.m.

The Wildcats will then prepare for the Region 3C qualifier next Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Turner Ashby High School in Bridgewater. The top four wrestlers in each weight class will advance to the Region 3C tournament, scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 15, at 9 a.m., also at TA.

RC Girls Excel At Louisa

RC’s two female wrestlers, senior Mia Marando and freshman Tasha Shorter, wrestled well at the third annual Louisa Ladies Invitational on Saturday at Louisa County High School, where Marando (138) placed third and Shorter (152) finished fifth.

Guided by RC assistant coach Kage Tomlin, a 2018 RC graduate who was a state placer for the Wildcats, the two RC girls scored 26 points to put the Wildcats in 16th place of 31 teams. Mountain View won with 90 points, Prince George (89.5) placed second, and Caroline (78) finished third.

Marando, who is 14-2 this season, pinned Mountain View’s Natsuko Barnes in 3:04 in the quarterfinals before pinning J.R. Tucker’s Kayziana Yan in 36 seconds in the semifinals. In the finals, she lost to Jamestown’s Riley Lynch in a 3-2 decision.

Shorter went 2-2, losing in the quarterfinals but pinning two opponents in the consolation bracket before she lost to Potomac Falls wrestler Codi Turner in a 9-5 decision in the consolation semifinals. Shorter is 11-6 this season.

On Saturday, Marando and Shorter will compete in the girls’ zone qualifier at Rocktown High School in Harrisonburg, starting at 10 a.m. They will aim to qualify for the Virginia High School League Girls State Open Wrestling Championships Feb. 26-27 in Glen Allen. Marando made it to the state championships last year and placed sixth, then wrestling at 145.