While the end of May and beginning of June are a busy time for all, this was an especially busy time for the athletes, coaches and parents that participated in the various greco/ freestyle dual events for Team Virginia.  

Our Schoolboy Duals team (athletes born in 2001 & 2002) was coached by David Manville (Banditos W.C.), Eric Brown (Eastern View H.S.), Doug Fisher (Fauquier H.S.) and supported by Susan Manville from June 3-7 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Our Cadet Duals team (athletes born in 1999 & 2000) was coached by Ross Gitomer (St. Christopher's) and Adam Wilson (Washington & Lee University) from June 10-13 at the USA Wrestling Cadet National Duals in York, Pennsylvania.

Our East Coast Junior Duals teams (athletes born in 1995-1998 with exceptions allowing cadets to fill spots) were coached by Rob Prebish (VAWA greco coach), Roy Hill (Hayfield H.S.), Ben Summerlin (Hickory H.S.) and Sonny Close (Christiansburg H.S.) from June 6-7 at the East Coast Duals hosted by the Maryland Scholastic Wrestling Association in Pasadena, Maryland.  This event featured teams from Pennsylvania, Maine, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, North Carolina

Cadet National Duals Recap by Adam Wilson - Asst coach at Washington & Lee University

Now that a week has passed following the Cadet National Duals in York, PA, I wanted to provide a recap of the outstanding effort the young men gave during the competition.

After starting the Greco competition with two tough losses to Ohio and California, the team responded with a strong performance on day two. Before competition began, myself, Coach Gitomer, and Coach Farrar urged each athlete to take the opportunity to learn and reflect after each dual, regardless of the outcome. In doing so, each athlete was able to learn on past mistakes and correct their wrongs entering the next dual. These actions of immediate development gave us the opportunity to roll off four consecutive dual meet wins over New York, Michigan, Maryland, and North Carolina.

Following a strong performance in Greco, the entire team found a new level of energy entering Freestyle competition. Following a tough loss to New Jersey in the opening round, the team responded with two lopsided victories over North Carolina and Colorado.  After a loss in the final round of “pool” competition, the team was set for a marquee match up with Missouri in the first round of the Bronze/Copper pool.  In a back-and-forth dual, and the dual meet on the line, River Curtis (Battlefield) came up with a huge pin to propel Virginia to a 40-39 victory.  As momentum continued, the team picked up victories over Utah and Florida, before falling to Indiana in the 9th place bout.

From a coaching perspective, I could not be more proud of each individual on the team.  Many had ups and downs throughout the competition, but without a doubt, every athlete that stepped on the mat competed for 6 minutes… what else could you ask for? We were lead by an outstanding performance by John Borst (Sherando), who went undefeated in both styles with all technical falls and pins. After wrestling 14 dual meets over the course of the week, each athlete, and coach, could point to moments where they had the opportunity to learn and grow as a wrestler- which is why we seek these high level competitions in the off-season.

Following a performance that Virginia has not experienced at the Cadet National Duals, it is my hope that this experience propels these 21 athletes into more summer wrestling and training. With Cadet and Junior Nationals on the horizon, I am looking forward to continuing to work with VAWA and the athletes at Fargo training camp on July 8-11 at Virginia Tech!

Virginia Has Successful Weekend at East Coast Duals by VAWA National team coach Rob Prebish

Two teams of Virginia wrestlers traveled to Northeast High School in Pasadena, MD to compete in the 2015 East Coast Duals on June 6-7 against some of the top freestyle and Greco Roman clubs/states. The Virginia Blue team finished 3rd in freestyle and won the Greco Roman competition, finishing the weekend with a 12-1 overall record. The Virginia Red team, hampered by missing four weight classes placed 5th in the freestyle competition, ending their weekend with a 5-7 record. The Virginia teams were coached by Sonny Close (Christiansburg), Roy Hill (Hayfield), Rob Prebish (St. Christopher’s), and Ben Summerlin (Hickory).

Freestyle was the first style contested at the East Coast Duals, which is different from most dual meet events where Greco is usually the first style to wrestle. Virginia Blue drew a tough Florida team in round one, dropping a 41-25 match for their only loss on the weekend. The Blue team improved throughout the freestyle tournament, defeating Connecticut (41-27), New York (46-21), Pennsylvania Gold (54-18), Maryland Blue (58-9), Maine (55-12), and Pennsylvania Blue (44-24) in the third place dual. Warren County’s Zach Beckner (120), Christiansburg’s Creed Lumpp (160), 2015 Cadet National All-American TJ Allen from Hanover (182), and 2015 Cadet National All-American Jeffrey Allen (195) from Amherst all posted perfect 7-0 records in freestyle.

The Red team wrestled very well, finishing the freestyle tournament in 5th place, despite starting each match 20 points down due to having to forfeit four weight classes every dual meet. Undaunted by the slow start, red team defeated Delaware (50-16), North Carolina (37-28), Maryland White (38-28) and in the 5th place match Connecticut (38-28). Christiansburg’s Marshall Keller (126) finished the freestyle tournament with an undefeated 6-0 record for the Red team.

The Blue team continued its’ Saturday success by steamrolling through the Greco Roman tournament, going undefeated (6-0) to bring home the East Coast Duals Greco Roman championship. Virginia Blue defeated Connecticut (54-14), Delaware (62-6), North Carolina (62-8), Pennsylvania Gold 69-3), Maryland Red (45-20), and Pennsylvania Blue (44-28) in the championship match. Seven wrestlers on the Blue team went undefeated in Greco: Brandon Woody (Matoaca) at 113, Zach Beckner at 120, Marshall Keller at 126, Sam Martino (McDonogh) at 145, Ross Graham (Poquoson) at 170, and both TJ and Jeffrey Allen at 182 and 195 respectively.

The Red team wrestled hard in every dual meet, but could not overcome the 20-point deficit from forfeits. The team went 1-5, but could have easily gone 4-2: losing very close duals to Maryland Blue (35-30), Maine (39-28), and Maryland White (35-34). The Red team defeated Pennsylvania Gold 44-23 in their final dual of the weekend. Many thanks to all of the Virginia parents who drove to Maryland to cheer on both teams on the weekend. Their often boisterous encouragement throughout both dual meet tournaments help spur the teams to victory.

Schoolboy Duals report - by coaches David Manville, Doug Fisher & Eric Brown

Despite forfeiting four weight classes (20 points), the team placed 19th
(of 32) in GR and 14th (of 33) in FS.  We lost multiple duals by margins of
less than 20 points.  The format has changed over the years, so there are
some apples to oranges comparisons, however, this was likely one of VAWA's
most competitive SB teams in recent years.  Regardless, the coaches are
really proud of the boy's efforts and performance.

We got more wrestling in than any other team.  We executed exhibition
matches for most forfeits received.  We executed additional exhibition
matches for those who wanted them.  We self-organized and executed three
additional exhibition duals with other teams.

We had four All-Tournament wrestlers in GR:  Manville, Kilmer,
Rockman, Brown.  Other teams had a similar number of undefeated wrestlers,
however, very few of those undefeated wrestlers competed in all of their
duals.

We had four All-Tournament wrestlers in FS:  Manville, Rockman, Brown,
Mukai.  Other teams had a similar number of undefeated wrestlers, however,
very few of those undefeated wrestlers competed in all of their duals.

Only 21 wrestlers made the All-Tournament team in both styles.  Team
Virginia had three of them (15% of the total):  Manville, Rockman, Brown.

About 1/2 the team members will be SBs again next year, however, the
big three point scorers (Rockman, Brown and Mukai) will move on to Cadets.