Liberty’s Eric Workman battles Mason’s Eddie Moore in a 195-pound weight class matchup Saturday afternoon at the Summersville Arena and Convention Center. Liberty’s Workman won the match. Photo by Brad Davis The Register-Herald.
By: Gary Fauber | Posted: Jan. 12, 2018 | Source: Beckley Register-Herald
Liberty didn’t make it to the championship pool of last week’s West Virginia Army National Guard Duals. That doesn’t mean the Raiders were unsuccessful.
The Raiders won all five of their duals on the second day, providing a jumping point to propel them into the second half of the season.
“Definitely something we can work on,” Liberty coach Nick Hylton said. “I’ve seen a lot of positives and a lot of negatives, but we are seeing progression each week and that’s our overall goal is to build to the region and make it to the state tournament.”
“Very encouraged,” Hylton said. “We wrestled and competed with some of the top teams in the state despite giving up three weight classes. I wish we would have been in a different pool because we ended up beating two teams (Madonna and Clay County) that placed and we didn’t get that opportunity.”
They will get a big challenge this weekend at the Winner’s Choice Tournament, starting today at Fairmont Senior High School. The tournament is annually one of the strongest in West Virginia.
This will be the first appearance in the tournament for Liberty, which usually competes in the Braxton County Invitational.
“We were actually planning on going to Logan for a dual but I have kids out with the flu and would have given up too many weights (five in all) to dual,” Hylton said. “I think Winner’s Choice offers deep competition from kids we don’t typically see during the regular season and that was also a big key in deciding on going.”
Among the individual highlights for the Raiders this season has been senior Eric Workman picking up his 100th career win.
“Eric has had a big impact the last few years as a leader,” Hylton said. “Being the only kid that has been with me all four years, he knows exactly how I like things to run and what I expect. He makes sure that everything runs smoothly and he keeps everyone in line when things start to get off track.”
Class AAA No. 6 Greenbrier East will also be at Winner’s Choice.
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Class A No. 3 Greenbrier West will be at the Braxton County Invitational, where it finished second last season to the host Eagles.
Other Region 3 teams set to be there are Nicholas County, Fayetteville, Midland Trail, Richwood, Webster County and Herbert Hoover.
Action in the bracketed tournament starts at 4 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. on Saturday.
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Class AA No. 1 Independence will wrestle at the Virginia Duals today and Saturday in Hampton, Va. The Patriots will take on Smyrna, Del., in the first round. A win there would set up a possible match with No. 1 seed Nazareth in the second round.
Email: gfauber@register-herald.com and follow on Twitter @GaryFauber.
