West Virginia High
School Wrestling

West Virginia Wrestling -- January 1998 Forum (Part One)

Questions and comments welcome!

If you have some bit of West Virginia wrestling information to share, or a question or comment, here is the place.
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January 8, 1998
From: Lipps
comments: I strongly disagree about the statement about the JCI tournament. The place to be Friday and Saturday is Nitro. Editor's note: Last year's results from both tournaments are still up on the website. It should be easy to see who wrestled in these tournaments and went on to claim state championships (A casual glance at the results shows that both tournaments had future state champs).

January 8, 1998
From: Morgan Sisk
email: rookie@access.mountain.net
comments: I would like to commend Keyser on their victory over Petersburg at the tri match at Westmar MD on Thursday night. They came out ready to wrestle and pulled out a couple of upsets in the process. We (Petersburg) came in expecting to clean up with two wins. Keyser is a stronger team overall than I had originally expected. Congratulations again and good luck.

January 8, 1998
From: Coach Powers - MHS
email: tlpowers@westco.net
comments: It's good news for Morgantown High School wrestling. A new assistant coach has been named and it is Doug Moore. Yes, the four time state champion for North Marion. We all welcome him and look forward to the future of Morgantown wrestling with him on board.

January 8, 1998
From: Ed
email: efields@weir.net
comments: Ref. attendance Huntington State Tournaments.

1993 1994 1995 1996 1997
Day 1 Adults 980 1015 629 2149 2000
Students 537 632 869 460 600
Day 2 Adults 1052 1295 1748 1790 2050
Students 894 968 1355 486 1842
Day 3 Adults 1208 1254 1639 2251 2000
Students 732 892 1600 982 602
Total 5403 6056 7840 8118 9094

As you can see, the tournament continues to grow in Huntington with tournament director Bill Archer and the folks of Huntington doing a good job.

January 8, 1998
name: Sarge
email: CSARGENT98@Prodigy.net
comments: If you plan on seeing Mike Miller of Wirt County wrestling in the future and at the State Tournament well guess again. Michael Miller has just resigned from the Wirt Wrestling Team. Boy, it goes from the Drennens to Mike Miller. What else is going to happen to the Tigers before the state tournament? There is no exact reason why? THIS IS NOT A TYPE-O!! If you don't believe me then just wait and see if he wrestles anymore this year!!
Editor's note: Well, this is two reports of this significant turn of events. We didn't post the report yesterday because, as Sarge suggests, we found it hard to believe. I guess we will see what happens. I hope this is not (another) hoax with someone "posing" as Sarge (who always has good information).

January 8, 1998
comments: In regards to JCI having no state champions--I guess Roane and Pt. Pleasant did not have any state champions last year nor will they this year. I figure Nitro will be a great tough tournament though. To bad you cant be in two places at one time. Good luck in the Nitro Tourn.

January 8, 1998
comments: I don't agree with the statement about Jackson Co. champions going on to winning states. Perhaps in AA this is the case, but the best AAA tournament going on this weekend is the Nitro Invitational, where there should be around 20 teams.

January 8, 1998
comments: I feel that the wrestling fans of WV who follow this page should set a time to appear on the chat page. Every time I sign on, there are very few people. I really enjoy chat rooms (especially wrestling) and I think that it would be a great idea to set up (perhaps evening times) to meet on the chat lines.
Editor's note: How many regular readers of this page have ICQ?

January 8, 1998
From: Randy Bierce
email: Hummmbert@aol.com
comments: The 5th Sherrard Dual Meet Championships are this weekend. Independence, Charles Town, Harpers Ferry, Cameron, Moundsville, Fairmont Miller and Sherrard all field highly-competitive teams. Wirt County, East Fairmont, Union, Ripley MS and Ripley 9th all have good wrestlers. It will interesting to see the order of finish of the teams and who wins the weight classes. For only being in existance for four years, many wrestlers who have wrestled in the SDMC have gone on to place in the AAA & AA state tournaments. Ryan Muldrew, Chris Ward, Lucien Weese, Bill Daugherty, and Bob Wilson (John Marshall); Kimmer Cline, Jason Jones, Mike Witherow, Denny LeBec, Jeremy Crow (Oak Glen); Jeff Hughes and Travis Ross (Cameron) and Andy Smith (Bishop Donahue) have all wrestled in past SDMC.
Hope area fans will stop in sometime this weekend: 1st Round on Friday is at 4 pm. Wrestling gets underway at 8:30 am on Saturday.

January 7, 1998
From: The Editor
We will once again be keeping track of undefeated WV wrestlers on the front page of this website, but lets wait until January 19 (after the Braxton Pizza Hut and the Fairmont Winners Choice). The week of the 19th, let us know who is still undefeated.

January 7, 1998
From: The Editor (again)
We have uncovered at least two errors in the State Tournament program in their lists of past state champs. The program lists the 1995 AA/A champ at 103 as Scottie Rush of Calhoun, but I have it on good authority that the champ was actually David Rash of Independence (Rush or Rash?). Can someone from Independence confirm this?
Also, the programs lists the 1986 AA/A champ at 155 as Mike King of Grafton, but Coach Auvil indicates that King was not a Bearcat. I'm guessing that King was from Mullens, as Mike King from Mullens won the previous year at 145. Can someone confirm this?

January 7, 1998
comments: The Jackson Co. Inv. will be set up in a 16 man bracket. If all goes well there should be around 14-18 teams present. A partial list of teams are: host Ripley, Ravenswood, Ritchie. Roane, Pt.Pleasant, St. Marys, East Bank, Wirt, Williamstown, and Greenbrier West. Just these ten teams will make it a great tournament. There is a good blend of AAA and AA-A teams. The rest of the teams vary from year to year so the rest of the field will also be tough. The champions in each class at the JCI are usually State Champions. So if you would like to see some great action and a look at some state champions make it to Ripley Fri. And Sat. Wrestling Starts at 12:00 both days. Finals are 6:00 Sat.

January 6, 1998
From: reklus@juno.com (Jennifer G. Sullivan)
My sincerest apologies go out to Daniel Gilley, Coach Blankenship, and the entire Berkeley Springs team for mistakenly noting in "Mat Lines" that Daniel wrestled for Independence. (Thanks for taking it easy on me Coach!)

Also, to Red Devil, I checked my notes, and Josh Cross received a forfeit at 119 against Berkeley Springs and Corey Reed pinned Derek Shearer at 125. Thanks for reading the column, and for giving me lots of food for thought!

To Mat Fan, my guess is that Doc's right about the lady coach from Braxton County. As for Alicia, I'll meet her for the first time next weekend. She's from Nicholas County, but she doesn't wrestle for Nicholas County or Richwood (also in Nicholas County). I think she wrestles in a female-only wrestling organization if I'm not mistaken. Hopefully I'll find out soon!

Now, here's a plea to anyone reading this who has sent me an e-mail since December 29. My e-mail system managed to wipe out all of my incoming messages before I had a chance to read most of them, so if you still have a copy of any correspondence you've sent me in the past week or two, please send it again. I'll be getting reliable e-mail this week, so I'll have Doc post the new address.
Editor's note: Well, the information highway is not without its occasional potholes and detours, to be sure!

January 6, 1998
From: mat fan
comments: Jenny...are you going to make predicitons for the upcoming state tournament in Huntington??? Or is it way too early to speculate? Has the attendance increased with each state championship? Would you you say attendance at dual meets and tournaments is greater than say a typical high school basketball game?? What are your overall thoughts on junior high and pee wee wrestling? Is it competitive or too competitive? If you could be a high school wrestling official just what would you like to see changed in the scholastic sport??? Is two seconds long enough for a pin and completion on a match? Is there too much pressure on the officials especially at the state tournaments? What was the most exciting match you have seen in W. Virginia? Either junior high or high school?? Is the tie breaker a fair rule at the end of a tied up match?? I am making you the president for the day. Sorry, about all the questions but I would like to hear your thoughts...commissioner jenn!
y......ps....when is the article on Alicia coming??//

January 6, 1998
From: Gorby, North Marion
email: tbyard@syrnsweb.com
comments: On your picture quiz: That's North Marion's 103 White, and Preston's Shockey at North's Holiday Quad Dec. 19. Mike Stalnaker is the referee and the hold is a double leg power half.
Editor's note: That was too easy.

January 6, 1998
From: Jenny Sullivan
comments: Can anybody out there tell me what type of formats will be used at the Nitro Invitational and the Jackson County Invitational this weekend? Are they traditional tournaments or are they duals tournaments? Thanks!

January 5, 1998
From: Sarge
email: CSARGENT98@Prodigy.net
comments: Question to any one who can answer? Oak Glen, why haven't they wrestled any A/AA schools this season so far? I was looking down thru the scores and they have wrestled all AAA schools. I feel that all A/AA schools should have the chance to see what the returning state champions have for this upcoming season.

January 5, 1998
From: Braxton Fan
comments: James Harris 112 lb and Sam Stewart 152 lb are 18-0 this year. Justin Underwood will be back at 189 lb on Feb 7 for LKC.

January 5, 1998
From: mat fan
comments: Jenny... I appreciated your response in the second December mat lines section ... I was a little interested in more information about the female coach at Braxton County??? Who is she and just where is Braxton County, WV??? How successful is her wrestling program??? How long has she been coaching?? Is Alecia involved in amateur wrestling and will she be attending the State Tournament??? Any input from you would be appreciative ...great job with your column...keep up the great work!!..
Editor's note: Couple of years ago I got team info from Coach Sterling Beane of Braxton Co indicating that the Assistant Coach is Judy Beane, who I'm guessing is his wife. But I could be wrong. Jenny is usually right. Braxton has a fine program. Quite frankly I have not had the pleasure of meeting either Coach Beane or Coach Beane, but I did note a couple fitting the description at matside at the State Tourney last year. Braxton Co, as all good WV history students will know, is in the geographic center of WV, the exact center being very near Flatwoods, very near Braxton Co HS if I'm not mistaken.

January 5, 1998
From: Jenny Sullivan
comments: Alex Reed of Point Pleasant is wrestling at 103 again this year. You'll be able to read all about it when I finish the AAA special edition of Mat Lines later this week.

January 5, 1998
From: A WRESTLING FAN
comments: IT SEEMS THAT MY EARLY SEASON HWT PREDICTION HAS CAUSED OTHERS TO GIVE THEIR INPUT. I PUT MY MONEY ON MIKE HENNESSEY (NC) BACK IN DECEMBER, AND I AM STILL STAYING WITH MY PREDICTION. IT IS TRUE THAT KERNS STUCK HENNESSEY IN THE 2ND. PERIOD. IT WAS 0-0 AND HENNESSEY WAS HEAD/NECKED WHIPED TO HIS BACK. HOWEVER, HENNESSEY DEFEATED KERNS 7-2 THE WEEKEND BEFORE. FROM WHAT I UNDERSTAND, THEY WILL NOT WRESTLE AGAIN UNTIL THE STATES. THIS GIVES SOME GREAT DRAMA FOR THE FANS AND THE WEIGHT CLASS. AS SOME ONE WROTE EARLIER, HENNESSEY JUST BEAT MORGAN OF HHS 3-2. MORGAN IS A QUALITY WRESTLER AND SHOULD NOT BE OVERLOOKED BY ANYONE. HE VERY WELL MAY BE THE MOST PHYSICAL AND STRONGEST WRESTLER IN THE STATE. BUT DON'T SELL HENNESSEY SHORT, I STILL THINK HE WILL WIN STATES.

A LITTLE NOTE TO DR. HWT. DON'T BE SO HARSH ON INDIVIDUALS PICKING WHO THEY THINK WILL BE WHERE IN THE STATES. PLEASE REMEMBER THIS IS ALL IN FUN AND GOOD TASTE. THE SPORT NEEDS THIS TYPE OF PR. AND ONE MORE ITEM OF ADVICE TO DR. HWT, I DON'T KNOWN HOW MUCH I WOULD USE THE WORD "FAT" WHEN TALKING ABOUT SOME OF THESE KIDS. MAYBE YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THEM OR MAYBE YOUR A "BAD" MAN YOURSELF, BUT I SURE WOULDN'T TELL HENNESSEY OR KERNS THEY'RE "LOST IN THE FAT".

January 4, 1998
Editor's note: We've had a ton of inquires regarding the Coaches polls, both classes, team and individual. I expect the AAA Coaches team poll soon, but I think that the individuals polls may still be a couple of weeks away. We will post the polls as soon as we get them.

January 4, 1998
Have you posted all the results from the Wheeling Park Tournament? Did Preston wrestle East Fair?
Editor's note: I have posted all the results, such as they are. Some matches have team scores only and not the individual results. A few matches took place and I have neither team or individual results, but I indicated that they took place as far as I know. Some of the matches scheduled for the last round actually took place in earlier rounds, when they involved teams with short rosters, lots of forfeits, and the final round matches between teams with short rosters could be wrestled during the empty mat time in earlier rounds. Of course, everybody didn't wrestle everybody. In answer to your question, Preston and EF did not wrestle.

January 4, 1998
From: CREAM
comments: DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT WEIGHT ALEX REED FROM PP IS AT THIS YEAR?

January 4, 1998
From: Jim LeMaster
I wish to commend the organizers of the Domino Duals in Wheeling on a fine tournament! It ran smoothly and most of the rounds started on time. There were some outstanding individual and team matchups. There was a good mix of teams from WV and Ohio. There were only a few negatives:
1. Parkersburg and Huntington chose not to attend
2. The weather
3. Some teams chose to forfeit their last round matches and leave early. (see #2)
4. The school chose not to accept the WVSSAC coaches courtesy cards for admission. This is not an option for schools holding events such as this because the coaches card grants admission to all but the state tournament. This attitude toward other wrestling coaches caused some hard feelings towards Wheeling Park and I was told that more than 1 coach besides myself plans on making the WVSSAC aware of this policy.
Overall, however, the positives more than outweighed the negatives and it was a great event.

January 4, 1998
From: JASON GREEN
email: green_jk@wvwc.edu
comments: I AM FROM SOUTH POINT OHIO AND FOLLOW WEST VIRGINIA WRESTLING (MOSTY I FOLLOW MY LONG TIME BEST FRIEND JASON WARD). I ALSO PLAY FOOTBALL AT WEST VIRGINIA WESLEYAN COLLEGE SO I DON'T GET TO FOLLOW JASON VERY MUCH BUT I AM GLAD TO HEAR HE DID SO WELL AT WHEELING. KEEP TEARING THEM UP - SEE YOU AT WSAZ
P.S. GO BOBCATS

January 4, 1998
From: Coach Powers - Morgantown email: tlpowers@westco.net
comments: This one is for the coaches who join in to reading this page and this web site. I was approached by a referee after a recent match about who gave the officials their grades last season at my school. He was wondering why he recieved the marks he did. I would like to know why the referee's get to see who gives the marks' from what school's. I am not saying that they should not get to see their marks' but they shouldn't get to see who gave them the mark or from what school. I am also aware that they are supposed to be professional about their jobs', but sooner or later someone will use that power of the whistle to kill your team on the mat if they feel that you gave them low marks. Just looking for some other coaches thoughts about the matter.

January 4, 1998
comments: Kupfer, as reported by Jenny Sullivan section of this web site, is smoking the AA/A 189 lb class so far. You may not have to leave the northern panhandle to see a great match though. Busick (Weir) beat him in the regionals last year. Kupfer came back and beat Busick in the states. They met again in the Brooke open and it was a physical match. The good thing is they are both great kids. Combine the others in the 189 lb AA/A from the state and maybe they should make this class a pay per view this year.

January 3, 1998
Editor's note: Congrats to Ken and Laurie Chertow on the birth of their second child, Alexander Chertow on December 29, 1997. Don't know what he weighed, but I'm sure he "made weight."

January 3, 1998
From: mr. double leg
comments: Who do you think is the best 189 pounder in AA/A in West Virginia. I believe it is up for grabs. There isn't really anybody out there who is dominating the weight class that I know of.

January 3, 1998
From: Big Dog (The Real One) email: BgDgSports@aol.com
comments: Bring your radios to the Winners Choice tournament in Fairmont on the 16th & 17th of January. The finals will be broadcast by WTUS 102.7 FM.

January 3, 1998
From: Ken Chertow
email: kchertow@vicon.net
comments: Congratulations to the Cabell Midland Wrestlers and Coaches for winning the Wheeling Dual Meet Tournament. An extra congratulations to Jason Ward and Jared Walters who both won all 9 of their individual matches. Jason won the O.W. Award. Many of the Midland wrestlers have participated in my Olympian Wrestling School in Huntington over the past few years. Some very consistently - others only a few months per year. It is interesting to note that Jared & Jason are the only two Midland Wrestlers who have trained at the Olympian School every single trainig cycle (42 out of 52 weeks per year) since it opened in April of 1994. They are far and away the two most dedicated students on their team. That is the nice thing about our sport. The bigger your COMMITMENT, the higher your level of SUCCESS.

It is noteworthy that Jason and Jared are also both very dedicated students in the classroom. I encourage all you WV boys to strive to... "Be a Scholar Athlete, not a dumb jock." Good Luck on your quest for excellence!

January 3, 1998
From: Old and Tired
comments: I've been quite for awhile now ...but I guess all good things have to come to an end!!! I was leary of the Cabell Midland and Huntington hype but the way it looks their's may be one of the best matches in the state this year...I hope so!! By the way there seems to be a couple of rumors out there that are being kept rather hush-hush...(1) Robbie Archer will be the new Assistant Coach at Huntington next year, and (2) Coach Sparks of Cabell Midland is going to resign at the end of the year...Assuming both are true (Sparks is gone and Archer is going into Coaching) .. wouldn't it be neat to see Robbie take Cabell Midland and Coach against his Dad? Just something to make you say hmmmm?

January 3, 1998
From: EB
email: Berry@citynet.net
comments: From the response from Ed (post date Jan 30), whom I am assuming is the editor of this page, it is not clear who voted for the amendment on one weigh in and who was absent...it doesn't matter much. The only thing that prevents making the whole issue a sham to WV wrestling is that according to WVSSAC rules, a wrestler must make at least 50% of his weigh ins at the weight he will wrestle at the regional tourney...I'm not sure, does this mean a wrestler would not have to make the base weight 103, but after Jan 15 be able to wrestle at state at 105? I hope not. I am also assuming that all coaches in WV are completely ethical and would never lie about the number of times a wrestler made a particular weight. In addition, one weigh in could mean the 2 day WSAZ tourney, or it could mean a dual meet. I realize the folks that made these decisions are competent wrestling personalities, with far more info on the topic than I have right now, I just hope the decision wasn't ramrodded for ease of administering a tourney.

Huntington has been hosting the States for a long time now, and from what I understand, is the only site that ever made a profit for the SSAC on the venture. Great...lets not cheapen it. My son wrestles in Pa, and his school competes in a national tourney at the end of the year...the event is hosted by Lehigh University...they have gone to the one weigh in. Many of the kids drop more than one weight class to be more competitive...In addition, they weigh in the night before the first competition, so you can imagine the variations in individual competitors within the same weight class...nevertheless, it's still a great tourney with great wrestlers from all over the country. Thanks for the opportunity to vent, hope there's not a bunch of belly-aching about this in March.

Editor's note: For the record, Ed is not me. This info regarding the wrestling committee came in via the forum page. EB raises a number of questions - some have answers and some do not.

I put out an inquiry regarding weigh-in rules etc, and am told from an extremely reliable source that the following rules apply.

It has been pointed out that many states allow wrestlers to wait until districts, regionals or or even the first round of the state tournament to make the weight the doctor certifies. One can make a valid argument that West Virginia has one the strictest weight certifcations in the U.S.

Finally, a personal observation regarding the question of a Coach possibly entering a wrestler in the regionals with insufficient weigh-ins at a given weight: Coaches from different teams talk to each other and share information more than one might imagine. If an error in the arithmetic is made at the regionals on the 50% rule, I'm of the opinion that someone will call the error to the attention to the appropriate parties.

January 2, 1998
From: BIFF

 I have some predictions for AAA.

103---------ALEX REED-POINT PLEASANT
112---------DAN BONASSO-FAIRMONT SENIOR 
119---------PARKERSBURG
125---------
130---------ADAM GORBY-NORTH MARION
135---------MIKE CINILLI-FAIRMONT SENIOR
140---------NICK HEDRICK-FAIRMONT SENIOR
145---------JASON JOHNSON-PARKERSBURG SOUTH
152---------JASON WARD-CABEL MIDLAND
160---------RYAN BESEDICH-NORTH MARION
171---------
189---------JASON CONOWAY-NORTH MARION
215---------ZEBURH-BUCKHANNON
275---------ZACK KERNS-ELKINS

January 2, 1998
From: Red Devil
comments: To: Jenny Sullivan
Good work on your predictions and thanks for getting some A/AA talk out there. Here are a few things I would like to comment on:
At 119 going by the scores and results page Cross (Wirt) was pinned by Reed (Berk. Springs), is that a mistake?
At 135 McCartney should be the clear cut favorite and you're right -- his only loss was by disq.
At 145 my top choice would be Lebec (Oak Glen). At 160 I think Ramsey (Calhoun) and Lewis (Lib-Ral) should be mentioned; Ramsey has only lost to Burgess of Roane this year.
A name at 171 to add to the mix might be Branch (St. Marys) and Wilmoth (Calhoun) if he moves down.
At 215 I have a question: Did Clyburn (Lib-Ral) graduate or is he wrestling? The state book lists him as a jr.? And one more name for 215 or Hwt. is Jeremy Boatright when he recovers from a football injury. Again good work and thank you!

January 1, 1998
From: mr. double leg
comments: Dear tlp
You say Tommy Stiles is a good 103 pounder. But I believe the best 103 is Ash Wenmoth of Williamstown. He went to the midwest classic in Columbus and got second in one of the toughest tournaments. I say all 103 wrestlers should watch out for him.

January 1, 1998
From: Boone, NC resident
email: robokn@aol.com
comments: Jeremy Hart of Independence is still wrestling at Appalachian State University. He is a very tough, dedicated wrestler and worked hard in the off-season. This is general information for the Forum

January 1, 1998
From: Sarge
email: CSARGENT@prodigy.net
comments: It is real sad to hear that the Drennen's from Wirt County are not going to be competing this year. Yes, it will hurt the team some. But, there are some newcomers also this year. Taking Drennen's place is junior Mark Lowe. If you don't know he had wrestled JV in the past because he couldn't beat David. When they wrestled, they wrestled! So junior Mark Lowe will definately make states and could be running for a title. Wirt County will have a good team this year!!
Jenny, you do a good job with covering wrestling. It is appreciated.

January 4, 1998
comments: Now that the WP Duals are over anyone have preditions on state champions?


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Updated December 9, 1997