Hurricane’s Ryan Thomas, shown here during January’s WSAZ Invitational in Huntington, won the Mountain State Athletic Conference championship at 152 pounds last week in Parkersburg. Photo courtesy: Craig Hudson | Gazette-Mail.
By: Tom Bragg | Posted: Feb. 2, 2018 | Source: WV Gazette-Mail
With conference tournaments completed, Kanawha Valley prep wrestling teams can now turn their attention toward preparing for the postseason.
For some, that means a weekend away from tournament action. Others will have one last test before next week’s regional tournaments, where spots in the state tournament are determined.
Hurricane has the misfortune of being in Class AAA’s juggernaut Region 4 along with West Virginia Coaches Association/wvmat.com state-ranked Parkersburg South, Parkersburg, Huntington, Cabell Midland and Spring Valley. The Redskins were soundly beaten this week by Midland and Ripley, which also received votes in AAA this week, but held their own against Spring Valley in a quad at Midland.
Two bright spots for Hurricane this season have been Ryan Thomas and Daniel Long. Thomas, the Mountain State Athletic Conference champion at 152 pounds, did not participate at Midland. Long was MSAC runner-up at 145.
The Redskins don’t have anything else scheduled between now and next week’s regional at Huntington. Neither does St. Albans, which produced the Kanawha Valley’s other two MSAC champions in Brandon Holt (113 pounds) and Isaiha Casto (170). As has been the case in recent seasons, the Red Dragons have opted to skip the Kanawha County tournament.
Herbert Hoover is taking the other route. The Huskies go into Saturday’s Kanawha County championship tournament at George Washington off a runner-up finish in last week’s Cardinal Conference tournament and dual wins against Clay County and Roane County this week.
Three Hoover wrestlers — Tyler Teel (118), Justin Stover (126) and Ben Kee (145) — won conference titles last Saturday at the Williamson Field House. Stover finished fifth in his weight class at last month’s WSAZ Invitational in Huntington.
Huskies coach Richard Harper said the idea is to peak at the right time, and several of his wrestlers appear to be on that path.
“That’s what you want,” he said. “You get through January and you might get beat down a little bit. First of February, you want to build your confidence back up. You want to build that confidence up and peak at the right time.”
Nitro also will try to carry momentum from the Cardinal Conference tournament over to the mat at GW on Saturday. The Wildcats produced three conference champions — Luke Hughes (138), Vinny Devaney (170) and Paul Frampton (182) — on their way to a third-place team finish in Williamson.
Sissonville’s Gavin Shamblin, the Cardinal 220-pound champion, could also push for the Kanawha County title.
Winfield, the Cardinal Conference team champion, is scheduled to host the Bill Hughes Snap Fitness Invitational on Saturday.
The Generals’ Alex Hale has put together one of the Valley’s more impressive seasons to date, with a 30-4 record that includes the Cardinal Conference championship at 195 and a fourth-place finish at the WSAZ Invitational.
Like many teams in the state’s classification for smaller schools, Herbert Hoover faces the daunting task of a regional tournament packed with 16 or 17 teams.“[The Kanwaha County tournament] is a steppingstone for them to get a little bit more confidence and get some momentum into the regionals,” Harper said. “AA regionals are tough with 16 teams. It’s tough to get through the regionals.”
Harper, however, does not view this weekend’s action at GW as just another tournament or strictly as a postseason tuneup.
“It’s a pride thing for Kanawha County,” he said. “The biggest thing behind it is it builds wrestling in this area. That’s what’s big about it for me.”
Harper said he understands St. Albans’ reasons for not attending, but is disappointed he won’t get to see the Red Dragons among a strong crop of county teams that includes the Huskies, Nitro, Riverside and Sissonville.
“You put all these guys together in the county tournament, and now you have a pretty good tournament,” he said.
The young shooters come to Huntington for the tournament from as far away as Moundsville, Wheeling, and Martinsburg. Hamrick admitted, it’s not a bad thing to have 1,400 potential future students paying a visit to your campus.