Strasburg places second in tourney

By Dennis Atwood - sports@nvdaily.com

STRASBURG -- Strasburg's 189 points took second place, Clarke County was close behind with 183 points for third, and Central's 104 points earned the fifth spot in Saturday's Bull Run District wrestling tournament.

Manassas Park, defending state champions, captured the tournament championship with 248 points. They had five individual champions -- Gilbert Rodriguez (106), Kent Cadle (126), Myles Carlos (145), Osmin Flores (170), and Tyler Wagner (182).

The Cougars also had four second-place finishers and four third-place finishers, to qualify 13 wrestlers for the Region B tournament. The top six places in each weight class advance to regionals. The Region B tournament will be held Feb. 10 and 11 at Strasburg.

Strasburg and Clarke County each sent five wrestlers into the championship round, with two champions each. Central placed three in the finals and had one champion.

Strasburg freshman Nic Campbell, ranked first in the state, extended his season record to 43-1 with the 113-pound championship, and junior Todd Dean improved to 41-3, taking first place at 138 pounds.

Campbell beat another freshman, Manassas Park's Fabian Rodriquez, with a 5-2 decision.

Dean faced Central's Kaleb Orndorff, who had drawn the match into a 4-4 tie in the second period, before Dean got a pin at 2:44.

"I came in strong, hard and looking to win," Dean said. "I pinned [Orndorff] the two previous times I faced him this year."

The Rams qualified 12 wrestlers for the Region B tournament.

Clarke County senior Joe Nappi earned the 152-pound championship, and teammate William Wallace garnered the 285-pound title.

Wallace (40-11) led throughout to take a narrow 3-2 decision over Central's Cody Neal.
Nappi, in only his third meet of the year after recovering from a left knee injury, faced the formidable Isaiah Baker, of Manassas Park, who had a 34-2 record.

Nappi (11-1) led throughout the match, increasing his 2-1 first period lead to 5-1 in the second period, and won an 8-1 decision.

"I had some injuries early in the season that had to heal up, so I'm happy to be out here," Nappi said. "This was my first time wrestling [Baker]. Pre-match, it was a lot of being able to believe that I'm gonna win this match, and knowing I'm gonna win this match. I convinced myself that was the truth."

Thirteen Eagles advanced to regionals.

Central 6-foot junior Skylar Wolf fought a tough 132-pound championship match against Clarke County senior Peter Levi.

Wolf (20-8) had to take two blood stoppages in the second period and trailed 3-2. With 25 seconds remaining in the third period, Wolf executed the winning move, to take a 4-3 decision.

"I beat [Levi] early in the season, then he beat me in the Strasburg Duals," Wolf said. "I knew it was gonna be a tough match and I knew I had to wrestle on top of my game to have a chance against him.

"[Levi's] a great wrestler and good at controlling out of top, so I just had to work neutral and work those shots and get in on that. That's what helped me in the last period to get that shot and those two [winning] points."

Ten Falcons qualified for regionals.

"All in all, I think it was a good day, but I think we should have done a little better in the finals," Kirkland said. "Two of the three we lost were one-point [scores], that could have gone either way.

"We've got everyone to regionals, so we'll get to redeem ourselves next week."

Madison County (126) finished fourth, William Monroe (96.5) sixth, George Mason (89.5) seventh, and Rappahannock County (52) eighth.