Posted: Jan. 22, 2018 | Source: The Register-Herald
Area wrestling teams have been traveling across the state for the last eight weeks, getting in as much mat time as possible before the season shifts its focus from dual matches to bracketed tournaments.
That time has arrived, and wrestling fans in this part of the state won’t have to travel far to see their teams make a push for the state tournament.
The next three weeks will provide plenty of wrestling here in southern West Virginia. It all starts Tuesday when Class AAA No. 6 Greenbrier East hosts Class A No. 3 Greenbrier West in the “Beauty and the Beast” Greenbrier County championship. The match will start at 7 p.m.
Two days later, the Spartans will host rival Woodrow Wilson in the annual Coal Country Challenge. That match also will start at 7 p.m.
Greenbrier East goes in as the defending champion in both duals. The Spartans finished fourth at the Big Blue Tournament in Christiansburg, Va., on Saturday, placing 10 wrestlers.
On Saturday, Shady Spring will host the annual Appalachian Fasteners Invitational. The event will start at 9 a.m. This is where most area teams will be competing on Saturday — joining the host Tigers will be Liberty, Greenbrier East, Independence B, Richwood, Nicholas County, PikeView, Princeton, Bluefield, Richlands (Va.), Oak Hill Academy (Va.), Union (Va.) and Abingdon (Va.).
The Independence B team won last year’s tournament.
A pair of teams that won’t be sticking close are Independence and Greenbrier West. The Class AA No. 1 Patriots will travel to Williamstown to try to defend their title at the Bob Zide Rumble. The Cavs, meanwhile, will go to the West Virginia “A” Challenge at Ritchie County High School.
Both teams had big weekends at the 40th annual WSAZ Invitational, but it could have been better. The Patriots had seven wrestlers in the finals, but only Haegan Harvey came away with a championship at 152 pounds. They wound up losing to champion St. Joseph Academy (Pa.) by 5.5 points.
West was the runner-up among Class A schools, but that is a bit misleading — powerhouse St. Joseph was actually a Class A participant.
Fayetteville, Oak Hill and Webster County will be in the Bob Stover Classic at Clay County on Saturday. Oak Hill placed three wrestlers at the WSAZ, and Fayetteville had a strong showing at the Mountaineer Matchup in Clarksburg. Trent Pullens continues to put together a solid season at 160 pounds.
The following week is conference week. The Coalfield Conference Invitational will be held at PikeView High School Feb. 2-3. Woodrow Wilson, meanwhile, will be traveling to Parkersburg for the Mountain State Athletic Conference tournament those same days.
Woodrow heavyweight Tyree Swafford placed second at the WSAZ on Saturday.
A major tweak to the schedule this season is there will be no off week between conference and regional tournaments. That decision was made after last year’s herpes breakout at the state tournament that forced three weight classes in Class AAA to be contested two weeks late and in Fairmont instead of Huntington.
The break will instead come after regional tournaments, two of which will take place in Raleigh County. Independence will host the Class AA-A Region 3 tournament Feb. 9-10, while Woodrow Wilson will be the site for the one-day Class AAA Region 3 tournament on Feb. 10.
Email: gfauber@register-herald.com and follow on Twitter @GaryFauber.
