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West Virginia Mat Lines

by Jenny Sullivan
sullivj2@oak.cats.ohiou.edu

Here’s the line for March 2, 2001

It’s just like Christmas – the state wrestling tournament, that is. If you’re like me, you spend all this time in eager anticipation for the big event, and it’s great while it lasts, but then it’s over way too quickly. You’re then left in an anti-climactic, almost depressed state of mind. I’ve found that taking an additional vacation day at Christmas eases the pain of going back to the dull routine of the work week, so I thought I’d try the same thing with the state wrestling tournament and take Monday as a vacation day to prepare for this article and catch up on some much-needed sleep.

As it turns out, it’s a good thing I was off Monday because I had to make another trip back to Huntington. You see, when I was packing the car Sunday morning I suffered a blonde moment and left my “wrestling bag” (a satchel containing all of my wrestling notes, my state tournament programs from this year and last year, and six rolls of undeveloped film) lying on the sidewalk at the Holiday Inn. I didn’t realize this until my niece Lauryn and I had stopped at Wal-Mart on our way home to drop off the film and the bag was nowhere to be found. Needless to say, it was a long trip from Wal-Mart to Lauryn’s house. But all’s well that ends well, as a very nice and helpful young lady at the Holiday Inn was able to locate the bag. I drove back down Monday, picked up the bag, treated my mom (my traveling companion for the day) to Big Loafer (a necessary stop whenever I’m in Huntington) and headed back up the road to Wal-Mart again.

As is always the case at the state tournament, there were some first-round upsets, some heartbreaking losses, and some great semifinal matchups, but in order to keep this article as short as possible (and you all know that’s not too easy for me), I’m just going to focus this week on the finals matches. I’ll add some last minute thoughts next time as I report on this year’s state tournament statistics.

The fans were treated to a unique Parade of Champions Saturday night. Paced by the Army National Guard Humvee driving around the floor of the Civic Center blasting the theme from “Rocky”, the finalists were led by retired coaches Ed Dugas from John Marshall and Joe Handlan, Jr. from Parkersburg. It was good to see them, and it looks as though retirement is definitely agreeing with both of them! As for Dugas, he brought his fishing gear along and planned to go fishing in Kanawha County Sunday before heading home.

After the finalists had cleared the mats, the lights had barely begun to come up when the chanting began: “SAM-MY! SAM-MY! SAM-MY!” Fairmont Senior fans wanted everyone to know who they were rooting for in the AAA 103-pound finals and it was none other than their own Sammy Bonasso. The Polar Bear lightweight didn’t disappoint the crowd as he kept his unbeaten record intact with a 4-1 decision of Wheeling Park’s Josh Gorayeb to finish the year at 47-0. I saw Bonasso wrestle a few times this year, and every time I did he simply dominated his opponents. I even mentioned to his mother in Parkersburg in early February that I thought he’d be a state champion.

I know I said I’m going to try to limit this to a summary of the finals matches, but I do want to take a minute to mention Josh Gorayeb. Last year he didn’t exactly have a stellar record coming into the state tournament. In fact, he was one of several wrestlers with a losing record who seemed to be a target for those wishing to drive home the point that unranked wrestlers qualified in “weak” regions while ranked wrestlers in tougher regions had to stay home. With a 9-15 record, Gorayeb wasn’t expected to make much of a splash at the state tournament, and he didn’t as he was eliminated with two losses against no wins. But this year things were different, and I for one noticed it in December. He placed second in the prestigious Brooke Classic and finished an impressive third at the OVAC tournament. His Region 1 finals match against Morgantown’s Lucas Cappas was one of the best in the tournament. He advanced to the state finals on the strength of one pin and two decisions (one over Nitro’s freshman sensation Jacob Frerichs), and had racked up 40 wins on the year before facing Bonasso in the title match. That’s just proof of how a wrestler can improve in one short year. Josh, congratulations to you on a fine senior season.

Every state tournament has its share of Cinderella stories, and St. Marys’ Dustin Bartrug is no exception. Coming in as a fourth-place finisher in Region 1, Bartrug was faced with having to wrestle Region 3 Champion Erica Dye in the first round. Instead of being bothered by the fact that he was facing a regional champion, he handed Dye a 10-2 major decision. He actually didn’t have much trouble with the remainder of the state tournament, as he pinned Grafton’s Bobby Rawls and claimed an impressive 11-5 decision over Region 1 champion Noah O’Neil of Cameron. Incidentally, Bartrug became St. Marys’ first individual champion in ten years and is now on a campaign to become the first Blue Devil to become a four-time state champion.

In a rematch of the 2000 103-pound finals, Nitro’s Matt Easter found himself up against a familiar foe in Fairmont Senior’s Jonathon Delligatti at 112. A far cry from their matchup earlier in the month that resulted in a disqualification, the match was comparatively tame and ended in a 5-1 decision for Easter, which keeps him on course for becoming the state’s next four-time champion. I think it’s interesting to note, as someone mentioned on the forum, that the coaches picked the top six in the AAA 112 class in the exact order that they finished in the state tournament. Pretty cool!

Ravenswood’s Ash Gandee capped an incredible career and a perfect senior year in less than a minute, as he put away Williamstown’s Casey Biddle in just 47 seconds to remain unbeaten (49-0). Gandee, who barely had a close match all year, won his third straight individual title on four straight pins and should be a top contender for the Dutton Award, given annually to the state’s most outstanding wrestler.

Another top competitor for the coveted Dutton Award was crowned just minutes later as Parkersburg’s Matt Stevens claimed his third individual championship over crosstown rival Ryan Metz of Parkersburg South. The match had been highly anticipated by fans all over Parkersburg as well as across the state, since the two had met twice before with each match going into overtime. The wrestlers had split their series 1-1 and it would take the rubber match to decide the champion. This match would not go into overtime, however, as Stevens opened with a takedown at the edge of the mat with 21 seconds left in the first and never gave up the lead. After the match, the two wrestlers hugged each other, and fans from both schools gave the pair a standing ovation. Stevens mentioned that it’s been his goal since he was six years old to become a three-time champion, and he was full of praise for his Patriot adversary, assuring the state that it would be Ryan Metz that we’d be seeing atop the podium in 2002.

Calhoun County’s Chris Morris found that cutting weight to stay at 112 was making him weak, so he moved up to 119 where he found his niche. He credited all his opponents in the state tournament as being tough matches, but perhaps his toughest was his last as he faced Region 2 Champion Cory Auvil from Grafton, whose only loss had come in the regional finals. Morris held a close lead for three periods, and Auvil managed to pull within one with a penalty point in the third, but it wasn’t enough to overtake the Red Devil junior. As the fans from Parkersburg were on one side of the Civic Center going wild over the Stevens/Metz match, the fans from Calhoun County decided they could make just as much noise as the Wood County crew by staging a stomping, cheering celebration in the stands as the clock wound down and their star wrestler took his first title with a 4-3 decision.

Since Calhoun County is sort of in my neck of the woods, I’m always glad to see anyone from there do well, and I sincerely want to congratulate Chris Morris on his championship. However, it was heartbreaking for me to see Cory Auvil miss out on a state championship because I’ve known him now for four years as a result of writing this column. Cory is one of the nicest, most polite young men I’ve ever met, and if I had a son I’d love for him to be just like Cory. He also has one of the nicest families I’ve ever met too. I wish you the best, Cory. I know great things are in store for you!

Nitro’s Chris Johnson felt he knew something the coaches didn’t know. All year long he was ranked third behind Parkersburg South’s Matt Bosley and University’s Nathan Kinsley in the 119-pound weight class. Determined to prove the coaches wrong, Johnson won one of the best semifinal matches of the tournament against Bosley. It wasn’t easy though, as the determined Bosley battled back from a deficit to tie the match and send it into overtime. Johnson would be the eventual victor and would face fouth-ranked Matt Smith of Ripley (who had defeated Kinsley in the other semifinal match) in the finals. Johnson claimed a 2-0 lead over Smith in the first period and never looked back as he grabbed his 42nd win on the year without a loss and ran his career win total to 181, which no one is disputing as a state career win record. Much credit should be given to Smith, who missed several weeks during the season with a broken arm that left him sidelined until the regional tournament.

Cameron’s Tyler Hughes had not lost to a West Virginia wrestler until the regional tournament, when he placed second behind Oak Glen’s Garrett Six in Region 1. Hughes more than likely expected to see a Region 1 rematch against Six in the 125-pound state finals, but Ritchie County’s Joey Lobis had other plans. A fourth-place Region 3 finisher, Lobis scored one of the biggest upsets of the first round (and perhaps the whole tournament) when he defeated Six 3-1 in overtime in Thursday’s first round of action. Come Saturday night, though, Hughes had no intention of being upset as he decisioned Lobis 6-2 in their championship match.

Hughes’ AAA neighbor from up the road in Wheeling, Derek Kennedy, had little trouble making his way to the 130-pound finals. In fact, he had little trouble with his opponents all year as he stormed through the rugged OVAC tournament and the Region 1 tournament. But in his final high school match he ran into a formidable opponent in Cabell Midland sophomore Chris Gibbs, who held him scoreless through two periods. Kennedy scored a couple of points on a locking hands penalty and an escape to take the title with a 2-0 decision.

Meanwhile, history was being made on the other mat as Casey Hughes gave the Hughes family back-to-back victories with his exciting 4-2 win over Oak Glen’s Gaelen Lowers at 130. I’m going to have to do some research, but the Dragon duo might be the tenth set of brothers to win individual titles in the same year. There are ten sets of wrestlers with the same name who’ve accomplished the feat, but not all of them may be brothers. Anyway, the younger Hughes may not be finished making history just yet. He’s just a freshman, and will join Dustin Bartrug in a quest to win state titles in each of the next three years.

Ok, you’ll have to bear with me on this next one while I get a little sentimental. I’ve been going to wrestling matches since the early 70’s and I’ve been a fanatic since 1975, when my dad took our family to the state wrestling tournament at the Fairmont Armory to see Jimmy Duncan wrestle for Parkersburg South. Jimmy worked on the farm for us and was (and still is!) like the brother we three girls never had. When I watched Jimmy place third in the state and witnessed South, a relatively young school at the time, claim their first state title in any sport, I knew there was no turning back – I had become a die-hard wrestling fan at the age of 13. Jim then married my cousin Brenda and they had three great kids – Jason, Jami, and John. Of course, the boys wrestled. Jami was a high school mat maid and is now a wrestling commentator for a local cable service that broadcasts the South home wrestling matches. Jason placed 2nd in the state in 1995, losing a heartbreaker in overtime to Fairmont Senior’s Mike Viani. Now it was up to Johnny to go for the gold, since his dad placed third and his brother placed second. As was the case with Nitro’s Chris Johnson, the youngest Duncan found himself ranked third in the coaches’ poll behind unbeaten Wes Lane of Herbert Hoover and ever-tough Devin Abshire of Jefferson. As Duncan’s regional foe Mike Muldrew of John Marshall (a wrestler for whom Duncan, his family, the South fans, and I have a lot of respect) pinned Abshire in the quarterfinals, Duncan found himself paired against Lane in the semifinals. He pulled off a close 7-5 win to advance to the finals against Muldrew, who’d downed Buckhannon-Upshur’s Cody Shell in the semis. Although cautious about wrestling Muldrew, whom he’d faced twice already, Duncan felt confident about his chances since he knew what to expect from the Monarch senior. The match began in a flurry but then slowed down a little, and perhaps a bit too much, as Duncan got in a little bit of stalling trouble near the end of the match, but he managed to hold on for the 4-2 win.

I know many of you will find this a little sappy, but since John is the only relative I’ve ever had that has won a state title, it was probably the most special championship that I’ve ever witnessed. John, I’m so proud of you. And as your dad said, I’m sure my dad and Coach Oldham were watching and smiling down on you. You’re the kind of young man who would make them proud both on and off the mat.

Duncan faced some tough competition all year long as he traveled with his Patriot teammates to the Ironman Invitational, to the Brecksville Holiday Tournament, and to the Virginia Duals. But he faced one of his top opponents right here in the Mountain State when he squared off against Oak Glen’s Eric Noel in the dual between the two schools. Noel walked away with an easy 9-1 major decision that day, and continued to excel in the A/AA 135-pound weight class. He eased through his bracket at the state tournament, but then met up with Williamstown freshman Shane Smith in the finals, who had tied the match at 1-1 at one point. Noel managed a takedown to go ahead 3-1 and it proved to be all he needed to capture his second straight individual title.

Robbie Ripley became the third Nitro wrestler on the night to win a title for the Wildcats, the most ever in school history. He built an early 5-0 lead over Hedgesville’s Danny Lord in their 140-pound final, and then Lord battled back to within two, but it wasn’t enough as Ripley took the match 5-3. Ripley was the final wrestler in a elite group of only four who finished the season undefeated, and his 49-0 record tied that of Gandee’s for the season’s best record.

Oak Glen’s Kyle Eckleberry gave Coach Larry Shaw his second straight champion as the 140-pounder won a close decision over Williamstown’s Tyler Westbrook. Eckleberry was ahead 4-0, but Westbrook scored three points in the third and was fighting hard for the winning takedown. Eckleberry countered Westbrook’s attempts and went on to take the match 4-3.

Cameron’s Roger Kupfer continued the Region 1 assault as he earned the 145-pound title with a 5-3 decision over Independence junior Ben Wood. Kupfer finished his junior year with 38 wins against only one loss, which came in the semifinals of the OVAC tournament to eventual champion Bobby Mayhugh of Martins Ferry. Wood is a just a junior and should be a top contender next year.

Huntington’s Jason Mays became the hometown hero of the night as he won a huge match over top-ranked Bryan Moats of Hedgesville. Mays took the early lead, and continued to lead 9-4 in the third period, but Moats decided he wasn’t going down without a fight as he put the Highlander on his back with 29 seconds to go in the match. Mays answered with a reversal with 17 seconds remaining to make the 11-6 lead stick. The win was especially important because it had just vaulted Coach Bill Archer’s squad into second place for good. You see, at the beginning of Saturday’s final round Huntington held a nine-point lead over Nitro. However, the three wins by Easter, Johnson, and Ripley earned them twelve points, making a Huntington win either at 145 or 189 (where Joey Thomas was scheduled to wrestle) crucial to claiming the runner-up spot. Mays’ win put them ahead of Nitro by one point, but that one point was good enough to keep them ahead of the rest of the pack and give Coach Archer his first state runner-up trophy ever in West Virginia wrestling.

As exciting as the 145-pound final was, it came nowhere close to the excitement Ripley’s Adam Schindler caused in his come-from-behind last-second (literally) win over Herbert Hoover’s Mike Staley at 152. After a scoreless first period, Staley was ahead 2-1 at the end of the second, with Schindler choosing down to start the third. Rather than risk a reversal, Staley let Schindler up to tie the match at 2-2. Schindler then got a takedown at the edge of the mat with 48 seconds remaining, but Staley moved within one when Schindler was penalized for locking hands with 30 seconds left. What happened next was worth the price of admission for the entire house, as Staley scored a reversal with just 12 seconds remaining. As it looked as though Schindler’s shot at a second straight title was to go by the wayside, he performed an amazing backflip for a reversal with one second left on the clock to win one of the most dramatic finals matches I’ve ever seen. By the way, I’m almost positive that Schindler is the only wrestler to have won a title in both the A/AA and AAA divisions, and he’s definitely the only wrestler from Jackson County to win a title at both Ravenswood and Ripley.

As the season began, any time Independence was mentioned, the name Jamie Bolen wasn’t exactly at the top of the list of Independence’s contenders for state champions since he didn’t place at last year’s state tournament. But Bolen went about his business all season long, compiling a 37-8 record en route to championships in both the WSAZ and Region 4 tournaments. Those who had seen him wrestle knew what they were talking about when they predicted he would take the state 152-pound title. Some even said he would take the title with no problem and they were right. The quiet Patriot senior definitely peaked at the right time, pinning his first three state tournament opponents, including come-from-behind pins of LKC Champion Robert Stutler of Clay and Region 1 Champion Tucker Brown (whom many others thought would easily claim the state title). His second-period pin of Wirt’s Chris Miller put him in company with Ash Gandee as the only two wrestlers to pin their way through the state tournament.

Back in December, Parkersburg South’s Casey Daggett caught the attention of the state as he became the first Patriot wrestler ever to win an individual title at the Ironman Invitational, one of the nation’s toughest tournaments. All season long the South star was ranked number one in his class and was expected to win a state title without much trouble. He didn’t pin any of his opponents in the state tournament, but he went about his work in each match on his way to the championship final, where he met his Region 1 opponent Chris Taylor from John Marshall. As was the case with his teammate John Duncan, Daggett knew what to expect from Taylor and won the match with a 9-3 decision. He finished the season with only one loss, which is astonishing given the fact that South faces some of the best teams in the country during the course of the season.

Oak Glen’s Derrick Stickles successfully defended his 160-pound state title in handing South Harrison’s Drew Toth his first defeat on the year. I guess it was a little like David going up against Goliath as Toth, who’d been fighting injuries all year and was also the lone qualifier for the Hawks was faced with the task of keeping his unbeaten streak alive and dethroning Stickles, a defending state champion and one of thirteen qualifiers from Oak Glen. But fortunately for Stickles the giant didn’t go down to defeat this time and he was able to claim a second state championship with a 7-2 decision. Stickles will now seek his third straight title next year and try to become the second Golden Bear wrestler to accomplish the feat (John Crain won three titles from 1986-88). Toth, a senior, has had a great, although injury-ridden, career at South Harrison. Had he been healthy the whole time, who knows how far he could have gone.

In the AAA 171-pound final it was almost like the same setting as the 119-pound final, just with different players from a different city. Two-time defending state champion Matt Miller of East Fairmont was once again up against his rival from the other side of town, Jeff Courtney of Fairmont Senior. This was the fifth time the two met (previous matchups were at the Brooke Classic, the Winner’s Choice, the NCAC Tournament, and the Region 2 Tournament), and Miller had prevailed each time. But on at least three occasions, Courtney had held the lead at one point or another in the match, so it could have gone either way. And this time, for Courtney’s sake, it did go the other way. Anytime these two wrestlers have met, it’s always a very physical match, and their final high school matchup was no exception. The two battled through a scoreless first period, and then Lady Luck sided with Courtney as he won the coin toss and deferred the choice to Miller, who chose down. When Courtney was successful in holding Miller down through the entire second period, he knew he could make something happen in the third. So with 1:39 showing on the clock he got a reversal to make the score 2-0, which would be all he’d need to beat Miller for the first time this season, but in this case the only time that mattered. The fans from Fairmont Senior absolutely went wild, and the majority of the fans in the Civic Center gave Courtney a standing ovation for his win. The coaches also showed their admiration by naming him co-winner of the AAA Outstanding Wrestler Award with 3-time state champion Matt Stevens.

Incidentally, if you weren’t there you might not know that Jeff is the third of Don Courtney’s sons to win a state championship. Father Don was a state champion in 1970, oldest brother Chris was a champion in 1993, and middle brother Ryan was a two-time champion in 1996 and 1997.

Oak Glen junior Ronnie Hebrock almost got himself a pin in his 171-pound final with Independence’s Chris Brown, as he put the Patriot wrestler on his back with about 10 seconds left to go in the second period. But time ran out and Hebrock went on to score an 11-4 decision over Brown, who might not have even been in the match had it not been for an injury to defending state champion Aaron Barnette early in the season. Brown had been wrestling at 160, but when Barnette sustained the injury, Brown moved up to take his place, and the move paid off as he finished his senior season with a 39-5 record and a state runner-up finish.

Andrew Starsick was destined to wrestle Huntington’s Joey Thomas – it just was at the end of the tournament instead of the beginning. When the pairings were announced, the Region 2 189-pound fourth-place finisher from North Marion found himself paired against Thomas (the region 3 champion) in the first round. But when Jefferson’s Artie Badger (the region 2 third-place finisher) had to withdraw from the tournament it moved Starsick into the upper bracket and moved East Fairmont’s Matt Sternthal (the regional fifth-place finisher) into the bracket with Thomas. Sternthal came into the region as the state’s top-ranked wrestler so it looked like an uphill battle from the start for Thomas. But he disposed of Sternthal with a third-period pin and continued to advance through the bottom bracket while Starsick won a couple of tough matches in the opposite bracket against Nicholas County’s Robbie Key and Hedgesville’s Jason Baker. The championship match was fairly close until the third period when Starsick turned Thomas to his back for the pin with 12 seconds left. Just a sophomore, Starsick will now attempt to become only the second Husky wrestler to win three titles (Doug Moore won four from 1990-93)

Oak Glen’s Philip Bellville was successful in his attempt to defend his 189-pound A/AA title, but it didn’t come easy. The Golden Bear senior met up against region 1 and OVAC nemesis Vince Magnone of Weir in the finals. Magnone held a 2-1 advantage at the end of the first period, but Bellville had tied things at 2-2 going into the third. Magnone once again went ahead 3-2, but Bellville tied the match with 56 seconds left to go in regulation. After failing to get the winning takedown in the first overtime period, Bellville won the coin toss and chose down. He broke free from Magnone’s grasp in just five seconds to finally claim his second straight state title.

East Fairmont’s Jeff Noechel had to wait until the final night of the state tournament to prove to the state that polls aren’t always right. He found himself ranked second in the state at 215 to Parkersburg South’s Aaron McCartney, who’d finished third in the state at the same weight in 2000 (Noechel had moved up from 160). It was thought that the two would get a chance to square off in February during a match in Parkersburg, but that never materialized and Noechel had to go into the state tournament as “second-best”. But his performance in the finals against McCartney was anything but second-best as he allowed the Patriot senior only four points in a 10-4 decision to finish his senior year with a sparkling 44-1 record and a state title under his belt.

There was one point early in the season when the status of some of the Cameron wrestlers was questionable, and one wrestler who was missing from action was senior Wyatt O’Neil. But O’Neil returned to the mats in late December and wrestled his way to a season-ending record of 33-4. His 12-5 win over Magnolia’s Joe Weaver in the A/AA 215-pound championship match capped a superb final round for the Cameron wrestlers, who batted a thousand (no baseball pun intended) Saturday night. Four Dragons took home the gold, the most since 1993 during the glory days of their four-year reign as the number one A/AA team in the state. Their performance in the final round also put them ahead of Williamstown, who’d been in second place coming into the finals. When the Yellowjackets went 0-4 in the finals, Cameron had enough points at the end of the 140-pound match to secure themselves a runner-up finish, their highest finish since 1994 when they won their last state championship.

Cabell Midland’s Byron Wellman was determined not to let history repeat itself. For the past two years, Wellman had come into the tournament as one of the state’s top-ranked wrestlers but got upset in the first round both times by fourth-place finishers, falling to the consolation bracket on the first night. He didn’t give up either time though, as he stormed back through the consolations to take third his sophomore year and fourth his junior year. He intended to stay in the winner’s bracket this year, and stormed through that bracket. He got pins in the first, second, and third periods, respectively in his first three matches. His last match was his toughest as this was a weight class where the state’s top two wresters actually wrestled in opposite brackets and met in the finals. Wellman’s opponent was East Fairmont’s Chris Satterfield, and Satterfield was not about to be pinned. Instead he held a 1-0 lead over Wellman going into the third period. Each wrestler benefited from the other’s stalling, making the match 2-1 with 11 seconds to go. Wellman decided he hadn’t come this far to see his title slip through his hands, so he got an escape with five seconds remaining in regulation to send the final match of the tournament into overtime. He then took just 11 seconds to score the winning takedown, giving Coach Ernie Sparks (a former high school heavyweight wrestler himself) his first heavyweight wrestling champion.

Just as the Fairmont Senior fans started the finals off with a chant, the Oak Glen fans ended them with one of their own: “JOE-Y! JOE-Y! JOE-Y!”. Joey Caughey must have heard the chanting and was ready to celebrate with his teammates and fans, because the junior didn’t take long to claim his second straight A/AA heavyweight title. His pin of Clay County’s Heath Cliver only took one minute and nine seconds and made him the sixth Golden Bear wrestler on the night to take top honors. Correct me if I’m wrong, but that set a school record for Oak Glen for individual champions in one year.

Well, the 2001 state wrestling tournament has come and gone, and I must admit that it seems like a long wait until December. But we can remember the highlights from the whole season and look forward to what next year will bring. To the 28 young men who realized their goals of becoming state champions, I congratulate you. To you underclassmen who didn’t quite make it this year, you’ve got almost a whole year to hit the weights and train hard to get a chance to stand on the top spot on the podium next year. And to you seniors who wrestled for the last times in your high school careers, whether you won or lost, we as fans thank you for the dedication you’ve put into the sport and for the enjoyment we’ve gotten from watching you wrestle. Each one of you is a champion in someone’s heart.

On Sunday morning before we left the Holiday Inn, I poked a little fun at Lauryn and her friend Micki because they wanted to take one last longing look at the Civic Center, bemoaning the fact that it would be a long wait until next year’s state tournament. After the kidding was over and the car was packed (well, everything but my wrestling bag), I actually found myself sneaking one last look too, wishing that, like Christmas, it could have indeed lasted just a little longer.

Next week:
Some statistics, final thoughts and observations from the state tournament.


Contact Jenny Sullivan at sullivj2@oak.cats.ohiou.edu

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